Greek life on Colorado Mesa University’s campus is different from larger campuses in Colorado. The groups at CMU live on campus and their numbers are smaller than most other chapters. Yet, over the past several years, the Greek life at CMU has grown and seems likely to expand with the campus.
CMU has two fraternities, Kappa Sigma and Theta Xi. There are also two sororities, Alpha Sigma Alpha and Gamma Phi Beta. Kappa Sigma is the largest fraternity, with chapters in both the United States and Canada. This fraternity has four pillars that it focuses on: scholarship, fellowship, leadership and service. They hold yearly fundraisers and events to give to many organizations, including Relay for Life.
Alfredo Martinez, president of Kappa Sigma fraternity, explained their main purpose. “We strive to give back to the community and to grow and become better men,” he said.
Theta Xi is one of the oldest North American fraternities. The organization works to grow the social and educational development of its members.
Alpha Sigma Alpha values community interaction. Some of the events that ASA participates in include the Special Olympics. ASA’s goal is to develop and build women of poise and purpose. They host activities such as sister nights, weekly business meetings, formals and semi-formals.
Gamma Phi Beta works to build confident women. This sorority follows four core values: love, labor, learning and loyalty.
The four Greek life organizations interact with the community and host events on campus. They all reside in the North Avenue Residence Hall.
“We like the idea of on-campus housing, but we have a hard time filling the floor,” Hannah Kois, Alpha Sigma Alpha’s president, said.
With a smaller campus, it is difficult to recruit members to house a whole floor. Hannah and Alfredo both agreed that on-campus housing isn’t always the most ideal situation for their organizations.
“The school doesn’t always take account of the number of members, which varies for multiple reasons,” said Martinez. These groups are housed on campus because off-campus housing would require more established housing with a more consistent number of members. For now, Greek life housing will remain on campus.
To gain more members, each house recruits members and participates rush week. Each fraternity and sorority does different things to get new members, which include tabling and advertising on their websites. To join a sorority or fraternity, a student must register for recruitment. For the fraternities, rush week is Sept. 4-8, and for the sororities, it is Sept. 13-17.
The rise of CMU will likely trigger a rise in the sororities and fraternities on campus. The more students who join the Maverick family, the more opportunities Greek life will have to expand.
