Students have more social options
STEPHANIE N. HENSCHEL
Staff Writer
Alpha Epsilon Pi, an Arizona State University fraternity, has some competition.
Formerly the only Jewish fraternity on campus, AEPi will now have to share ASU's Jewish brotherhood with Sigma Alpha Mu.
The SAMs were colonized at a recent alumni breakfast on Oct. 9 at Leo's Deli in Scottsdale. Alumni from all over the country who now reside in Phoenix attended the event, along with the founding members of the ASU colony.
According to Jarred Elias, president of the new colony, it all began with "10 guys who wanted something different socially on campus."
"It gives people a second choice," he continues. "They can choose between the different environments that the two organizations have to offer."
The group is very excited about founding the organization and will start recruiting now they have been colonized.
"I think it's pretty cool because we can sculpt it to be what we want it to be and it's ours," Ian Elias, Jarred's younger brother says.
Asher Cohen, president of AEPi, is optimistic about the incoming fraternity.
"I'm open for another Jewish fraternity, to help make the Jewish population grow and to give more opportunities," Cohen says. "I'd love to meet some of the guys that are going to be a part of it."
AEPi has been a chapter on ASU's campus since 1951. Cohen says the mission of the group is to give back to the Jewish community and to learn to be a leader in the community.
"A lot of people were in BBYO or AZA previously in high school and they had a great time with that," Cohen, a business and psychology sophomore, says. Joining the frat just enhances the Jewish experience.
Jewish women can also go Greek. Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi welcomes anyone interested in Judaism into its sisterhood.
The sorority started in 2002, when an interest group was formed.
Until that point, the National Jewish Sororities were not interested in coming to ASU, according to SAEPi founding sister Alana Caplan.
"There was really no place for Jewish women to come together," Caplan says.
The group found an SAEPi chapter at University of California-Davis that was felt would fit the needs of ASU's Jewish women. The group, now up to 25 sisters and several in the process of pledging, affiliated with the UC-Davis group and was deemed the Alpha chapter.
The sorority, like its male counterparts, partners with both Chabad and Hillel for events, as well as other sororities and fraternities on campus.
Contact the writer here
|