Pi Kappa Phi fraternity to return to campus

In 2004, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity left UNC because it didn’t have enough members.

Saturday, the chapter returns to campus with 55 new brothers.

The recolonized fraternity will be entering a Greek system in the middle of a serious re-evaluation of its relationship with the University.

Pi Kappa Phi gave its charter back to its national organization in 2004 because of dwindling membership and an inability to meet national dues requirements.

With a house near Finley Golf Course — more than two miles away from the fraternity courts adjacent to campus, where most of the University’s fraternity life is centered — the fraternity had a hard time recruiting new members.

But now, the fraternity is strong and ready to re-charter.

“We’ve been preparing for this week for the past year,” said Todd Stacy, president of Pi Kappa Phi at UNC. “We had to show the national organization that we could be a successful and thriving chapter on this campus.”

The process of rebuilding the fraternity began one year ago, when members of Pi Kappa Phi’s national organization came to UNC to test student interest on campus. Curt Herzog, director of chapter development for Pi Kappa Phi, said students were self-recruiting after one week on campus.

Today, after solidifying the founding fathers, 55 men will re-charter the fraternity. They wrote their own constitution and bylaws and determined what shape they wanted the fraternity to take.

“That was the biggest selling point for me,” said Blake Zanardi, secretary of UNC’s chapter. “It gives us the opportunity to create something out of nothing and create something that’s not confined by stereotypes.”

In order to receive a charter from the national organization, the brothers of UNC’s chapter had to first meet University and national standards. At the University level, this meant the men had to establish themselves as an interest group with the Interfraternity Council, acquire a faculty adviser and an alumni adviser and prove their ability to recruit students.

“It’s been a challenge, but we’ve done it in a remarkable time,” Zanardi said.

Before receiving the charter, the brothers had to pass a written history test and oral exams evaluating chapter strength.

“You don’t get the charter just by doing the checklist,” Stacy said.

After completing the tests and the initiation ceremony, Pi Kappa Phi will receive its national charter in a banquet tomorrow evening at the Carolina Inn.

Jenny Levering, assistant dean of student life for fraternities and sororities, said the addition of a new fraternity on campus changes the Greek landscape by making things a bit busier in her office and by giving some students another option to consider.

“With an old Greek system that’s been around since 1851, it brings a new energy to the system and that’s exciting,” she added.

Although UNC’s previous chapter of Pi Kappa Phi closed, Levering said the previous failure would not necessarily determine the new chapter’s success.

“If they do the fraternity right, which they have set themselves up to do, they could be a contributing factor to positive change within the Greek culture at UNC,” Levering said.

The brothers of Pi Kappa Phi hope to do just that. Zanardi and Stacy hope to dispel stereotypes surrounding fraternities and to establish something positive.

“We want to be known as the gentleman’s fraternity,” Zanardi said.



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