1 2 3 4 5 52 TEXAS AGGIE | MAY-JUNE 2010 AGGIENETWORK.COM ATM_3_11_greekfeat.indd 52 4/21/11 3:54 PM TEXAS AGGIE GREEKS: YESTERDAY,TODAY AND TOMORROW By Kylene Helduser ’11 1. Fraternity and sorority members of the Multicultural Greek Council gather on sorority row after the Annual Greek canned food drive. Since 2007, more than 30,000 pounds of food has been collected in partnership with local philanthropies. 2. Members of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority pose in their famous “Kappa Picker” overalls. The Kappa Pickers song and dance troupe performs at Greek events across campus. 3. During the semiannual Interfraternity Council Bid House celebration, which concludes the end of formal recruitment, members of Sigma Phi Epsilon are excited to offer their newest pledges invitations to join their fraternity. Sigma Pi Epsilon was the fi rst Greek organization to colonize at Texas A&M in 1973. 4. Brittany Burns ‘12 and Crissa Woodruff ‘11 of Chi Omega served as the Panhellenic delegates for their sorority. Each of the 12 Collegiate Panhellenic Council sororities nominates two women annually to serve as liaisons between the council, potential new members and active members. Photo by Michael Smith 5. After receiving invitations to join a sorority, women gather during Bid Day at their respective houses to PHOTO BY MICHAEL SMITH celebrate. Pictured are members of After fi ve long days of formal recruitment, The Association of Former Kappa Alpha Theta in 1981. Students hosted Bid Day 2010 on the Haynes Ring Plaza, where hundreds of potential new sorority members waited to receive their “bids” to join various Collegiate Panhellenic Council-governed chapters. AGGIENETWORK.COM MAY-JUNE 2011 | TEXAS AGGIE 53 ATM_3_11_greekfeat_4-21.indd 53 5/18/11 5:08 PM The Association of Former Students hosts the Aggie Greek Weekend Reunion at the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center, giving former and current Aggie Greeks a chance to network and reconnect. exas A&M University prides itself on being an institution unlike any other, and an important part of that uniqueness is “the other education”—the more than 800 student organizations that provide virtually unlimited opportunities to get involved and learn leadership skills. Over the past four decades, tens of thousands of Aggies have sought these opportunities through the A&M’s fraternities and sororities, a system of organizations collectively known as Greek Life. The numbers speak for themselves. Membership in Greek organizations is holding at about 12 percent of the A&M student body. The number of Aggie Greek alumni now tops 25,000. And as befi ts A&M’s unique history and culture, Tthe Greek system at A&M is unlike those at other educational institutions. They are not 1. Members of Kappa Alpha Order escort their spring 2011 pledge class down the just Greeks; they are Aggie Greeks. steps of the Jack K. Williams Systems A&M’s fraternities and sororities are visible on campus and integrated into the Administration Building. In a long-time University in a way that was once unimaginable. That integration came about through IFC Bid House tradition, new members of the hard work of hundreds of leadership-minded Aggies who took the initiative to bring each fraternity are presented to a crowd of hundreds. values-based, national Greek organizations to campus. 2. Sigma Chi fraternity struck oil in the early 1980s on the property where their fraternity Building Leaders Of Character house once stood. The Sigma Chi No. 1 well In the late 1960s, Texas A&M experienced fundamental changes to its culture and pumped 300 barrels a day. 3. Traditionally, IFC fraternities and CPC traditions. Membership in the Corps of Cadets became optional, and women were sororities team up annually for Big Event. allowed full admission. The fi rst female Aggies encountered a collegiate experience quite These three fraternity brothers from Phi different from those at historically co-ed institutions. Gamma Delta (known as the Fijis) worked “Women who attended A&M at that time were real trailblazers, true leaders,” said with Chi Omega sorority in the local community. Greek Life Director and Pi Beta Phi alumnus Ann Goodman, who has spent more than 4. National Pan-Hellenic Council student 23 years working to make Greek Life at Texas A&M fl ourish. “The women at that time leaders participated in fall 2010 in the sought to create a niche, a place they could call home.” annual African American Student Leadership These trailblazers quickly discovered that Texas A&M at that time offered virtually Institute retreat, which cultivates leadership and professional skills. no formal organizations specifi cally for women, and many felt as though they were 5. New and active members of Delta Delta left to make connections and build networks on their own. A group of about 50 local Delta sorority enjoy their 1983 Bid Day. women who had had Greek experiences at other universities sought to address