I will never forget my first on campus visit to what was then Texas A&M-Commerce. Spring of 2005. I took my first walk around campus and on the old quad where the Rayburn Student Center used to be, scribbled in chalk there was written RUSH PIKE 2005 or Rush EX and then two large letters were propped up against the rail that read KA. I walked into the Fieldhouse with my parents for the Basketball game that was the Fill The Fieldhouse game. It was loud, rowdy, and raucous and several students dressed in different colors but all were cheering on the Lion basketball teams.

Fast forward to the Fall of 2005 when I have become a student and I saw greek life at a distance as all I was doing was studying and working. I had a scholarship, was proud of that fact and did not want to lose it and had basically zero fun my first semester. Then, the next semester started and right after the classes began I guy I worked with for a while came up to me and said; “Hey Man, care to go to Sigma Chi’s Hurricane with me?” I went it and it was….well…..wild. It reinforced a lot of what I thought about fraternities and sororities. Just party animals. Cool guys, pretty girls, but….party animals.

Then I had two guys come up to me after class one day and told me who they were Sigma Chi’s and had seen me at the party. They asked me if I cared to come to a meeting and if I was interested in becoming a Sigma Chi. I told them I was really busy but after having lunch with those two guys, they said “You are what we look for in future members. Well rounded guys who will represent our fraternity well. They asked about my GPA. They asked where I was from. They asked about me and how I got to Commerce. They genuinely took interest in me. I will never forget what one of them said before we left. “Yeah, the other night was pretty intense, but if you join, you will find out being a Sigma Chi is so much more than partying. Yes, we like to have a good time, but we also require a minimum GPA, we require community service, we have philanthropy goals, we require our members to stay out of trouble and have good relations with the alums. It is an honor and a privilege to become a Sigma Chi.”

And if it had not been for a very tough Business Calculus course I had to study a lot for and club basketball that semester, I would have joined.

I got a similar invitation from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, who had the quintessential Fraternity House on Live Oak Street right before you get to Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium. I saw the photo that I posted on this article and told one of the guys who invited me in for a tour that my Uncle was in that photo and was pledge trainer in the 1970’s. He told me; “Dude, thats proof! It’s in your blood to be a Delt of Old ET!” I kind of dampened the moment when I said he is my adoptive uncle, but I digress.

I have a lot of other stories about greek life to tell in my days at now East Texas A&M University, mainly how had it not been for me being able to graduate early, I would have been fully a member of the Kappa Alpha Order, but this diatribe is about how important they are to the lifeblood of our alma mater’s social scene and student life. I am also not just talking about social fraternities, but academic fraternities as well and other organizations, but Greek life in the social setting made the campus so much fun to be around.

It also was often the only fans from the student body that showed up for athletic events. When the sports were pedestrian back in the early 2000’s (with the exception of Basketball and Women’s Soccer), you could always count on the greek organizations to show up and show out.

The tragedy is that ever since I graduated college back in 2007, we have lost The Kappa Alpha Order, The Kappa Delta Sorority, and others have straddled the fence on having to keep their chapters alive. Also, the chapters that were alive during my Dad’s and Uncle’s time at ET have faded into history and only become a footnote in school history, even though many members try their best to keep them alive.

At East Texas A&M, a vibrant student life and a healthy Greek Life go hand in hand. It is part of the lifeblood of the University, and has been part of our culture for decades now. I feel the greek scene is slipping into obscurity and that would be disastrous for the school in so many ways. Social activists who have never been around love to trash greek life, but never have they spoken so much about something they know so little about. Many academics and even college presidents have tried to neutralize it because they feel the idea of organizations where boys become men and girls become women is somehow a bad idea.

One of the things that I was concerned about when we move to DI, among dozens of things, was that we might not have had the enrollment of on campus students who are active on campus to create the fan base support we need. So much of that comes from the greek organizations. They do so much for athletic events. Tailgating, game spirit, getting the crowd stoked, bringing back alums and graduates to the school for gameday. They truly are the lifeblood of Lion school spirit.

My hope is that the school administration and whoever is responsible for campus life and student activities will do whatever they can to bring back the chapters that have left for whatever reasons, get into contact with the benefactors from days gone by, and see greek life for what it is; a really good time with friends you will make for a lifetime, but all with a purpose of serving your school, your fellow man and woman. Teaching young students how to embrace becoming productive adults when they leave Commerce, all while having little fun every so often.

Greek life isn’t for everyone, and that is ok, but I can tell you from firsthand experience, it adds so much to every part of what makes a University great. Academics, Social Scene, School Spirit………..and athletics.

Here is to hoping we see chapters return to campus and see the vibrant greek scene that was in Commerce 15-20 years ago. The answer to how to get the spirit of our university back when it has been through so much in the past 5 years?

It’s all greek to me.