While fraternities are often depicted in popular culture as organizations for either Keystone-guzzling meatheads or rich, snobby Ivy Leaguers, two new chapters on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's campus look for something a little different in their members.
Beta Sigma Psi and Phi Kappa Theta are affiliated with the Lutheran Church and Catholic Church, respectively, and the difference is immediately apparent.
"It's nice to know that everyone in the fraternity has the same faith values as you," said Tyler Jensen, a senior construction management major and president of Beta Sigma Psi. "Plus it's just fun to go to church together as a group."
Both chapters were started in the past few years - Phi Kappa Theta was started fall of last year by the Rev. Robert Matya of the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center, 320 N. 16th St., and Beta Sigma Psi was re-chartered in 2003 after an eight-year absence. The chapter was shut down in 1995 because of low membership, but alumni worked hard to reopen it.
However, starting a fraternity isn't easy. Interested members must complete several stages before becoming an official chapter, said Linda Schwartzkopf, director of UNL's Greek Affairs.
In order to qualify, fraternities must have a membership of at least 25 people, a grade point average equal to or greater than the campus-wide all-men's average, an alumni advisory board and support of a national organization.
Beta Sigma Psi was officially chartered Sept. 4, 2006, and Phi Kappa Theta expects to be chartered this summer.
Currently, Beta Sigma Psi has 19 members, and Phi Kappa Theta counts 36. While this might seem low compared with a more traditional fraternity, Schwartzkopf said they're actually doing quite well.
"I think that, certainly, the number of students that are choosing to join Beta Sigma Psi and also Phi Kappa Theta indicate that those groups are certainly filling a need for students," she said, "and students appear to be appreciative of having the option of joining a Greek-letter organization that has a real religious focus."
In fact, most Greek letter organizations were founded to some degree on Christian principles.
Chapters like Phi Kappa Theta and Beta Sigma Psi, however, place a much greater emphasis on that heritage.
"Our goal is to be a beacon, just shine the light we believe in, our Catholic faith, our Catholic identity," said Aaron Beauclair, a sophomore mechanical engineering major and spiritual chair for Phi Kappa Theta, adding that the organization doesn't have "beer parties and stuff like that."
In fact, members caught violating the rules are punished with a probationary period and are required to perform service hours above and beyond the standard requirement.
Jensen, however, said Beta Sigma Psi takes a more flexible approach.
"It would be pretty pointless to say that nobody underage drinks because even in the dorms that happens," he said. "We kind of look at it as an individual choice. But we want to be responsible. We look out for each other."
Both cited their low chapter populations as deterrents to becoming more involved with the Greek system at large, although both have participated in social events with larger, more traditional chapters.
Neither Jensen nor Beauclair said his chapter has encountered negative stereotypes tied to their religious affiliations, but as each is still relatively new, that may change.
"If other houses view it as a negative thing, then so be it," Beauclair said. "We need to stand for what we believe in. … All we can do is our best."
For the immediate future, both chapters have the same two goals: increasing membership and securing a physical house for those members to live in.
"Until we get a house, I think it will be hard to get more than 40 members at the same time," Jensen said, "and obviously getting a house is a big goal."
The original Beta Sigma Psi house, located on Vine Street near the Acacia fraternity house, was sold to the university and converted into family housing.
"But it's hard to put a time-table on that," he said. "Fraternities don't get kicked off campus every day."
There used to be a chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu, a Jewish fraternity, at UNL, but it closed in 1990 for the same reason Beta Sigma Psi did - low membership.
Sigma Alpha Mu's house was located next to Delta Tau Delta fraternity on the corner of 16th and Vine streets. The house was torn down and converted to green space, but some have talked of building a new house there.
However, Schwartzkopf said currently there are neither available sites to build a house nor any chapter houses for sale. If a chapter chooses to leave campus due to low membership, or if its status is revoked for any reason, such as hazing, that would create a space for a house.
Additionally, the UNL Master Plan calls for an expansion of Greek housing, but that's not likely to happen for a decade or so.
When the time comes, however, each chapter want to be ready.
Beauclair said both Phi Kappa Theta and Matya are working to raise funds to build a house, as is Beta Sigma Psi.
"Hopefully when the opportunity arises," Jensen said, "we'll be in a position to be able to take advantage of that."
