With the arrival of the new semester, there have been some changes in greek life at the UA.
Fraternities Sigma Alpha Mu and Zeta Beta Tau both relocated their fraternity chapters to houses on greek row (East First Street).
“Sammy (SAM) is excited to build new and positive relations in the greek community and contribute to a culture where competition is friendly and community is paramount,” Sigma Alpha Mu president Joshua Schwartz wrote in an email. “With regard to Sigma Phi Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau, who are also relatively new to the row and relatively close to Sammy, we look forward to building meaningful and cordial relations, we offer our support and neighborly assistance, and finally, our congratulations on their new member candidate classes.”
Schwartz said Sigma Alpha Mu is now at the corner of North Cherry Avenue and East First Street, where members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity lived previously.
“Sammy began seeking new housing as its membership and organizational needs could no longer be met by its previous facilities,” Schwartz said. “It is no secret that greek row provides both proximity to the greek community and vast growth opportunities.”
The new house holds more than twice the amount of people as Sammy’s previous house and can provide living space for up to 50 members, Schwartz said.
“While the house holds 40-50, it is currently occupied by 25 brothers,” Schwartz said. “This is largely due to the fact that once it became available, the vast majority of Sammy members had already signed leases elsewhere. Sammy looks forward to filling the house completely this upcoming year.”
Schwartz said the former members of Delta Tau Delta took over Sammy’s old lease allowing Sammy the financial flexibility to move into the new house.
“Sammy’s chapter has a newer, larger house, proximity to the greek community and stronger growth opportunities,” Schwartz said. “The former DTD’s have a facility which both houses them and allows them to operate with a lifestyle not drastically different from the one they had before the move.”
Brian Kewin, president of the UA Interfraternity Council, said the relocation of Sigma Alpha Mu and Zeta Beta Tau this semester allowed the recruitment process this fall to run more smoothly.
Kewin said that in addition to the geographical changes in greek life, new fraternities Zeta Psi, Alpha Kappa Lambda and Theta Xi were able to participate in the Interfraternity Council fall recruitment process this year.
“Men who joined Zeta Psi, Alpha Kappa Lambda and Theta Xi have a unique opportunity for early leadership, entrepreneurial skills as well as a smaller brotherhood compared to some of the already established chapters, which if you’re looking for mainly the brotherhood aspect are perfectly fine, but finding early leadership is tough,” Kewin said. “They were able to recruit men who are like-minded and want early leadership and want to be the startup behind what could be a lasting legacy here at the [UA].”
Zack Berenson, a pre-business sophomore and member of Zeta Psi, said Zeta Psi formed in fall 2013 with a small group of guys and has now grown to have 22 members and 25 new recruits.
“We pride ourselves on strong brotherhood, diversity and academics,” Berenson said. “We struggled in the process to get initiated—getting rejected by the school twice, losing some guys, gaining more back—but the core of Zeta Psi stuck through, and that’s why our brotherhood is so strong and resilient.”
Berenson said one of Zeta Psi’s goals is to change the status quo of greek life to be more of a community rather than a competition to be the top house.
“Greek life has a lot of opportunity to develop college students into leaders, but right now it’s broken,” Berenson said. “That’s what Zeta Psi wants and is working on.”
Berenson said Zeta Psi holds its chapter meetings at the Student Union Memorial Center and has an unofficial house on Mabel Street not recognized by the Interfraternity Council.
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