Changes have come to Greek Life at Oakland University in the last month as fraternities are expanding and gaining recognition from their nationals and from OU. 

Tau Kappa Epsilon recently finished the process of gaining their charter at OU, becoming a full chapter. Vice President Josh Bray said that to finally have a charter is relief, after all the work that everyone put in. 

In addition to making a massive recruitment drive over the past year to reach the requisite number of members, Tau Kappa Epsilon has needed to meet requirements for philanthropy, member involvement, and GPA. 

Bray says now that they’re chartered, they’ll be able to have larger philanthropy events, and they plan on doing a social with every Greek organization. 

Only five months ago, Kevin Friesmuth started the Student Leader Athlete Gentlemen (SLAG) student interest group. Now they have been approved as a fraternity on OU’s campus, evolving into a Pi Kappa Alpha colony on March 20. 

Friesmuth transferred to OU from Kettering University where he was already a brother of Pi Kappa Alpha. 

“I came from a campus where 80 percent of the campus was Greek,” Friesmuth said. 

Friesmuth said he’s had to adjust to OU’s campus where Greeks make up only 3 percent of the student body, while at Kettering Greeks “would spend $5,000 on rush.” 

“We’re comprised of a lot of individuals that have been on campus two or three years and they haven’t joined a fraternity,” Friesmuth said. “But when they heard about Pikes and what we do, they joined up.” 

Pi Kappa Alpha has 22 members and will be confirming more soon. Pi Kappa Alpha, or the Pikes for short, hope to become a fully chartered chapter next semester by recruiting a total of 55 members, among other things. 

“We set a lofty goal for ourselves,” Friesmuth said. 

Friesmuth said they plan to push for a Greek unification and making Greek life more publicized on campus. He also hopes they can help to enrich campus life by doing two things: expanding Greek involvement, and getting OU a football team. 

Friesmuth said a football team would help people get more involved on campus, and bring more students to live on campus, to live closer to it. 

“If we had a football team, I would be there at every game, body painted, jumping around,” Friesmuth said. 

Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s recent efforts to get football at OU haven’t made any headway into the project, but Friesmuth said he would “without a doubt” be open to the idea of working with SAE to make it happen.