Greek Advisor Tom Stephens is gearing up for a victory against his alma mater, Southeastern. Stephens says he has already called Southeastern’s sororities, fraternities, student affairs and alumni federation to invite them to a friendly rivalry.

“It will be outstanding when we win,” Stephens says.

The rivalry between the two schools is great because both universities are made of students with similar backgrounds, Stephens says. There are students from this area attending Southeastern, and there are students from Hammond and the surrounding areas attending Nicholls, Stephens says.

Stephens says there are similar chapters of sororities and fraternities at both universities, making it easy to incorporate a friendly rivalry between the two universities.

The universities share the same consistency with their traditions for Homecoming week, Stephens says. As Nicholls uses its geography to help promote the Homecoming week with the pirogue races in the bayou, Southeastern also uses its natural surroundings to engage students in its Homecoming week with more rustic country-type events such as hayrides, Stephens says.

“Homecoming is that core front of University belonging,” Stephens says. “It’s the biggest game of the year.”

Stephens was involved in many of Southeastern’s Homecoming events during his days as a student. He was a fraternity president, he played football but was injured his first semester, and he became Southeastern’s mascot his senior year, he says.

“A friend challenged me to be the mascot, so I became the Lion,” Stephens says.

At Nicholls Stephens is in charge of the Homecoming parade and serves on the alumni and student committees.

Stephens has been a part of the Nicholls community for two months. He came from Tulane after Hurricane Katrina brought damage to the area. At Tulane he was the Director of Community Service and Greek Affairs. As the Greek adviser at Nicholls, Stephens advises the Greek population on Rush and community service activities.