This week, we’ll profile Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity through an interview with their president, Alex Farmer. As a freshman, my first frat experience was at AEPi and although the party was amazingly epic, it was the gentlemanly brothers that most impressed me.
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Nickname: AEPi
Symbol: Lion
Flower: Fleur-de-lis
Motto: “No one could tell me where my soul might be; I searched for God, but He eluded me; I sought my brother out and found all three.” ~ Howard Crosby
Colors: Blue and Gold?
Founded: 1913, New York University
Established at Tufts: 1940
Philanthropy: Read by the River and starting a club to focus on Jewish Philanthropy
Physical Address: On Sawyer Ave near Curtis Street
Name: Alex Farmer
Hometown: Los Altos, California
Major: Political Science
Class: 2012
What made you want to join Greek Life? I didn’t want to join when I came to Tufts, but I was really underwhelmed by the social life and kind of just wanted a place to call my own. I wanted camaraderie, brotherhood, an established group of friends, a house, and a purpose with philanthropy. In that way, it has really become an elevated friend group.
Tell us about AEPi, what makes it unique? Are you a Jewish Fraternity? Nationally, we’re a Jewish fraternity. We’re in the nineties percentage nationally, but here we keep it 60-70% in terms of Jewish background. That’s not a factor in our admission, for example, I’m not Jewish. So, really, I [joined because I] thought AEPi had the tightest brotherhood. That’s our number one priority. I believe we have the most unified and familial brotherhood on campus.
What do you think of Greek Life at Tufts? I think that it is more of a service to the Tufts community than a lifestyle for its members. If there weren’t frats on campus, the social life would be lacking in some respects…And although, in some ways, it’s an insular community, it isn’t by its own choice, but more by the Tufts community’s own choice.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about Greek Life?Do you think there’s any truth to the Greek Life stereotypes? I think the biggest misperception is that there’s one type of person that should do Greek life. Its stereotypically motivated so a lot of people view it as, “its not for me, I don’t want to do that.” But I don’t think there’s truth to that because Tufts is not a state school. We don’t have stereotypical state school frat bros.
What are you excited about in the coming year in AEPi?
I’m excited about our new house. We just moved in, and I’m excited to make it our own. In our other housing situation we didn’t own the house, we rented [for 5 years,] so I’m excited to move into a space that can be our home and not just a house.
How would you improve AEPi? I touched on one way: to improve the house. Also, I want to improve the participation of everyone. Right now there’s a tendency of the executive board to shoulder the operations. So, I want to change the culture that the brothers operate in, that they’re expected to pitch in. We’re doing that by implementing various systems.
What would be your advice to people considering going through recruitment?
Do it! Do it even if you don’t want to do Greek life, even if you’re 100% sure. Do it to make friends and to keep an open mind. There’s no hard feelings if you get a bid and decline it. Basically, going through rush helps everything and hurts nothing.
(AEPi rush will be in Spring Semester 2012)