DU welcomed another fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, to Greek Life this year. DU Greek Life has an abundance of fraternities and sororities, each with their own unique perks, and Pi Kappa Phi is the newest option.
Alumni consultants from Pi Kappa Phi—Austin Seller of University of Florida, and Gary Sugg, alumni of Appalachian State University—have been on campus for the past quarter to recruit and establish a chapter at DU. They have done a lot of one-on-one recruiting and had activities to answer some questions regarding the organization. They have also held chapter meetings to help get the fraternity started and have now initiated 33 members.
“Pi Kappa Phi is committed to developing students into leaders throughout their time in the fraternity,” said Seller, “and we hope to positively impact Greek life on campus as well as improve the surrounding community.”
Seller joined the organization because he had seen them make an impact for students. Pi Kappa Phi specifically works with disabled individuals under their philanthropy The Ability Experience. He continues to help by being a consultant after having graduated, “as it was too hard to pass up traveling to make an impact,” according to Seller.
Currently, the DU chapter is going through a one year period before charter. Charter is when members have a formal initiation and become officially recognized by Pi Kappa Phi. They will still be initiating members through winter quarter of next year. While the chapter is open to anyone, there is a minimum academic requirement of a 2.6 GPA and strong leadership on campus.
“The members are also committed to redefining what it means to be a fraternity member at DU,” said Seller.
According to Seller, DU seemed to be a perfect school to help integrate Pi Kappa Phi into communities. They have chapters in the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado Boulder. There was a previous chapter in the 1970s at DU that did not pass the pre-charter trial, but Pi Kappa Phi heard about an opening and wanted to come rebuild a chapter at DU.
Pi Kappa Phi has a unique history dating back to 1904. An American Greek Letter social fraternity, it was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson and Simon Fogarty Jr. at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. These men chose to lead a fraternity of their own. Starting as a Nu Phi (non-fraternity) organization, the founders abhorred that Charleston’s campus politics were run exclusively by the fraternities. Thus, the men created Nu Phi as a means to gain leadership roles within the Chrestomathic Literary Society. Disloyal factions caused Nu Phi to fail, but the organization later regrouped under Pi Kappa Phi as a way create their own niche in the community.
The Phi Kappa Phi chapter of DU, with 33 current members, hopes to grow and become leaders that define being a fraternity member. In the next few years, they hope to grow on campus and help the community by developing strong individuals who can lead with success and help the disabled in the Denver area under their philanthropy, The Ability Experience. Under this philanthropy the fraternity works with individual, chapters to serve people with disabilities. As one of their events, every year at least 125 members bike around the country to raise money and work with other organizations like Best Buddies and Special Olympics to hold awareness events. Pi Kappa Phi is currently the only fraternity to own and start their own exclusive philanthropy, which was founded in 1977 as a non-profit organization.
