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Michigan Alpha: On the Up-and-Up
What’s up with Michigan Alpha?
Chapter enrollment, for one. It has doubled in the past five years to an impressive 103 members. "We’re making our mark as the third largest and arguably most respected fraternity on campus," notes chapter president Ben Glaze.
Academics, too, are on the rise: at last summer’s 73rd Grand Arch Council in New Orleans, the Phi Psi brothers earned the Dr. Thomas D. Myers Scholarship award recognizing outstanding achievement. Also, four members each garnered a $1,000 Solon E. Summerfield National Scholarship made possible through the Phi Psi Foundation.
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And talk about leadership . . . of ten Interfraternity Council (IFC) delegates representing Greeks on campus, three are from the Phi Psi chapter.
What’s their secret to success?
One thing, insists Brother Glaze. "It’s the quality and integrity of guys we’re recruiting. The reason I chose this Fraternity over two others was the well-roundedness I could sense here. It wasn’t just social . . . our members were campus leaders, too." Nowadays chapter members are pursuing a wide range of majors: business, law, English, engineering, computer science and finance, among others. The strength of academic diversity among the 31 brothers who live in the chapter house seems to build upon itself, extending as well to areas of philanthropy and service.
The effect of this "renaissance" has been remarkable. Beyond burgeoning recruitment, alumni participation is on the rise. The chapter celebrated its March Founders Day with more than three dozen alumni brothers, the highest turnout in recent memory. And undergraduates are staying more active throughout their entire collegiate journey.
Ben also credits the chapter’s buoyancy to the dedicated work of those who came before him. He remembers his own bid night. "Jason Schleifer, Michigan ‘02, stood up on the table in front of our pledge class and said, ‘Take a look around the room; these are going to be the first guys at your wedding and the last guys at your funeral.’ At the time, I wasn’t sure about the truth of it - I didn’t even know half their names. But two years later, here I am as chapter president. I know their names. And I couldn’t agree more."
Amidst what some chapter presidents are dealing with on their University of Michigan campus, Brother Glaze feels extremely fortunate. The size and diversity of the Phi Psi chapter is "absolutely not hard to manage because we have not sacrificed anything in the quality of the men we’re recruiting. We have persisted where others left off." He adds, "In all honesty, there’ve been a lot of ups and hardly any downs."
At Michigan Alpha, success is clearly the result of persistence and hard work. But Ben notes the chapter members still know how to have fun. Brother Glaze says he’s proud of his Phi Psi affiliation and looks forward to strengthening the bonds of brotherhood for the rest of his life. |
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