Lilly Steger
Video by Logan Lukacs
On February 9th, approximately sixty alumni, representing ten chapters, and five Executive Office staff members gathered at the Hyatt Regency in Raleigh, North Carolina, to recharter the Chi chapter. From 8am Saturday morning until late that afternoon, Phi Taus took over 4 meeting rooms at the Hyatt to initiate 53 new members (8 new members of Chi chapter would be initiated later).
Following the initiation ceremony was an alumni reception, where National President Bill Brasch, Louisville ’67, gave a history of the charter and CEO Tim Hudson, Truman ’97, stood to read the charter, then facilitate the signing. Finally, Lanny Carruthers, Auburn ’98, spoke on behalf of new National Councilor Bob Ragsdale, Georgia ’66, and the Beta Xi chapter, offering kind words and advice to Chi chapter.
A key component in any chartering, alumni volunteers should be especially proud of their role in the re-chartering of the Chi chapter. They helped run initiation rooms, facilitate the chartering, and bring life back into a chapter that has been closed. Undergraduates also participated - Phi Taus from Old Dominion’s Gamma Tau chapter made the three and a half hour drive from Norfolk, VA, to Raleigh to help initiate Chi members. Gamma Tau took care of nearly a quarter of total initiations, virtually running their own initiation room, and coming full circle from when Chi chapter helped Gamma Tau at its initial chartering in the 1960s. Members fro University of South Carolina’s Zeta Xi chapter helped with initiations as well.
The new initiates were full of enthusiasm for what they had gathered to do as well. Among the new member class was father and son duo, Ethan, North Carolina State ’19, and Ken Bunn, North Carolina State ’87. Ken was able to initiate his son into Phi Tau nearly 20 years after his own initiation. “Everybody says I’m exactly like my dad, so I was trying to distance myself from that,” Ethan explained. “He didn’t push me at all, but I went to a rush event at the house and immediately fell in love with the guys.” When he called his dad to tell him, Ken was secretly thrilled. “I gave him the dad talk - make sure you’re looking at all the right things, here’s the pros, here’s the cons, all the while I’m turning to my wife giving her a fist bump.”
Ethan’s association with the Chi chapter gave him a new reason to get involved. “With all the years without Chi, I had move away from it and just lost touch with the chapter as a whole. I still have a core group, but this is just a great opportunity to pull us back in. When I found out he was interested, it made it even better; it was even more of a catalyst for me to come back and pull all the other guys with me.”
Thank you to all of our alumni who helped make this chartering a success. We look forward to lots of success for Chi chapter!
Phi Tau’s next chartering will be held on March 9th, at Columbus State University in Georgia. If you are interested in volunteering contact Brandon Lewis at blewis@phikappatau.org.