Author: Riley Kimball and Martha Carol
First-years Julian Eubanks, Jai Levin, Evan Choate and Sam Boland began working this past month to establish a new fraternity, Kappa Sigma, which they project will officially begin operations by the spring of 2011. The future Kappa members contacted the national organization of Kappa Sigma and are in the process of establishing a colony, or test chapter, of Kappa Sigma.
This will be the first new Greek organization at Oxy since Phi Kappa Psi began in 2005, but not the first time Kappa Sigma has had a chapter on Oxy’s campus. Kappa Sigma would be the seventh Greek organization at Oxy.
Within these initial efforts to become a chapter, the hopeful Kappa Sigmas are working to gather the requisite 25 initial fraternity members to officially join Kappa Sigma and have been in communication with a Kappa Sigma representative. Eubanks, Choate and Levin hope to be ready to rush first-years from the class of ’14 by spring of 2011. The founders of the group have not yet applied to be recognized as an official club of Occidental or a member of the Greek Council.
“Kappa Sigma will be speaking with Oxy officials over the summer,” Levin said.
Assistant Director of Student Activities and Greek Life Devon MacIver said that he had not heard about this potential organization before these reporters inquired into the school’s position on the matter. MacIver questioned whether the potential fraternity could reach its intended timeline and be accepted into Greek Council.
“Based on what I’ve seen of [the current] men’s organizations and their recruitment, [becoming a functioning chapter by the spring] is way too soon. Ultimately. if the fraternities are open to it. I think the administration is open to it. That’s where it begins – the chapters on campus,” MacIver said. “I’d be really interested to see if the men interested in Kappa Sigma have gone through the recruitment process and seen what the chapters we have here on campus are or if this is just something they have decided.”
Eubanks, Levin, Choate and Boland report that they did not participate in rush this year.
MacIver also reported that Occidental students had formed a chapter of Kappa Sigma in the past but severed ties with the organization. “It was about in the ’60s or ’70s – the [Kappa Sigmas] tried to pledge a minority student and their national office wouldn’t let them. So they actually disassociated and became a local organization . . . back then it was a very white, male- driven organization. And so I think later in the ’60s the membership kind of died out and they just dissolved,” MacIver said.
Kappa Sigma is a national fraternity that has chapters in colleges and universities across the United States. Locally, Kappa Sigma has branches at UCLA, Loyola-Marymount, USC and over 250 other schools. The organization annually has more initiates and logs more service hours than any other fraternity in the U.S., according to the Kappa Sigma national Web site. Notable alumni of the organization include Bob Dole, Jimmy Buffett, Robert Redford, Ted Turner and Edward R. Murrow.
According to Choate, Eubanks and Levin, the tenets of Kappa Sigma include leadership, fellowship, scholarship and service. They plan to focus their events around philanthropy, although much of the organization is still under development. “[Our events are] to be determined once we have all the guys. The fraternity is going to be what we make it,” Levin said.
Eubanks and Levin decided to open a Kappa Sigma chapter because the national organization attracted them more than Occidental’s existing fraternities.
“No disrespect to the other frats, but we just didn’t feel personally attracted. [Kappa Sigma] kind of just spoke out to us,” Levin said. “We felt like there weren’t really a lot of options around campus, and so we wanted to establish something else.” Some members of the Greek system are generally supportive of Levin and Eubanks’s initiative.
“I think it could be beneficial to our campus to have a more diverse assortment of fraternities. We have a range of sororities and I think more frats could be good,” said Leanne Rotman (junior), an Alpha sister.
Others are more dubious.
“Starting a new fraternity is a larger undertaking than I think that they realize,” said Jeff Leslie (sophomore), a Phi Psi brother and vice president for social affairs on the Greek Council. “It’s a great idea, but I would strongly encourage them to come out and explore the existing greek organizations before they try and bring another to campus.”
Eubanks, Levin, Choate and Boland are in the process of contacting the surrounding community to gain support for the fraternity.
“We’re actually contacting alumni in the area and looking to see if any of them can help us out with acquiring a house,” said Levin.
To become Kappa Sigmas, the potential chapter members must fill out a Founding Father Pledge Form which provides information about initial group members.
“We’re still looking for members and for anyone interested,” said Levin. He hopes that by the time they receive a charter from the national Kappa Sigma organization, they will have a solid foundation of students.
“For the most part, we are freshmen, but we welcome sophomores and juniors,” he said.
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