FYI from HU's paper The Hilltop
Why I Brought Pi Kappa Alpha to Howard
Issue date: 4/12/06 Section: Editorials
T. J. Lewis
In September of 2005, I was entering my last and final undergraduate year at Howard University. My overall experience at Howard, at that point had been one filled with fond memories of lifelong friends and experiences. Still, however, I felt there was more I could do. In that same month, I had been talking to a friend of mine who was from George Washington University, about being a member of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity only accepted men who stood for being Scholars, Leaders, Athletes, and Gentlemen.
I felt that those pillars were something I could guide my life with.
After a lengthy conversation, he told me I couldn't join at George Washington, because I wasn't a student at GW. After a little research, I found that I could start a colony of Pi Kappa Alpha, if my present school didn't have a chapter. And that is what I did, along with the help of some of my closest friends, who are now my fraternal brothers. We became members of the fraternity because we felt Pi Kappa Alpha was something that could help us better ourselves and our school. Right now, I'm running as a Democratic Candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates District 45. I'm running for a number of reasons, but a major one is because I truly believe that I will do a better job than current delegates in office. The same mentality I had when I decided to run, was the same one that I had when I decided to join Pi Kappa Alpha. I felt I would be a better man, because of the principles that the fraternity was founded on. We, as the newest members of Pi Kappa Alpha, have been granted the same duties started by the six founders of Pi Kappa Alpha on March 1, 1868, and that duty is to simply find the best collegiate men on our respected campus, and make them better men. There are some who think me, along with my fraternal brothers, are wrong for bringing Pi Kappa Alpha to Howard. I must ask why? The reason why we brought another fraternity is because a fraternity brings a sense of brotherhood, pride, and service.
The present fraternities at Howard are ones that are not only some of the greatest in the world, but also its members are some of the best on Howard's campus. Why not add more to the pot? Why not have another great international fraternity, which could create even more great Howard men? Fraternities are founded to assemble men of a certain character to not only excel in their own lives, but help the lives of others. All fraternities were founded on those principles regardless of race, color, religion and creed.
On my last note, I would like to thank those who have supported the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha thus far, and I would like to extend a hand of tranquility and progression to others we have not had the privilege to work with yet.