Pi Kappa Alpha secrets revealed!!!

PiKA2001 · #1 07-08-2002, 04:11 AM

Just wondering if any of you guys have any big plans for the summer, other than nationals. If any Pikes are out in the Detroit area any time this summer, you're more than welcome to stop by. E-mail me or whatever if you do plan on it.

KEPike · #2 07-09-2002, 02:01 PM

I don't think I'll be in Detroit anytime soon, sorry. But I'll be in Palm Springs!

About the whole Praise King Arthur thing though, from what I've been told there was some guy at the University of Missouri a few years ago digging up dirt about fraternities and their rituals, meanings, etc. Supposedly he found hard core info on virtually every fraternity on campus, except for Pike. Obviously, his source on Praise King Arthur was not too reliable.

Really the only correspondence with any "knightly" things is the shield, and possibly the dagger. Quite a stretch!

UF_PikePC98 · #3 07-09-2002, 02:10 PM

Where at in Palm Springs?

KEPike · #4 07-09-2002, 02:15 PM

I'll be there for the Convention Aug 3 - 7. I agree that the cost is outrageous. I've already spent more than $700 on the convention registration and a plane ticket. I still have a hotel room to cover, and also meals and drinks for four days.

But our chapter is going for our 2nd Smythe...so that makes it worthwhile. And Tim McGraw will be there. That's just icing on the cake.

PiKA2001 · #5 07-09-2002, 02:56 PM

The cost IS outragous and I don't have to $1200 to cover the trip to go. Good luck on the smythe, we've got some good competition for smythe chapters this year.

KEPike · #6 07-09-2002, 03:05 PM

Particularly there is stiff competition in Division III for the Smythe. Last year, 7 were given to DIII. Previous Smythe chapters in Southeast Missouri State, Florida International, and Wisconsin Whitewater (I think) didn't win one last year but are all badass chapters. Luckily, Bolingbaker and FSU are not in DIII although they most likely will win one as well. So it's gonna be an amazing honor to win one this year with such outstanding achievements from our chapters.

#7 07-09-2002, 03:32 PM

Hi - just jumping in here to mention that the U of Wisconsin-Whitewater chapter IS a kick-ass chapter

They're pretty new around here (well, duh, you probably knew that) but they have made a huge impression, and it's definitely a good one!

Of course, I'm a little biased, because I'm currently dating an alum from that chapter, and used to date a guy from there that I was dumb to let get away....

(edited to mention that when I saw PiKA2001's name as the starter of the thread, I knew it either had to be a joke, or a warning - I don't want to look like I was combing for secrets, LOL)

Concise · #8 07-09-2002, 05:14 PM

whats up fellas? i'm going to palm springs in august also. my chapter (kappa nu, university of the pacific) is going for our second straight smythe. we'll see what happens. since most of the brothers from kappa nu live in california, i think like 20 of us are going down just to party, it should be a good time. hopefully i'll see some of you guys there. in the spirit of king arthur....
Rob

Pike4Life · #9 07-10-2002, 08:47 AM

At OLA last year, I spoke to Dr. Jerry Reel (you know, our international historian and resident Ritual expert) about that "Praise King Aurthur" bullsh!t...he seemed pretty amused by the whole thing, but was not sure where or how that crap was ever started. He said he had never heard anyone ever try to make that kind of connection between Pike and King Aurthur, but assumed that maybe whoever posted that may have gotten Pi Kappa Alpha confused with KAPPA ALPHA, who as we all know, are very closely associated with knights.

We discussed how some of our symbols may have given rise to the false "secrets" - such as the shield, sword, dagger and helmet on our crest. Plus, how some of our former coat-of-arms depicted other "knightly" effects such as a castle, suit of armor, and other such things.

It was a pretty amusing and interesting conversation, but if there ever was any kind of association, Dr. Reel would be the one to know.

I will miss Palm Springs this year (I'm a chapter advisor), but my undergrad guys will definately be there...and I agree with the cost being fantastically expensive! It's almost cheaper to NOT send anyone and just take the $1000 fine!! (Not that I'm encouraging anyone to do this...International Conventions are WONDERFUL and are a great experience for all Brothers involved...hell I've been to three myself, plus two OLA's).

Good luck to everyone who's up for a SMYTHE! Hopefully my chapter will reach that level of proficiency very soon.

bolingbaker · #10 07-11-2002, 02:35 AM

Thanks for your very kind reference (above) to Florida State. They've got an impressive website you might enjoy: fsupikes.com

KEPike · #11 07-11-2002, 02:23 PM

The FSU Pike website is really cool. I was amazed that nearly $2,000,000 has already been raised for your capital campaign. Quite an accomplishment.

I was curious as to your scholastics. The house GPA is only like a 2.8 or something, which I understand at a state school is good. But with so many outstanding guys, I am surprised it isn't higher. Are there alot of guys in the chapter who are in just to party?

