[PKPILZ003]

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 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. Of the 50 letters he sent out, only 15 of them were interested in colonizing what was considered a "commuter school". Of the 15, DeFina's group, of which I was the 3 member, started looking into each group so we could make a decision as to what group we wanted to join.

In January of 1991, we narrowed it down to 3 groups - SAE, Phi Kappa Psi and ATO. We sent letters back to those three groups and asked for more information. 2 of those groups sent us more forms and requests for more information, Phi Psi sent a consultant, S. Michael Wallen, who came to us and explained everything that was expected of us and what we could expect from them if we decided to be Phi Psis. We had a meeting in a room in Seton Hall 320 and decided amongst the 12 of us that Phi Kappa Psi was for us.

On a rainy April 20, 1991, after we played intramural floor hockey, the 12 founders of the IL Zeta Colony were affirmed as provisional members of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. It took 2.5 years, but, 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 200 total initiates) and most influential group on campus and, to its credit, can be responsible for the decision of other groups to follow and colonize on our campus.

Live ever, Die never!
V et V