Students organize national fraternity
New Greek group aims to recruit, raise recently low male rush rates
Emily Faber
Issue date: 9/26/08 Section: News
And although they are national, the Pikes will be subject to the same rules and regulations as the local fraternities, including not being able to own an official fraternity house off-campus, according to Beebe.
But, even with the promise of positive change, there is the possibility of a reverberating effect on the very nature of the local Greek organizations. While nothing is certain, others may, in the future, follow the lead of the Pikes and consider going national themselves.
"People come to Trinity and they don't know anything about our fraternities and sororities. You just don't hear about Trinity's fraternities like the way you would from the UT fraternities or something like that," said Junior Taylor Collier, the recruitment contact for the Omega Phi fraternity. "I can't really say what Trinity's policy is, but to me, the way it feels is [like Campus and Community Involvement (CCI) wants everyone to go national. They're saying they don't want that to happen, but that's how it feels.]"
Going national, though, wasn't originally what the students forming the new fraternity had had in mind.
The first e-mail that Coordinator for Student Organizations Margaret Farris said she received from McFarlane was on Oct. 2, 2007, and McFarlane and Sophomore Thomas Bell together submitted a formal petition to become an organization on Jan. 31, 2008. Robinson, at this point, was heading a separate group of students interested in becoming a fraternity, and according to him, he began talking with CCI around the same time McFarlane did. CCI suggested the two groups consider fusing since they were pursuing the same thing, and it was at this point that they met one another.
"None of me and my friends fit into the group of any certain fraternity that already existed, so we just kind of wanted to make our own," Robinson explained.
And according to McFarlane, "What our group originally wanted to create was a fraternity where non-drinkers felt comfortable, and they could be accepted as brothers. But we didn't want a fraternity that was just full of non-drinkers, so that's why I thought we'd get along, because everyone is comfortable with non-drinkers. So, it's a good mix of guys in the fraternity."
But, even with the promise of positive change, there is the possibility of a reverberating effect on the very nature of the local Greek organizations. While nothing is certain, others may, in the future, follow the lead of the Pikes and consider going national themselves.
"People come to Trinity and they don't know anything about our fraternities and sororities. You just don't hear about Trinity's fraternities like the way you would from the UT fraternities or something like that," said Junior Taylor Collier, the recruitment contact for the Omega Phi fraternity. "I can't really say what Trinity's policy is, but to me, the way it feels is [like Campus and Community Involvement (CCI) wants everyone to go national. They're saying they don't want that to happen, but that's how it feels.]"
Going national, though, wasn't originally what the students forming the new fraternity had had in mind.
The first e-mail that Coordinator for Student Organizations Margaret Farris said she received from McFarlane was on Oct. 2, 2007, and McFarlane and Sophomore Thomas Bell together submitted a formal petition to become an organization on Jan. 31, 2008. Robinson, at this point, was heading a separate group of students interested in becoming a fraternity, and according to him, he began talking with CCI around the same time McFarlane did. CCI suggested the two groups consider fusing since they were pursuing the same thing, and it was at this point that they met one another.
"None of me and my friends fit into the group of any certain fraternity that already existed, so we just kind of wanted to make our own," Robinson explained.
And according to McFarlane, "What our group originally wanted to create was a fraternity where non-drinkers felt comfortable, and they could be accepted as brothers. But we didn't want a fraternity that was just full of non-drinkers, so that's why I thought we'd get along, because everyone is comfortable with non-drinkers. So, it's a good mix of guys in the fraternity."
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