Compared to most universities, the Greek community at Fort Hays includes a relatively small portion of the campus population. What most students fail to realize, however, is that Greek Life is expanding at FHSU more and more every year.
In the spring of 2015, Fort Hays Greek Life welcomed the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority to campus, and the existing sororities and fraternities eagerly welcomed the chance to expand the Greek community. The addition brought many new opportunities to Greek Life and to FHSU as a whole.
This semester, the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity is making its way to campus and appears to be receiving a similar reaction from the Greek community. Jacob Ternes, the Greek Life Advisor at FHSU, shared that members of Greek Life seem to be nervous, but still excited about the addition. “Change is always a little scary, and bringing on a new chapter can be nerve-racking, but overall I think everyone is excited for our community to grow and be a larger part of the campus culture.”
The decision to bring Alpha Kappa Lambda to campus was made because the Interfraternity Council was interested in expanding and reaching out to more students at FHSU. “Growing is an important part of a fraternity community. Adding a new chapter will mean new energy, new ideas and new excitement across all of our chapters.” One of the reasons Alpha Kappa Lambda was chosen was because they had previously had a chapter on this campus.
Alpha Kappa Lambda at FHSU was originally founded in 1946 as a colony of the Kappa Sigma Kappa Fraternity. In 1962, KSK shut down and that chapter became Alpha Kappa Lambda. The last year that AKL was active at Fort Hays was 1990. Due to the amount of alumni of the fraternity that still live around this area, it should make the process of rechartering easier.
Jeremy Roberson, a consultant for AKL, will be on campus starting February 1st to begin recruiting student members.
Greek students at Fort Hays seem to be looking forward to the addition of a new fraternity, and all of the benefits it will bring to Greek Life. “The more we can do to show a positive light on Greek Life, the better. I think bringing in a new organization will inject some new energy and excitement into all of our chapters and we will see everyone grow.”