Nevertheless, congrats on an outstanding year and good luck with awards at Convention. Like I said, I'm sure you'll do just fine.

bolingbaker · #12 07-11-2002, 05:43 PM

Thanks. I don't know what to tell you about the academic average. We have the highest gpa at 2.88 among about 20 IFC fraternities. Our membership is steady around 150 and our closest academic competitors seem to be the smaller fraternities. We are on a 4.0 system like everyone else. While we have some partiers, we do stress academic achievement (our pledge classes both in the fall and spring had the best gpa among large fraternities), and we do have a lot of guys on Dean's List. The All-Men's average gpa on campus is usually around 2.75. I don't think we are unintelligent or low achievers (ie. your "state school" comment), but I don't have an answer to your question about the actual figure.
From your KE signature I assume you're a Brother at Rockhurst in Kansas City. I love your website's music intro - very unique and inspiring. Looks like Kappa Epsilon totally dominates the fraternity system there. Who are your closest rivals? Our are ATO, Sigma Chi and Sig Ep.

KEPike · #13 07-12-2002, 01:03 AM

but I'm not sure how that follows. Hopefully you can clear this up. If the overall chapter GPA is 2.88, and 20% of the chapter is on the Dean's List (from the website), this would mean that roughly 30 of 150 members have over a 3.5 GPA. Assuming the majority of the guys have between a 2.5 GPA and a 3.5 GPA, this would follow that 30 or so guys would have between a 2.0 and a 2.5 in order for the chapter to have a 3.0 GPA.

I'm really not accusing, but I know from experience that a chapter GPA can fluxuate alot when there is such a large spectrum of GPAs.

Kappa Epsilon pretty much doesn't give bids out to guys without at least a 2.7 or 2.8 GPA. Some of our athletes have between 2.5 and 2.7s, but are basically the exception to the rule. In the ten years since the beginning of our interest group, the cumulative gpa has never been below 3.0 and has rarely been below a 3.15. But our chapter is composed of 50-60 guys on either academic or athletic scholarships, so that's why I made the "state school comment."

Also, it really seems to be the only "kink" in your chapter. And it's not a bad one at all. So part of me is just thinking to myself "ha, at least we are better than FSU in grades!"

Thanks for the comments about our website. Two years ago, we transferred a copy of the "Brothers Sing On" Album to CD and distributed it to all the brothers. Our webmaster translated "Down in Ol' Virginny" into a MIDI file. Our chapter also has some badass computer nerds. Hence the high GPA. So if anyone wants a copy of the MIDI file, or a copy of the PikeAmp skin for Winamp or Windows Media Player, I can hook you up courtesy of Kappa Epsilon!

KEPike · #14 07-12-2002, 01:46 AM

Due to the size of our university (which we just became in 1999), Greek Life isn't very big.

We have 3 active fraternities and 2 sororities. The three fraternities are us, TKE, and Alpha Delta Gamma, which is a Jesuit Fraternity with less than 10 guys. TKE is decent, but got in trouble recently and have been on social probation. We also have Zeta and ASA for the sororities. No one really competes with us for Homecoming and Greek Week, so we've consistently won both. SAE was on our campus until last year when they lost their recognition for selling drugs out of their chapter house and for hazing. Amazingly enough, they will be able to come back on campus in 2004. Undoubtedly, they were our biggest competitors.

Greek Life makes up about 25% of the enrollment, with our school being a 50/50 commuter school. Nevertheless, Pike has had an amazing influx of outstanding members.

In 2000, we were down to 32 members. 18 were seniors. During that year we recruited and initiated 32 guys thus doubling the chapter. We initiated all of them because we eliminated some hazing that had crept into the chapter. Definitely the best move we've ever made by getting rid of "the h-bomb".

We are looking to become a 100 man chapter in the next two years. This is very doable, since 85-90% of our chapter is underclassmen. It would be quite a feat for our campus and chapter, since we've just reached the 200 initiate mark in nearly 10 years of existence. So yeah, we've dominated our campus since 1992 when we were an interest group, and we are competing pretty much just with other Pikes around the country and in Canada. I'm very confident that as an alum, you will continue to hear about Kappa Epsilon for a while as a top chapter of PiKA!!!

Concise · #15 07-12-2002, 04:45 AM

yeah, my school only has 3000 students and we just broke the 100 actives mark, we now have 105 active brothers.... basically if someone rushes, they rush pike and go elsewhere if we dont want them, every other fraternity gets our table scraps. but we cant get cocky cause when you get cocky, you get lazy..... the key to big rush numbers is to make yourself as visable as possible, know every rushee by their first name and make sure there are plenty of ladies at your parties..... sorry, i know it seems like i'm bragging alot, i didnt mean for it to come out like that.... i'm just proud of my chapters accomplishments, we got our charter in '94, so we're still somewhat new on campus... anyway, pike is good. keep it real brothers...55
Rob