TKE works hard to join the greeks

A new Greek chapter may be recognized on campus. Tau Kappa Epsilon is one of a few newer fraternities that are striving to become part of the Greek system at California State University, Stanislaus. "As of right now, Tau Kappa Epsilon is at colony status and will begin a new member program for their colony soon. Once the group meets the necessary requirements to become a chapter, they will then be able to serve on the council as well" said Tiffany Darling Gelbaum, leadership coordinator and Greek advisor at CSU Stanislaus.

Colony status for the Greek system means that they are a special interest group that has been recognized by headquarters as an upcoming group attempting to gain status as a chapter as a sorority or fraternity on campus.

A chapter is when a colony has gained status and has its club and members recognized as a part of the national fraternity or sorority council.

"We're really excited about being a colony and becoming a chapter of TKE" said Sean Brooks, president of the TKE club at CSU Stanislaus in Turlock.

If TKE becomes recognized by that national council it is highly recommended that the national fraternities collaborate together to create a North American Interfraternal Council.

The benefits of being a chapter of a national council is that Greek clubs can get support from national headquarters and also be incorporated into their nonprofit status said Brooks.

"It is a lot of work to start a new council, and buy in is so important from the organizations involved" said Gelbaum.
Getting a council together for the fraternities isn't required but is highly recommended by national councils.

The benefit of fraternities having a council would be so that they can be better organized to work together to get results. By working with each other and pulling their resources together in order to collaborate on community service projects, rush week and other programs or events they may have a bigger impact on campus.

By getting the male fraternities together they can discuss getting more projects done by working together. Rush week is very important for fraternities and sororities alike and as of now the fraternities have different dates for rush week. Through combining their efforts and making rush week the same dates for all fraternities, they can probably reach more students and get more members interested in the Greek system.

The fraternities creating their own council would serve the same as the sororities' Panhellenic council. Panhellenic is a council that deals with the only two national Panhellenic sororities on campus. The council is made up of 10 members, 5 from of Phi Sigma Sigma and 5 from Alpha Xi Delta. Because there are only two Panhellenic sororities, the sororities take turns providing a president for the Panhellenic council.

The men's Greek system is more flexible than Panhellenic. The fraternities are represented by national councils as well. Theta Chi, TKE and Nu Alpha Kappa are all represented by North-American Interfraternity Conference.

The council that oversees both fraternities and sororities that are national or local is the Greek Life United council. This council is made up of elected members from each of fraternities and sororities at the CSU Stanislaus campus. The fraternities and sororities on campus pick a certain number of people to represent them at Greek Life United and then the council makes decisions on programs, events, bylaws and delegates for other Greek activities.

There are over 350 Greeks on campus at California State University which makes up about 4 percent of the student population according to Gelbaum.