PSI OMEGA: new local at Iowa State

[citydogisu]

"Tabled til thursday," read the white dry-erase board, scrawled in Cyclone- red ink just below the words "Mission Statement" next to the hastely sketched Psi Omega charm. This was the final business at the end of the first meeting for the newly created Psi Omega fraternity.

Just five hours earlier, four brothers, of a fraterntiy that will remain nameless, sat in a room, empty, excepting a few seventies-orange chairs and two all-purpose, wood-grain tables. They had been left in the dark about the agenda of a meeting their alumni had called just two days prior. As a few alumni entered the room, they observed that the looks on their faces weren't as friendly or pleasant as they had been in the past. Though the brothers hadn't seen most of them since three months earlier when the alumni promised them a new plan for the colony full of support and money, the brothers were still happy to see them, knowing the whole time the alumni had floundered on their earlier plan for success.

The meeting began as usual, with friendly hellos and discussion of the semester, but after a few minutes was cut short. The alumni dropped the proverbial bomb, explaining that they were unimpressed and would be seeking a new direction with the colony...a colony without them. Shocked by the unfolding events, one brother stated, "This is Bull-Shit." That was pretty much where the meeting came off the tracks; these men that the brothers had grown to respect even through the many months of unexplained absence had just become nothing to them. The brothers tried to express how it was the end of the semester, how there many new fraternities on campus, and how members would be picked up - on top of the four new recruits from the past few weeks - in vast amounts due to the awesome plan they had for the summer. All of this fell on deaf ears.

In their anger, a new energy...a new unity forged by grief and pain appeared.

The brothers tacked on two more men of same character and moral fiber. Together they pledged to work for a common goal and establish a new order, which would outshine their former, pathetic alumni that they called brothers. On a new path, they would be greater than ever.

On that day, the tenth of april in 2005, one brotherhood burst into flames, leaving nothing but ash. Out of this ash...this waste, like the mythical Phoenix, a new era began with the birth of Psi Omega.

Psi Omega Fraternity April 10, 2005

Colors: Royal Blue & Red (Silver Accent)
Symbol: Phoenix Rising out of flames
Mascot: Phoenix
Meaning: Brotherhood, Honor, Valor, Respect, Integrity, Vigor, Grandiose

Motto: “Ubi Concorida, Ibi Victoria”

Founding: April 10, 2005
Official Organization: April 14, 2005

6 Founders:

Benjamin Lee Cameron
Political Science ‘06
Sioux Rapids, IA

Justen Dale Jones
Political Science ‘07
Des Moines, IA

Scott Alan Klingbeil
Sociology ‘06
Marcus, IA

Joseph Douglas Michael Ogrin
Finance '07
Westminster, CO

Joel David Taylor
Political Science ‘06
State Center, IA

Calvin Lee Truong
Computer Science ‘06
Fort Dodge, IA

We're already at 10 men, have several guys who are interested in joining, have a summer recruitment program set up, and are beginning the process towards becoming a recognized student organization and recognized interest group/colony at Iowa State.

And though it is premature we're already narrowing down the list of national fraternities we may petition in the fall.