that need by bringing a handful of nationally anchored Greek sororities to the male-dominated campus of Texas A&M, providing opportunities for Aggie women to get involved. With their help, nine off-campus sororities had been chartered by 1975. The next step for these sorority women was to seek housing and meeting space, similar to “sorority rows” at other universities. In 1978, three chapters applied for and eventually received construction permits from the College Station Planning and Zoning Commission. They planned a “Greek village,” complete with Greek-themed street names such as Athens Drive and Olympia Way. A plot was eventually staked 54 TEXAS AGGIE | MAY-JUNE 2011 AGGIENETWORK.COM ATM_3_11_greekfeat.indd 54 4/21/11 3:54 PM PHOTO BY JERREN WILLIS 1 3 2 4 5 AGGIENETWORK.COM TEXAS AGGIE | MAY-JUNE 2010 55 ATM_3_11_greekfeat.indd 55 4/21/11 3:56 PM out, and today Bryan-College Station apply people’s specifi c skillsets to 20,000. But not all Aggies reacted with is home to 12 sorority houses. The certain leadership positions in the enthusiasm to the success of the various sorority women of A&M had gained a fraternity was vital to its success. Greek organizations on campus. place to meet and call home. We got together, looked around at A dominant issue was whether But Aggie women weren’t the everybody and asked, ‘Who’s going to these fraternal organizations should only ones seeking interaction and do what?’” be recognized as offi cial student involvement opportunities outside At this time, the A&M fraternity organizations. Fraternities, lacking the the Corps of Cadets. Many young and sorority chapters had little sororities’ housing and meeting spaces, non-reg males also wanted similar formal relationship to the University were more eager for that to happen; opportunities. Scott Kleberg ’80, hierarchy. Meetings took place off they sought formal recognition in a founding father of Phi Gamma campus, membership pushes were order to be able to use campus meeting Delta and today a board member strictly through word of mouth, places, to advertise on campus and to for The Association of Former and the student leaders were self- get cheaper rates for advertisements in Students, attributes the formation of starters with minimal support from the student newspaper, The Battalion. his fraternity to a desire to exercise administration. Even so, membership Sororities were less enthusiastic about leadership skills among his pledge skyrocketed. formal recognition, unsure about brothers. “It was the fi rst time that giving up ultimate fi nancial oversight there was something to be involved Seeking Respect to the A&M’s Student Finance Center. in, other than the Corps, for young And Recognition “When I joined Alpha Delta Pi, men. A real group for us to lead, all A&M’s small Greek community grew it was fall of 1984 and sororities on our own,” he said. “When we fi rst to an estimated 2,000 students by the were already well-established,” said got together as a group, there weren’t early 1980s, paralleling the growth of Jennifer Lindsay ’88, a member of The Association of Former Students Board very many of us, so learning how to the entire student body to more than of Directors.. “They had been around for nearly 10 years and had a ‘sorority AGGIE GREEKS AT A GLANCE row’ of houses to live and meet in. Division of Student Affairs There wasn’t quite the negative vibe toward us that surrounded the fraternities. The University was Department of Greek Life incredibly accepting of women at that time and wanted them to have a place to get involved, whereas the main activity for men was the Corps of Cadets.” She recalled the slogan on a popular COLLEGIATE INTERFRATERNITY NATIONAL MULTICULTURAL PANHELLENIC COUNCIL COUNCIL PAN-HELLENIC COUNCIL GREEK COUNCIL T-shirt seen all over campus: “Rent a (Sorority Chapters) (Fraternity Chapters) (Historically African (Multicultural Fraternity Friend, Join a Frat.” American Fraternity & & Sorority Chapters) Sorority Chapters) The same year of Lindsay’s sorority initiation, other nontraditional student organizations were struggling to • ALPHA CHI OMEGA • ALPHA GAMMA RHO • ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA • BETA TAU OMEGA gain offi cial recognition on campus. • ALPHA DELTA PI • BETA THETA PI • ALPHA PHI ALPHA • BETA XI CHI Favorable court rulings emboldened • CHI PHI • KAPPA ALPHA PSI • CHI UPSILON SIGMA • CHI OMEGA fraternity leaders who hopefully • DELTA CHI • OMEGA PSI PHI • CHI PSI BETA • DELTA DELTA DELTA and enthusiastically sought formal • DELTA KAPPA EPSILON • PHI BETA SIGMA • DELTA EPSILON PSI recognition as well. In 1985, the • DELTA GAMMA DELTA SIGMA PHI • • SIGMA GAMMA RHO • DELTA KAPPA DELTA National Pan-Hellenic Council—an DELTA ZETA • DELTA TAU DELTA • • ZETA PHI BETA • DELTA PHI OMEGA organization of traditionally black • FARMHOUSE • GAMMA PHI BETA • DELTA XI NU fraternities—applied for and received • KAPPA ALPHA ORDER GAMMA BETA • KAPPA ALPHA THETA • recognition.