 "Photo: Courtesy of Alpha Epsilon Pi")
The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi were recognized as an official USC fraternity after a vote by the Interfraternity Council Monday.
The IFC gave Alpha Epsilon Pi the two-thirds majority it needed to be included on campus after it gave a 30-minute presentation. This was the group’s first attempt at joining campus officially.
“We are worthy of being on campus,” said Alpha Epsilon Pi President Dan Jacobs.
Jacobs, a fourth-year sports and entertainment student, said he’s still in shock about the vote.
“We’re really happy to be on campus,” Jacobs said.
Though the fraternity was just added into USC’s Greek Life, the Gamma Chi chapter has been around since 2007. Seven founding fathers were inducted at UNC-Chapel Hill in April 2007, but three transferred to other schools, leaving four to start recruiting at USC. Evan Lowsky, Joel Levinson, Justin Schlacterman and David Singer remained of the seven and recruited Jonathan Bolt, Brett Goldfine, Daniel Jacobs, Ben Salton, Robert Snyder, Matt Ungar and Evan Zilber in fall 2007.
Alpha Epsilon Pi was formally started in 1914 at the School of Commerce of New York University as an organization to bring young, Jewish men together.
Salton, Alpha Epsilon Pi executive board member, said one of Alpha Epsilon Pi’s goals is to help advance the Jewish community in Columbia.
Jacobs said all members are also involved with Hillel, USC’s organization for Jewish students. He thinks being together with brothers of a similar faith is helpful because they share similar backgrounds and pasts.
“The majority of the brothers look at Judaism as a culture and a lifestyle,” Jacobs said. “I think that’s what makes us get along so well.”
Though Alpha Epsilon Pi is an international Jewish fraternity, people of other religions can join.
“We’re more than happy to have them,” Jacobs said.
The fraternity started with seven members and has grown to the 23 members it has today through hard work. The members of the fraternity moved their chapter headquarters from an apartment to a house off Devine Street.
“We all worked our butts off to get to this point,” said Salton, a third-year broadcast journalism student. “We really bonded together to create a tight group. It’s crazy how much we’ve grown.”
The fraternity is planning to recruit a lot of new members in the fall.
“We look to grow a lot in the next couple years now that we’re on campus,” Salton said.
