After a 17 year absence from campus Greek life, Alpha Chi Rho(AXP) has been granted permission to return to the university this fall with an initial group of 16 brothers.
Anthony Tesoriero, a junior who was named the colony’s president as of last week, along with the help of juniors Phillip Pussilano, Steven Evanski, and John Terista took up the initial charge to bring Alpha Chi Rho back, and really put the wheels in motion to get Monmouth, the national AXP headquarters, and students involved in bringing the chapter back.
According to Nicolás R. Hewgley, Director of Communication and Development for Alpha Chi Rho National Fraternity, “Alpha Chi Rho had been having conversations for a few years with the University to rejoin the campus community.” Hewgley said, “Through good luck,this group of students approached Alpha Chi Rho Headquarters to begin the expansion process at a time when the National Fraternity was having active conversations with the University.”
Tesoriero said, “We didn’t want to wait until our senior year, we wanted to enjoy the frat and keep growing interest. Many of the guys who joined wouldn’t have joined Greek life in the beginning. I didn’t feel like I identified with any one organization and that led to let’s start our own organization.”
Pussilano, who is their Vice President, said that they grew their connections, went out, talked to people, and got themselves pushed to the top of the list to come back because of how many people they had interested.
Jayde Ware, the Associate Director of Student Engagement for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said student interest was the main thing that made now the right time for the fraternity to come back. Ware said, “Typically for any organization if there is a student interest group and we can see they are serious, if we see the students are driving that, it makes it easier for our office to support them.”
Since they are still a colony, they will be spending this year building their charter plan, said Tesoriero. He explained, “We are planning to submit a charter plan early spring, early-mid March once we raise a bit of money, volunteer hours, and make our bylaws.”
Joshua Lichtbraun, the Junior AXP Social Chair, said, “The biggest challenge has been building a base for ourselves. We have not been on campus in 15 plus years. We’re trying to establish the foundation we once had, telling everyone we’re here, we want to be active, be there for other organizations, have them there for us.”
While there are some people on campus who seem to think that the fraternity has a Christian focus, Tesoriero pointed out, “AXP is not a Christian Frat; it was founded in the early days as a Christian fraternity and has religious affiliations, but today it is secular.” He pointed out that all the men in AXP met and got close through religious organizations on campus, such as the Campus Catholic ministry. “We thought it’d be fun to have a social aspect that had men with similar values and desire for their college experience,” said Tesoriero.
According to AXP’s website, they hold character, honor, and integrity as their values. The recruitment chair, Terista, said, “We want to be known as the husbands and fathers of tomorrow. We are recruiting guys of high character, with high and clean morale standards.”
Tesoriero said they are trying to have a good wholesome time while still defining who they are right now. He explained, “It’s all about our morals and ideas of being the best men we can be while having a good time with each other.”
They currently have elected an e-board of seven members; Tesoriero as President; Pussilano as Vice President; Frank Dige as Secretary; Evanski as Treasurer; Terista as Recruitment Chair; Lichtbraun as Social Chair; Chris Feliks as Risk Chair; and Member at Large as Michael Becker.
Other fraternities have expressed excitement about welcoming AXP back. Anthony Cona, a senior and President of Sigma Pi, said, “I see them as a group to get involved with and [their return] opens the door to more opportunities for fraternities to do combined events together to build unity.”
Jake Diaz, a senior and President of Tau Delta Phi, said, “I was really excited about it because I think it’s great to grow the community when you can, even in a time when recruitment is difficult.”
Pussilano agrees with this. He said, “Apart from being removed from the school, a lot of fraternities are removed from each other, but we want to make it where we are all together, make it more of hosting bigger events with multiple fraternities involved.”
Ware maintained, “We are excited to have AXP back and they will bring a different take to our campus, they will bring different guys to fraternity life.” She said it’s, “another opportunity to have students’ lives changed by joining a fraternity or sorority on our campus.”
