History Of Phi Kappa Psi, Illinois Zeta Chapter

In the fall of 1990, after being dissatisfied with the rush options available to him, Nick DeFina went to the university's student life office and asked how to start a fraternity. There he was handed a copy of Baird's College Fraternities and was told that DePaul had no formal means to bring another group on campus, save the Greek Council giving that group membership. He proceeded to do 2 things - recruit men to join his cause and send letters to every NIC fraternity in the country. He recruited most of his fellow brothers in Clifton Hall (now Munroe Hall) and through word of mouth (Brian Spring and Rob Narrajos). Some were even already pledges in other local organizations (Randy Lockhart and Larry Jones). Some were student leaders and influential in campus politics (Marc Dumas, Terry Heffernan, Eric Maza and Chuck Stubbings). All were dissatisfied with the Greek System as they saw it in 1990. Of the 50 letters he sent out, only 15 of them were interested in colonizing what was considered a "commuter school". Of those 15, the Colony Founders started looking into each group so they could make a decision as to what group they wanted to join. The group knew what it was looking for in a fraternity – honor, loyalty, values and brotherhood.

In January of 1991, the 12 Founders narrowed it down to 3 groups – Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Kappa Psi and Alpha Tau Omega. They sent letters back to those three groups and asked for more information. 2 of those groups sent more forms and requests for more information, Phi Psi sent an Educational Leadership Consultant (ELC), S. Michael Wallen, who came to the group and explained everything that was expected of them and what they could expect from Phi Kappa Psi if they decided to be Phi Psis. The group had a meeting in a room in Seton Hall 320 and decided amongst the 12 that Phi Kappa Psi was the one. Almost instantly they started running things as if they were a chapter. They elected officers, started committees and tried to get recognized by the University’s Greek Council.

They were given provisional status by Greek Council – allowed to participate in recruitment, play sports and the like, but not given a vote. On a rainy April 20, 1991, after the group played intramural floor hockey – and won, the 12 founders of the IL Zeta Colony were affirmed as provisional members of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. 30 days later they were given full voting rights in the University’s Greek Council and were well on our way to dominance.

During the Colony status, they lost some Founders due to a variety of reasons and also initiated some great new Brothers. Phi Psi took over the Greek Council, with one of our Brothers serving as Director (equal to President today). We even found time to hold Beach Bash, the universitity’s largest off-premise party and volleyball tournament.

After meeting the 10 obligations of membership and submitting a chartering petition, we received our Chapter Charter on October 9, 1993 with 29 Founding Brothers, 7 of whom were Colony Founders. In the 12 years since, IL Zeta has grown to be the largest (over 185 total initiates) and most influential group on campus.

More importantly, IL Zeta can look back on its history and say that they alone were responsible for every men’s group that is now present on campus as we were the first to show other NIC groups that this campus was vibrant and ready for expansion.