Zeta Psi, one of the most recently established fraternity chapters at the UA, proposed the implementation of a community feel among fraternities versus a competition to be “the top house.”
Johanne Ives, assistant dean of students and the director for Fraternity and Sorority Programs, said Zeta Psi was granted recognition through the expansion process in the spring of 2015, so this semester was their first time participating with the Interfraternity Council recruitment.
“[What] Zeta Psi wants to do is, we want to build that community to be more friendly so that we’re all a greek community rather than just all houses competing to be top house,” said Zack Berenson, a pre-business sophomore and member of Zeta Psi. “Our brotherhood chairman is going to reach out to other fraternities to do social events or brotherhood events with them instead of just focusing on sororities so that we can build that culture of friendliness.”
Zeta Psi started with an interested group of men at the UA, Berenson said, who hoped to form a brotherhood and change the dynamic amongst chapters in the greek community.
Berenson said at other universities, Greek Life is more intersocial than at the UA.
“At other schools, greek chapters go to other greek chapters’ social events,” Berenson said. “We’re the only school that’s not like that.”
Some examples of philanthropy events held by multiple greek chapters suggested by Zeta Psi are “Peanut Butter and Jelly Time,” where members come together to make sandwiches for the hungry, and a softball tournament for which every fraternity can compete for fun, all proceeds going to cancer research. Zeta Psi members also suggested that fraternities participate in water pong tournaments and paintball events together.
“Zeta Psi was holding an informal rush event this past week, in which they met outside the bookstore and took attendees to their unofficial house,” said Max McKie, physics freshman and fall 2015 fraternity recruitment participant.
McKie said that, while fraternity chapters participating in social events together could be a good thing for the community, it may only work in certain situations.
Berenson said the Zeta Psi social chairman communicated with Alpha Kappa Lambda, one of the other new fraternity chapters on campus, and the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Both fraternities received Zeta Psi warmly.
“Just by reaching out and just extending that ‘hey,’ we were received with gratitude,” Berenson said. “That’s how I’ve gotten started, and that’s how we’re going to do it, eventually, with brotherhood once [we] finish up with our recruitment.”
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