AU is now home to a new chapter of the national cinema fraternity Delta Kappa Alpha through the School of Communication.
Founded in 1936 at the University of Southern California, the fraternity is dedicated to “traditional philanthropic endeavors in addition to cultivating a community of students connected by cinematic arts” according to its website.
The fraternity came to campus at the start of the fall semester.
Members of the fraternity are forging ahead with planning, although the organization has not been recognized by the AU administration, according to President Sarah Liebman. However, Liebman does not believe this is a problem for the fraternity.
“This is actually a good thing for the fraternity because it allows Delta Kappa Alpha to work closely with the faculty to coordinate events, programs, resources and to create an even stronger connection between the students and the faculty,” Liebman said. “Our focus right now is organizing and developing all of our goals and preparing for our first recruitment/rush session in the beginning of spring 2015.”
The fraternity is housed in SOC because the school houses faculty and resources encompassing its subject matter, according to Curtis Burrill, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
“AU has chosen to recognize the organization through SOC as they are the subject matter experts in the area of cinema and can best advise them as a professional organization,” Burrill said in an email.
Each professional organization is allowed to choose where it would be housed within AU’s Greek life infrastructure, Burrill said. As a result of the cinema fraternity’s decision, SOC is responsible for providing funding, if they choose to. Otherwise, the fraternity has the same opportunities to utilize campus facilities as any other organization at AU, according to Burrill.
AU’s branch was started by students representing several different media disciplines, according to John Douglass, the director of Film and Media Arts and the fraternity’s current faculty advisor.
“Over the past several decades, we have had a number of student film clubs that seem to last only as long as the founding members are still students and vanish when they graduate,” Douglass said in an email. “This may disappear when these students graduate, but since it is the first associated with a national organization, I’m hopeful it will grow and become permanent on campus.”
AU’s chapter joins those found at many other well-known universities across the country, such as Boston University, New York University and Columbia University.
The fraternity is meant to tie together various disciplines in the cinematic arts to share knowledge and experiences both locally and across the country, according to Liebman.
While the fraternity is still in its early stages of organization, the members have already managed to plan regular meetings, take a trip to view a screening of “Ft. Bliss,” a feature film written and directed by AU faculty member Claudia Myers, and arrange a talk with Myers about the film. Liebman also has other big plans for the fraternity that are in the works for the rest of the year and beyond
“We are starting plans for master classes, workshops, communication resources, screenings and are working on bringing some of the great cinema opportunities already available in D.C. to students who don’t already know about them,” Liebman said in an email.
Through these efforts, Liebman hopes that the fraternity will prepare fellow members for a future in the field.
“Members of the fraternity will have the opportunity to practice and improve their creative and professional collaborations, see how the industry works in all its many concentrations and sub-industries, and give a space for artists to be productive and find their artistic voice,” Liebman said.
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