My Experiences Starting a Fraternity

Greek life - and fraternities specifically, have historically been known as quite immature and dangerous. The cases alleged against fraternities all across the country in regards to sexual assault, hazing and binge drinking have been heavily reported. Knowing these facts, why would I have made the decision to start a fraternity?

As I developed and grew during my time in college, I began to place more and more emphasis on my intentions to support and build a strong Jewish Community at school. I had already done this with friends to relative success with our Jewish Students Organization, Hillel, I felt that we could take a step farther in provide a core experience for Jewish students. In the case of Alpha Epsilon Pi, that experience was for Jewish men.

Myself, alongside six other driven and passionate Jewish students, reached out to the AEPi fraternity to become chartered. We were officially established as the Chi Pi Colony of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity on October 30th, 2024. From the start, we had established this chapter as a place to build and support a strong Jewish Community at Cal Poly Pomona.

Not only was my time starting, maintaining and participating in this fraternity miles away from the “traditional” idea and experiences of fraternities, but it was also much more work than I had previously thought. I brought my skills and talents to the Rush Chair position of our chapter. The Rush Chair is a position that many greek organizations have. The Rush Chair is the head of recruitment, and is tasked with organizing a “rush week” to recruit incoming students during the start of the Fall and Spring semesters.

Overall, my time starting, building and maintaining this fraternity is something that I will never regret, and while it was a lot of work and had many bumps in the road, will have achieved my ultimate goal at school: Building a strong Jewish community for years to come.