Author: Caroline Olsen-Van Stone and Kelly Neukom
On April 26, Oxy’s newest fraternity-Phi Kappa Psi, created in fall 2006-will be recognized as a chapter of the national Phi Kappa Psi organization. With this induction, Oxy will now have seven Greek organizations on campus, four sororities (two local and two national) and four fraternities (one local and three national). One of these fraternities, Zeta Tau Zeta, is actually co-ed. The other six Greek organizations on campus are Alpha Lambda Phi Alpha, Delta Omicron Tau, Kappa Alpha Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Lambda Gamma.
This large number of organizations means that more than 10 percent of Oxy students are involved in Greek life, Delta president Karina Lyons (senior) said. With such high membership in fraternities and sororities, many wonder if there is more to Greek life than wild parties and keg stands. But Oxy fraternities and sororities prove that there is much more to being Greek than togas and red plastic cups.
“Sororities at Oxy are quite unlike sororities at other (particularly larger) college campuses,” former Alpha President Rachael Charles (senior) said. “The small size of the student body, as well as our commitment to student clubs and organizations, make Greek life at Oxy unique.”
“I really liked the group of girls I met during rush at Theta,” Theta president Katie Lewis (junior) said. “Overall, we’re academic and involved in the community. There really isn’t a singular personality [for members].”
Phi Psi president Luke Cederberg (senior) thinks Greek life exposed him to many people he would otherwise not have met. “The diversity of interests and personality types in Phi Psi has always been something that I am personally very proud of,” he said. “Obviously some guys are going to be better friends than others, but as a unit I think we are particularly close-knit. If you are a Phi Psi, you are about and know intimately all of the other Phi Psis.”
However, Cederberg said there is one thing that all Phi Psis share. “If there is one common bond among us, I think it is a commitment to excellence,” he said. “Great people have just gravitated towards Phi Psi since it began here.”
Lyons said she joined the sorority looking for a place where she felt she belonged. “I found that in the amazing women of Delta,” she said. “They are my best friends at this school and they have made me into the woman I am today.”
Lyons also believes that the diversity of Delta is important to the group dynamic. “Women join for various reasons-to make new friends, for social aspects, for community service, for a home,” she said. “All of these reasons make up a diversity which Delta prides itself on.”
Newly elected Alpha president Harini Ramireddy (junior) said she joined a sorority to “enhance” her experience at Oxy. “I joined Alpha because of the immediate bond I felt with our amazing girls, the significant community service we do and the fun events we throw for the entire school,” Ramireddy said.
Zeta is unique in that it was reinstituted in 2006 by eight women’s rugby players who lived in the former Zeta sorority house in order to save the house. Now only five of the 27 members are women’s rugby players. “Zeta is unique in its structure,” Zeta president Sarah Baglee (senior) said. “We struggled at first with the gender balance, but we’re really starting to move toward it now.”
Besides being the only co-ed fraternity on campus, Zeta had members from 19 different majors after the last pledge class joined. “Zeta draws from a real variety of people,” Baglee said.
Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically black fraternity, has only three members but is still an important presence on campus. Though it was founded at Oxy in 1983, the national organization was founded in 1911. “It was the vision of [the founders] . . . to sow the seed of a fraternal tree whose fruit is available to and now enjoyed by college men everywhere, regardless of their color, religion or national origin,” Kappa president Justin Morgan (junior) said.
Another cultural Greek organization at Oxy is Sigma Lambda Gamma, a Latina-based and multicultural sorority. The national Gamma organization was established in 1990 and the Oxy chapter was established in the summer of 2004, making it the school’s newest sorority.
All fraternities and sororities on campus participate in Greek Council, a governing body composed of the leaders of each Greek organization who meet on a weekly basis to discuss inter-Greek activities, most notably community service. “With representatives and presidents from every organization, Greek Council is an open forum to voice our concerns, give suggestions and discuss any pertinent issues,” Ramireddy said.
Student Life Coordinator and Greek Life Advisor Tiffanee Hopf also attends the meetings and acts as the link between students involved in Greek life and the administration. “I think it is a step in the right direction that Tiffanee Hopf was actually a member of a Greek organization,” Charles said. “The same cannot be said of her predecessor.”
Like many of the other positions in administration, Hopf’s position has been in flux for three years, with a new Greek Life Advisor for each year. “The advisor should provide a sense of continuity and structure,” Baglee said. “It’s hard to start from the ground and build it up each year.”
Lyons said the advisor should be able to validate the existence of the Greek Council on campus. “Greek Council doesn’t seem to be very legitimate in the eyes of the Oxy student body or administrators, which is something we are currently working on,” Lyons said. “It is detrimental to this goal to have the Greek Advisor replaced every year. As with each change, we take steps backwards instead of forwards. Tiffanee Hopf has made great strides in legitimizing us and looking out for our best interests.”
