AEPi attempts return to campus without administrative approval

An attempt to bring a chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity back to campus is underway without approval from the administration.

Penn’s AEPi chapter closed voluntarily in the spring of 2012 as a result of “a serious violation of the University’s anti-hazing policy,” wrote Director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Scott Reikofski in an emailed statement. AEPi’s off-campus form is best known as APES.

While some students hope to bring back the nationally-recognized AEPi to campus, Reikofski wrote, “If individuals are attempting to restart the chapter, they are doing so against OFSL procedures, in violation of University policy, and will be considered an underground, unrecognized group. The Alpha Epsilon Pi national fraternity has not received approval from the appropriate University offices to recolonize.”

Penn AEPi Founding President and College sophomore Austin Billig said that AEPi’s national organization is dealing with the details of colonization.

“I’ve really had no say in it,” he said. “It was really nationals.”

Billig was a member of UC San Diego’s chapter of AEPi before transferring to Penn this year. When the national organization heard that he was considering withdrawing from the pledging process due to his transfer, the organization contacted him about becoming a founding father at Penn. During rush season, AEPi National Director of Chapter Services Grant Bigman recruited Jewish men through Hillel and Chabad. Billig said that he hopes for the chapter to be recognized by both the Interfraternity Council and the national organization by next year.

The pledge class currently consists of 32 people, most of whom are freshmen or sophomore transfer students. The founding members are in the process of interviewing juniors and seniors to join. AEPi Treasurer and College freshman Josh Sloan described typical recruits as “people who did not enjoy the rush process” of conventional fraternities.

“We want to focus on brotherhood,” Sloan said.

“We can make our own traditions and give future generations of Penn students the opportunity to join a fraternity that has a diverse group of people with different interests, all of whom are united by their Jewish identity,” AEPi brother and College freshman Reid Jackson said.

Although the founding fathers do not yet have the support of the University, they do have the support of numerous Jewish organizations such as Hillel and Chabad. “It’s important to remember that we’re not a ‘Jewish fraternity,’” Jackson said. “We don’t discriminate when looking for new members, but the fact that we’re all Jewish brings us closer together.”

Still, AEPi has a largely Jewish membership.

“AEPi is 95 percent predominately Jewish,” Billig said. “The goals and values of the fraternity are to encourage and transform young Jewish men into leaders of tomorrow.”

Reikofski warned, however, that students seeking to join AEPi must consider the risks of joining an organization unrecognized by the University.

“Any students considering joining an underground, unrecognized group should seriously consider the implications of membership, and understand that they and the colony would be ineligible for University recognition, affiliation or support,” Reikofski said in the email.

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