Greek life is continuing to expand on AU’s campus with fraternities Tau Kappa Epsilon, Zeta Psi and professional fraternity Delta Phi Epsilon seeking to be chartered.
Students will try to form new chapters when they do not find what they seek in other fraternities, according to Coordinator of Greek Life Curtis P. Burrill.
“It’s a vastly different experience starting an organization than it is becoming a part of an existing organization,” he said. “Every organization has their own little identity and people identify with like things — it’s just how we function as human beings. So, if they don’t find one they identify with, why not start their own?”
The AU community’s strong interest in international studies is what prompted the beginning of the professional Foreign Service fraternity Delta Phi Epsilon, according to DPE President William J. Hubbard, a junior in the School of International Service.
“The one thing that always struck me about AU was people would always say, ‘What’s your major?’? Someone would respond, ‘SIS,’ and then the person would respond with, ‘Of course it is, everybody at AU is SIS,’” Hubbard said. ?
DPE is currently working with Student Activities to find the best place for it on campus, he said.
Tau Kappa Epsilon — also known as “Teke” — was started when a small group of AU students did not find exactly what they were looking for during rush, according to Corey Lim, president of TKE and a junior in the Kogod School of Business.
“We had kind of a core group of guys that I was friends with … and we really didn’t feel a great connection to a majority of a chapter here,” he said. “So we decided well, if we don’t feel any commitment to a fraternity here, we can do something else. We can bring something that we like.”
One of the reasons AU is seeing more fraternities instead of sororities is the way they’re organized on a national level, according to Burrill.
“For a sorority to come onto campus there’s a huge process in place,” he said. “They’re very, very structured. They have rules and everything in place for many, many, many things, whereas the men are a little bit looser in terms of how chapters can expand and such.”
However, he said it is still difficult and a lot of work to for a fraternity to become chartered.
“Typically it takes two or three years to become a chapter,” Burrill said.
Zeta Psi became a colony on campus this summer, but may lose its place with amendments to the AU Interfraternity Council’s Constitution, which would ban two colonies from existing simultaneously.
ZP, which became a colony after TKE, is uncertain about its future, according to ZP President Matt Carnovale, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences. It would be strange for the constitution to become effective immediately rather than [in the future], Carnovale said, but he wants to continue working with AU and is willing to “wait in line.”
The IFC is scheduled to vote on this amendment next week. It is unclear if the amendment would de-colonize ZP or whether the new rule would only apply to new colonies in future years.
One of the more difficult aspects of creating the TKE colony was convincing other fraternities they wouldn’t impede upon their own success, according to Lim.
“[Some brothers may feel] threatened — it’s going to decrease membership, it’s already hard enough to get members — but factually, if you add Greek life to a campus, it spurs growth,” he said.
However, totally eliminating greek rivalry is probably an impossible undertaking.
“At some level, there is going to be friendly competition, and that’s just because you believe you’re a part of an organization, and you like to believe that it’s the best,” Lim said.
You can reach this staff writer at srudnick@theeagleonline.com.
