The Brandeis community has recently seen the establishment of a new fraternity, Xi Kappa, an Asian-interest fraternity started by Brian Lee ’15, Eric Shen ’16, Brian Louis ’16, Justin Kwon ’16 and Darrell Hosford ’16. The idea of starting the fraternity began when Lee approached Shen and Hosford with an interest in starting an Asian-interest fraternity that would focus on Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) issues. Shen was the main point of contact for implementing the fraternity, and Hosford and Lee said that choosing which fraternity to establish was simple. Xi Kappa fit every criterion they were looking for in a fraternity.
“They are very involved in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, trying to raise awareness and break stereotypes, and for me personally that was what I was looking for,” Hosford said.
Xi Kappa’s focus on battling the stigma placed on mental health also made it an attractive choice to the members. The new chapter of Xi Kappa has many missions, including bridging gaps between organizations on campus, giving a voice to young men and spreading awareness through community involvement.
Hosford explained the goal of the fraternity’s existence on campus.
“Our goal is to create a presence where we are recognized for building character in young men who are interested in creating a Brotherhood that focuses on the AAPI community.”
Xi Kappa is not an exclusively Asian fraternity; anyone who is interested in AAPI issues is welcome to join. The process to start a fraternity at Brandeis is different than at many schools because Brandeis does not officially recognize the presence of Greek life on campus and therefore does not require administrative processes in creating a chapter. The fraternity thus began as an interest group that volunteered and held events to prove that they were a sustainable group.
Since Brandeis does not recognize Greek life on campus, the Xi Kappa members say they faced some difficulties in the process of beginning their chapter.
“We had a celebration event of our crossing where we invited different organizations to our revealing,” Hosford explained. “This proved difficult, because we had to find event spacing off campus where a lot of students did not have the transportation to get to.”
Despite setbacks such as this, their events were well attended and overall, the group has found that regardless of the fact that they are new, their chapter has been quite successful thus far.
“Though we lack the resources from Brandeis in receiving funding and reserving event spacing, we have already assimilated very well into the Greek community around the Boston area and on campus,” Hosford said.
Xi Kappa has also already supported many causes, including the Asian Pacific Annual Conferences (APAC) Conference at SUNY Albany and the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) Conference, which will be taking place next year in Boston.
The Xi Kappa members expressed confidence in their fraternity and motivation to meet their goals for the future. The fraternity aims to volunteer and foster community involvement to provide a voice and spread awareness. Hosford explained that the group hopes to remove the stigma attached to Greek life by proving the worth of all Greek life on campus through their philanthropic efforts.
“We are hoping to show Brandeis that fraternities and sororities are not the stereotypical ones that are shown in media but that they can improve the social and activism scene on campus,” Hosford said.
