Phi Gamma Delta hits campus

A new fraternity will be chartered on ECU's campus this spring.

From Jan. 28 until March 4, recruiters from the international headquarters of Phi Gamma Delta (aka "Fiji") will be on campus searching for men to become the Founding Fathers of the new chapter at ECU.

The recruitment process for Phi Gamma Delta will be primarily recommendation based and they will host events common to other Greek organizations on campus, including informational meetings, casual events and individual interviews.

Jonathan Hilliard, field secretary for the international headquarters of Phi Gamma Delta, will be one of the recruiters coming to campus.

"We want to be able to work with the other fraternities on campus and the inter-fraternity council and really want to build a fraternity that's going to model the top fraternities on campus…we'll be competing for that top spot on campus," said Hilliard.

However, they stress that they would like to bring something new to campus. Fiji director of Expansion, Jesse Hitt, said the new chapter is an opportunity for interested men to mold it into the fraternity that they would like it to be.

"It's the opportunity to create a fraternity experience that they really want to have," said Hitt. "There are no stereotypes, negative or positive. Every man who joins has the opportunity to bring his values to the table and say, 'Hey, this is what I want this fraternity to look like in the future.'"

Hilliard stated that Fiji desired to integrate with the community as much as possible and "bring something that's very diverse and well representative of the ECU campus."

"We also have a very big presence in Greenville as far as our alumni base goes. We have a couple of brothers that are on campus," he said, referring to faculty members who are a part of the organization.

They plan to reach out to the entire campus to find new brothers.

"We're tying to contact and meet with pretty much any student organization or honorary society that's willing to meet with us and see if they have anyone who they would like to recommend," Hilliard said.

Hitt also stressed Fiji's desire to reach out to the ECU community.

"We're certainly interested in meeting with any administrator or anyone that would be willing to listen."

Interested students are also welcome to contact Phi Gamma Delta representatives on their own behalf.

"We'd love to talk to [anyone interested] or exchange e-mail with them," Hilliard said.

Assistant director of Greek Life, Keith Tingley, said that there are also many reasons that ECU chose Phi Gamma Delta to be a part of the Greek life at the university.

"There's actually been about seven national fraternities that have asked to come on this campus and last year we realized that over the last seven or eight years we've kind of lost a few. We've lost groups without bringing new ones on to replace the ones that were shut down," said Tingley.

According to Tingley about 93 percent of male undergraduate students on campus are not in fraternities. He said the undergraduates in other fraternities were impressed with Fiji's desire to reach out to a new group of students.

"The main reason why the undergraduates chose this group was simply the fact that they thought they brought more to the table at this time. They really presented that they want to go after a new group of guys that we're not going after," Tingley said. "Right now we're competing for the same seven percent [and] they're going to go after the other 93."

Many scholarships will be provided to benefit students and emphasize the importance of academics. Men of all academic class levels are accepted, and those who achieve at least a 3.0 GPA in their initial semester will receive a $250 academic achievement award. Phi Gamma Delta will also offer up to $1,000 in scholarships to ECU men this semester through its White Star Scholarships program.

Phi Gamma Delta's Mission states, "Phi Gamma Delta exists to promote lifelong friendships, to reaffirm high ethical standards and values and to foster personal development in the pursuit of excellence. Phi Gamma Delta is committed to provide opportunities for each brother to develop responsibility, leadership, scholarship and social skills in order to become a fully contributing member of society."

It is headquartered in Lexington, Ky. and has over 6,500 undergraduate members in 110 chapters and 11 Delta colonies throughout the United States and Canada.

ECU will join several other chapters in the region including North Carolina State University, UNC-Wilmington, Washington and Lee University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech University.

Phi Gamma Delta information sessions will be at 6 p.m. on Feb. 3, 10 and 11 in Bate 1010. For more information about Phi Gamma Delta visit phigam.org.

Other information is available on Facebook on the "Fiji ECU" profile or the "Be a Fiji Founding Father at ECU group." Students interested in becoming a Founding Father of Phi Gamma Delta at ECU should contact Expansion Leader, Jonathan Hilliard, at 502- 592-6045 or jhilliard@phigam.org.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.