Students grateful for the opportunity

By Bunny Lebowski ‘72

Wearer of Many hats

Submitting an eight-page essay, completing 130 hours of community service and obtaining a GPA above 3.85 are among the qualifications required for students wishing to apply to form a new Greek organization on campus.

During the open forum held on Tuesday, a college administrator stated with a smirk, “The process is fairly simple and we will welcome all organizations that make it to the end.”

Once all of the qualifications are met, the application process begins with a series of challenges to ensure the students “embody the values of Lafayette College.”

The challenges include winning a jeopardy-style game to prove their academic prowess, completing a boot-camp obstacle course in under eight minutes to prove their physical fitness and sipping—not chugging—a single glass of cabernet sauvignon to prove their ability to drink responsibly.

Students also promise to donate four gallons of blood and their first-born son.

“We have been training for months,” said Zack Brunder ’16,a representative from Chi Phi, before going on to explain that he is confident they will be able to pass all of the challenges.

But an email correspondence between the director of the application process and her secretary shows any fraternity’s confidence might be misguided. In said correspondence, forwarded to The Lafayette by an anonymous source, the director wrote, “We didn’t think they’d go through with the Vineyard Vines bonfire.”

The application process only allows one organization to apply at a time.To determine which organization will attempt the application process first, the administration will host a competition.

Little is known about the format of the competition other than a statement released which said the competition “incorporates a merit-based system and embraces the diversity of our campus.”

When asked if she believed Chi Phi was most likely to be victorious, President Alison Byerly only said, “May the odds be ever in their favor.”