Almost every day in the Raf, a group of Phi Kappa Tau members will gather at multiple tables beside each other to eat, hang out and watch television.

“We almost always watch The Price is Right,” said senior Hussain Siddiqi. “We get really into it, too.”

The seating is interchangeable as many members will get up and move from table to table. This process of constantly moving groups and making sure to talk to every member reflects the camaraderie of the chapter.

“We really do have a sense of camaraderie that extends outside the classroom and outside of our personal Transy lives,” said Siddiqi. “I really do think that across every single brother that’s in our fraternity, we really do have each other’s backs in every single way.”

For senior Blake Chidester, one trait that unifies the members is character.

“One of the leading things we say we are is men of character. What that really means is how we embody ourselves in every aspect of our lives,” said Chidester. “No matter if people can see what we’re doing or if they can’t see what we’re doing, in the classroom or in the community or on the field, you do something that you would be proud of. You would never be ashamed of the decision you made.”

This sense of character is something that stood out to members when they were initially rushing. When Siddiqi was rushing, his dad was having surgery causing Siddiqi to have to miss a recruitment event.

“In the next two weeks during rush every single upperclassmen in Phi Tau reached out to me whether it was via text, call or coming up to me,” said Siddiqi. “It just blew my mind that people that I might not have even known at the time were so willing to go out of their way to help someone out.”

Chidester had a similar experience to Siddiqi’s during his recruitment process. He explained that he was unsure of even joining a fraternity when he first came to campus. He also had a conflicting engagement at the same time of a Phi Tau event which caused more uncertainty.

After the Phi Tau members told him they understood, Chidester said it “showed me the kind of people that they were and the kind of relationship that I could build with them.”

“Every single member has a very interesting story. We might come off as having a stereotype of an impression of being the athletic guys on campus, but there’s a lot of stories behind each and every one of us,” Siddiqi said. “We have guys from the highest of backgrounds to the lowest of backgrounds.”

Editor’s note: The Rambler was only able to schedule one lunch with members of Phi Kappa Tau, and received input from only two members of the chapter. As such, the piece presented here should be considered a surface description of the group culture and character of the fraternity, rather than an in-depth profile.

Last Thursday, a handful of girls from Phi Mu gathered together in the Caf for lunch. Sophomore Sarah Teasdale initiated conversation with a story about her lavender plants. After the conclusion of Teasdale’s story, the girls around the table continued to take turns in telling stories while the others listened attentively. Regardless of the varying topics, each story included bursts of laughter from the storyteller and follow-up questions from their sisters.

Phi Mu’s values are “love, honor, and truth” and is what really brings their chapter together.

Sophomore Amber Phillips described the organization as having a large variety when it comes to members. Referencing to herself and sister Presli Neal ’19, Phillips pointed out how different members can be yet still accept each other completely. “We all like different things and have different values and dress differently, but it all comes down to we share the same values,” stated Phillips.

Senior Allison Dwyer added that “having those shared values puts all of our differences aside.”

Teasdale explained that although there is not one person that encompasses what Phi Mu is, “The one thing I have noticed in every single Phi Mu is when things really start taking a downward spiral, there is always someone there who will talk to you and listen to you and be there for you.”

Support is a key factor in what unifies the chapter. Their dedication to comforting and supporting one another is apparent with their two support lions they have.

“If someone’s having a bad day, you leave it for your sister,” said Teasdale.

Additionally, the support develops fairly quickly. Sophomore Emily Chapman, while retelling her experiences of rushing last year, stated that she had an “instant support system” after joining Phi Mu.

Although there are a variety of personalities within the chapter, the sisters of Phi Mu continue to get along.

“We all genuinely like each other,” said Neal. “We’re all very loving of one another and accepting of everyone in the chapter.”

The love between the various members is often expressed through sarcasm and sassy comments.

“We are a chapter powered on sarcasm,” stated Dwyer.

Dwyer additionally said that the members really “encourage each other to be really weird.” Dwyer continued to explain the chapter’s group message and the weird turns it takes. She loves knowing that all her sisters will always be there to listen to her no matter how weird what she has to say is.

At the end of the meal, the level of support and love Phi Mu contains was obvious. The members at the table bounced ideas off of each other on how they could cheer up a fellow member that was going through a rough time.

“If it’s an invitation to one brother, it’s an invitation to everyone,” said Kappa Alpha president and senior Matthew Parker. KA is Transy’s second-oldest fraternity and prides itself on its members being “Southern gentlemen.”

According to sophomore KA Joe Shermock, being a Southern gentleman is about “just doing the little things, whether it’s holding the door for someone or saying ‘yes ma’am and no ma’am’ to your professors to show you respect them.”

Members hold each other to their values, especially in the wake of bad press. For example, a KA chapter at University of Richmond was recently punished for an email sent out by a chapter member perpetuating rape culture within the organization.

“We use those examples to remind us that A., it’s just not okay, and B., something like that can impact everyone in the fraternity if just one guy decides to do something horrible,” said Parker.

“It takes a while to build up a good reputation on campus and that kind of thing, and so we really try to look out for one another in certain situations and avoid that,” said Shermock.

Junior member Brandon Heller, from Pennsylvania, said, “I didn’t really know anybody, so I felt like joining a fraternity would be a good way to not only meet people but better myself through academics and service and other stuff like that.”

In KA, Heller has found like-minded people who enjoy the same things he does.

“I like to go hunting and fishing and stuff like that, and a lot of the other guys like to do that,” he said.

The group even has a yearly hunting trip before rush to hunt doves to make what they call “dove poppers,” which Parker describes as “like a dove breast with jalapeno cream cheese and bacon in it.”

“Each year around rush, there’s a panic. It’s like, alright it’s dove season; we have no doves; we can’t just have hamburgers; we need dove,” he said. “So we’ll search throughout our friends and we’ll find someone that has a place to go and we’ll all pile into cars and go out there and we’ll bag like 80 doves. It’s a cool experience, because you’re out there hunting with your friends and you have to trust them, but we also have a great time and it’s a good way to get our dove for rush.”

Being a KA is “about being there when it’s inconvenient,” said Parker, who received an overwhelming amount of support from his brothers while his mom underwent cancer treatment and after he lost a cousin in the span of one year.

“The crazy thing was I hadn’t told anyone about that, and they just knew,” Parker said.