Other organization members agree that Greek Council is making progress. “There’s a lot of change that’s gone on,” Lewis said. “It’s come a long way though.”
Recently, the position of Greek Council President has changed hands from Phi Psi member Devon Puglia (senior) to Theta member Kimi Elguea (sophomore). Lyons thinks Elguea’s term will successfully unify the entire Greek community.
“She is dedicated and good at facilitating communication between students and administration,” Baglee said. “She has ambitious ideas and I hope they all happen.”
Often, the Greek Council runs into issues with the administration that the students oppose. One such example was the recent change of a rule regarding recruitment. Previously, pledges could visit the sorority/fraternity houses during Rush Week in the fall to get to know the organizations’ members and houses. Now, pledges cannot go off-campus and each organization instead must choose a recreation room in one of the residence halls in which to hold its Rush activities. None of the students supported this measure.
“The rules and regulations regarding Rush are ridiculously overzealous and are inappropriate for a school of Occidental’s size,” Cederberg said. “Like anything else at Oxy, Greek life encounters an inordinate amount of red tape. Greek Life should govern itself without input from the administration.”
Baglee agreed with Cederberg. “It’s hard to do anything against the administration,” Baglee said. “Once you lose a few battles, it’s very disheartening. There’s a real sense of powerlessness.”
“Too often in the recent past have Greek organizations been divided because of rules the administration implemented,” Cederberg said. “Overall, the Greek community needs to unite in telling the college administration to stay out of our business.”
However, the administration can also be helpful in supporting fraternities and sororities when they ask for it. “Our fraternity has received tremendous support from our faculty advisor and Associate Dean of Students Jonathan O’Brien, and without him, we likely would not be at Oxy,” Cederberg said. “His encouragement from the beginning has been imperative to our success. We are forever
indebted to him for all the help he has given us.”
Charles also praises Assistant Director for Student Life Kenna Cottrill for her help with Alpha. “Her enthusiasm and dedication in her role has benefitted Alpha in more ways than I can list,” Charles said.
Administrative guidance is necessary for both local and national chapters. There are important differences between local and national Greek organizations. National sororities and fraternities offer the advantage of a broader range of networking possibilities. “In college, we have contact with advisors, and after college, there are great networking opportunities,” Lewis said.
“Fraternities on our campus offer a great opportunity for guys on our campus to establish real and permanent friends and become part of an invaluable network,” Cederberg said. “I know everyone who is part of Phi Kappa Psi loves it and really benefits from being a part of the organization.”
Local organizations have their own advantages. Because Zeta is local, it has greater face-to-face involvement between alumni and the current members of the fraternity. Zeta was established in 1926 but then dwindling numbers forced them to disband in 2002. Now that the fraternity has been reestablished, alumni have come out of the woodwork to revamp the house. They also participate in alumni activities at the house to share stories of old traditions with new members. One alumna named Doris is 80 years old and still visits the house for social events.
“The alumni love coming back and they’ve done a lot, especially in terms of making the physical structure of the house strong,” Baglee said.
Delta has been an active local sorority at Occidental since 1901 (107 years, impressive for being the only chapter) and Lyons likes that the sorority lives by its own rules. “We have our own unique set of rules and do not have to abide by national standards, which makes us so much more unique and diverse in the eyes of Greek life,” Lyons said.
Sometimes national and local organizations have to compromise because of their differing regulations. “[Having our own set of rules] also can cause some conflict, however, as the nationals on our campus have certain rules that they must follow,” Lyons said. The rules are therefore set by national fraternities and sororities because of the importance placed on chapters’ continuity across the country.
Both national and local organizations participate in charity work around LA. Delta actively supports the Downtown Women’s Center for homeless women. “We like to be involved with local women’s organizations, as that is what we are,” Lyons said.
Last semester during Greek Week, the Greek community ran a canned food drive for the center that Delta supports. “[The cans] almost didn’t fit into one car,” Lyons said. The sorority also cooks food for the Employee Appreciation Luncheon at Oxy every year.
Theta is also very involved in community service, as “living in love through love towards others” is part of their sorority’s mission. In the past two years, Theta raised the most money for Relay for Life. This January, they hosted a dodgeball tournament. The proceeds from this event went directly to Court Appointed Special Advocate organization, which supports volunteers who help abused and neglected foster children in court and in the community.
Alpha is heavily involved in breast cancer awareness and charity events. Members participated in the Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer in October and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure in February. In addition, last Friday marked one of their most popular annual events on campus, Alpha Male, which raised awareness and money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
“Greek organizations at Oxy are about far more than parties, and I guarantee that if you put a little time and effort into joining one, you will not be disappointed,” Charles said.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
