Phi Kappa Tau Adds Two Colonies

June 2, 2009
Oxford Ohio

Phi Kappa Tau recently established a colony at the University of Michigan-Flint and re-colonized Epsilon Epsilon chapter at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. Both groups are focused on the future with Phi Kappa Tau.

UM-Flint
With a simple idea, a little ambition and a lot of collaboration, John Ettinger and Brian Welch, were able to erect a new colony on the Flint campus.

“At first we were kind of joking, but it didn't take long to really consider the idea,” Ettinger explained. “[At first] we thought we should start our own fraternity, something more fitting for us.”

To them, Phi Kappa Tau’s emphasis on individual character and commitment to brotherhood set the Fraternity apart from the rest.

“We really wanted something more refined and specific, something distinct, and we've found that in Phi Kappa Tau,” Ettinger said.

After establishing the core values the pair wanted in a fraternity, Ettinger and Welch began networking with friends and peers on campus to spark interest and find “like-minded” men to represent Phi Tau. A little more than a year since Ettinger and Welch’s original idea of starting a fraternity, UM-Flint is host to a Phi Kappa Tau colony.

Despite the successful colonization, Ettinger has bigger plans for the future of Phi Tau and greek life on campus.

“Obviously, the main goal for the colony is chartering,” he said. “We want to be halfway to our necessary roster before fall ’09 starts and we're just a little shy of it right now. In the bigger picture, we want to dispel clichés, grow greek life on campus and show there's a place for everyone if you're willing to try.”

William Paterson
In the late 1990s, Epsilon Epsilon chapter experienced a laundry list of issues, despite the best efforts of alumni. As a result of continuing struggles, the chapter eventually had its charter pulled a few years later. 

“That was a big wake up call for me,” Sean Hopkins, William Paterson ’89, explained. “I reached out to the undergrads and national office, but was told to wait five years to cleanse the campus and start new, with all new membership. I marked my calendar for 2007 and started back to work.”

From there, Hopkins and other involved alumni got things underway and began the re-colonization of Epsilon Epsilon chapter.

Even with an eager group of Phi Tau alumni, Hopkins knew that re-colonizing would be a long and arduous process. With the help of Domain Director Scott Brown, College of New Jersey ’91, Hopkins formed a Board of Governors in order to reconnect with alumni for support, and then developed a business plan for establishing a presence on campus.

“We had a couple of interest meetings we set up, but the real stroke of luck was in reaching out to Rutgers, who in turn sent up two members to a pretty much failed event,” Hopkins said. “One of them had a close friend, John Anillo, and once interested himself, he in turn enlisted his roommate Bekim Abazoski. Bekim ran with the ball and from there really laid the ground work and helped us set up interest meetings and brought us our first interested men.”

With the foundation in place, the newly reformed Epsilon Epsilon colony still has many challenges. The group of men who will come back in the fall will need to learn their leadership roles.

Hopkins explained that the new members will “switch from having weekly associate meetings to having Resident Council meetings and will need to immerse themselves in that process, as well. The more quality guys they bring in to help, the easier it will be to get up and running.”

As the colony’s first full year approaches, it has recognized a number of important goals, such as expanding its membership, reaching out to interested students and connecting undergraduate students with alumni.

According to Hopkins, the most important part of this experience for both students and alumni is “the idea that we have a history and tradition, not just at the national level, but also at the local level, and that is important to a lot of alumni that have come before. Hopefully their experiences will blend with ours and we can all tap into that rich tradition that makes us brothers of Phi Kappa Tau.”