Former IFC president expresses concerns over PIKE’s colonization

Former Interfraternity Council president, William Carothers, expresses his concerns about Nicholls hosting the colonization process of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity this semester.

Part of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), a small fraternity on campus, William Carothers fears the anticipated inclusion will negatively affect the Nicholls fraternities.

“The fraternity system is already spread so thin that it cannot take another chapter. We also have a wonderful community and relationship between the fraternities on campus, and none of us would wish for another fraternity to be forced off by the new kid on the block.”

In an attempt to be recognized in the university’s greek community, PIKE representatives will host colonization meetings on campus to present the fraternity to students who can potentially become future members.

The university’s IFC, responsible for overseeing the fraternity life and making recommendations accordingly, resisted the addition of a new fraternity to Nicholls greek life. Carothers, however, is not convinced the faculty took any of their suggestions into consideration and believes that PIKE fraternity will eventually join Nicholls Greek community.

According to Carothers, the primary purpose of adding PIKE to Nicholls campus is to appeal to the hand-full of possible PIKE legacies and their PIKE alumni relatives. He explained that the council opposed the new addition because the number of active fraternity members on campus is significantly small, which can lead to the extinction of smaller fraternities chapters on campus.

“We have an estimated 350 people in the 3 sororities, while we have an estimated 150-170 people active in the 5 fraternities, with 3 of those 5 having less than 20 members.”

Carothers explained that the reality is different with Nicholls sororities. Because of the over saturated sororities on campus, the IFC was in favor of incorporating Gamma Phi Beta Sorority into their university’s greek community.

The colonization process was described by Carothers as “a semester long trial run” of the fraternity on campus.

To become established on campus, the IFC requires every fraternity to reach a membership of at least twenty students with a scholastic average of 2.5 for preceding semester, to have at least one University faculty or Staff advisor, to draft a written list of objective and a summary of progress toward these objective and to earn a record of satisfactory attendance at meetings if the Interfraternity Council for one semester.

To achieve this goal, two PIKE representatives, Erik Fournier and Eric Beagle, will host colonization meetings to educate male Nicholls students on the fraternity and to receive feedback from them this semester.

According to Nicholls events section, a few colonization meetings are scheduled on Nicholls campus, however the January 22 meeting did not take place.

Another PIKE colonization meeting will be held on January 29 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Century Room of the Bollinger Memorial Student Union.