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By Geoff Smith
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 29, 1996
The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity has come to Tucson this week in hopes of expanding to the UA campus.
John Chafin and Jason Dove, expansion consultants for Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, are on campus to recruit men for the fraternity's new chapter at the University of Arizona and to establish relations with UA Greek life. Recruitment will not begin until the conclusion of UA formal rush.
"We are looking for 20 to 25 founding fathers," Chafin said. "We are looking for men with commitment to community service, scholastic achievement and leadership."
Chafin and Dove are currently contacting students who have expressed interest to the fraternity's national office or have been identified by UA faculty as possible members.
Potential members will go through an interview process and should be willing to contribute between two and three hours a week, officers, between eight and 10. Yearly dues, probably will be about $200.
Chafin said once a core group has been found, the group will go through a one-week training program designed to develop brotherhood, leadership and officer training.
"We are giving students an opportunity to walk right into leadership roles and impact the development and tradition of a brand new organization," Chafin said. "You just can't get that opportunity by joining a fraternity that is already up and running."
Timothy Holman, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is one of the Tucson area Phi Kappa Tau alumni who will act as advisers to the new group.
"There are some obvious obstacles that this group must overcome," Holman said. "These guys have to find out for themselves what it means to be a part of this fraternity. There are no real role models for this group to follow. They have to start from scrat ch."
Jennifer Jones, assistant director of Greek Life programs, said the fraternity was one of two national fraternities to receive invitations for expansion to the UA. Phi Kappa Psi joined the campus last fall.
Jones said that three years ago, a Greek Life expansion committee began to review materials from fraternities who wished to expand to the UA. The committee ranked the fraternities they considered for expansion and eventually invited Phi Kappa Psi and Phi Kappa Tau to come to campus.
"These two fraternities went through all the proper channels," Jones said, "they didn't just crash on our doorstep. The Greek system appreciates when organizations go through all the proper channels and they have been very welcoming to the two new fratern ities."
Several years ago, the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity showed up on campus without an invitation and tried to set up a chapter. Jones said its sudden arrival got little support from the Greek community and the chapter folded in six months.
Ryan Anderson, vice president of membership for the Interfraternity Council, said the IFC was "very excited" to have Phi Kappa Tau on campus.
"This is not only a sign that the UA is an environment that other fraternities want to come to," Anderson said,"but we now have new opportunities for more men to take part in Greek Life."
Phi Kappa Tau was founded in 1906 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Originally founded as the Non-Fraternity Association, an alternative to Miami's' Greek social organizations, the group eventually decided it would be better for recruiting purposes to establish Greek letters. Phi Kappa Tau is still known as the non-frat-f raternity.
The fraternity has 92 chapters and chapters nationwide with an undergraduate membership of more than 3,500 and an alumni membership of more than 70,000. Phi Kappa Tau, which is strong in the Midwest and growing in the South, is currently working on increa sing its numbers in the West. The fraternity is also currently starting a chapter at Arizona State University.
Chafin said the Phi Kappa Tau Foundation has over $9 million in assets, making it one of the five richest fraternities of the 63 National Interfraternity Conference fraternities. The foundation contributes over $300,000 annually to leadership development programs, and $60,000 in scholarships.
The fraternity is best known as a contributor to Paul Newman's Hole In the Wall Gang Camps, a summer camp experience for critically ill children, and for the Together Everyone Accomplishes More, discovery leadership conferences which Phi Kappa Tau and Del ta Gamma sorority sponsor nationally.
Interested students should contact Chafin through the Department of Student Programs in Memorial Student Union, Room 101, or by calling the national office at (513) 523-4193.
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