TauGear

From the austere colonial facade of the Kappa Delta house to the post-modern design of Sigma Chi, University of Florida Greek housing is visibly out of date and old-fashioned...

Repeat offenders, with three or more "unsatisfactory" citations between 2000 and 2005, include Alpha Tau Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Tau, Pi Kappa Phi and Sigma Phi Epsilon...

Chris McAndrew, another junior at Tulane, agrees that most students didn't take evacuating for a hurricane seriously. It was more a good excuse to get out of class and take a vacation than a reason to be afraid. "Evacuation isn't unusual for Tulane. We call it 'hurrication' -- a hurricane vacation"...

Johan Yokay, one of McAndrew's fraternity brothers at Tulane, says he decided on ASU because he was driving through Tempe on his way home to Sacramento, Calif., when he heard the semester had been cancelled...

McAndrew says he chose ASU because he knew Yokay was here and he knew he wanted to have at least one friend. Moving to Tempe and rooming with his Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brother just made sense...

Within the next few years, a new policy will prohibit sophomore sorority members from moving out of campus housing and into their sororities...

Steven Chamberlain, faculty adviser to ... Alpha Tau Omega ... said the reason for the fraternity members' unawareness is because the new policy is currently being applied to sororities only... if this new policy were to be enforced on fraternities, it would probably destroy the entire fraternity society at SU.

"Fraternities are constantly struggling to fill their houses because there are so few brothers in a given house... If this policy was forced upon the (Interfraternity Council), most of the houses would definitely struggle financially and possibly be unable to support their existence at this university"...

... "Sure, there are stereotypes," says Chip Reeves, a business management major I find sitting on the porch of the Alpha Tau Omega house. Like every focus group of fraternity brothers I interview, he agrees that some sororities have reputations for being wilder, more promiscuous or stuck-up. But for the most part, as Chip puts it, "every sorority's got its good ones and its bad ones."...

Local health officials haven't seen any new cases of bacterial meningitis following an initial case in a local 18-year-old woman who attended an ISU fraternity party Friday night...

Alpha Tau Omega fraternity hosted the party the woman attended Friday, and Alpha Tau Omega rush chair A.J. Patton said he couldn't estimate how many people attended the party and could have come in contact with the woman...

Patton said none of the approximately 25 members who live in the Alpha Tau Omega house are concerned about contracting the disease and said he thinks the incident was blown out of proportion. "Everyone is all up in arms about it," he said. "It's way overblown."...

Students at Indiana University and Indiana State were cautioned after a woman from Terre Haute who attends the Bloomington campus was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis...

The ISU Student Health Center used a guest list from the party to contact students who attended the party at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. It urged those at the party to seek preventive care...

"These things happen. It's not really anyone's fault," he said. "It's part of living in college _ large amounts of people living together and partying together."

Purdue students who attended a party at Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in Terre Haute, Ind., on Friday may have been exposed to bacterial meningitis...

News that 18-year-old Ashley Lee, a recent Terre Haute South graduate, now has a serious case of bacterial meningitis, spread quickly across the campus of Indiana State University and sent students flocking to the university's health center for treatment...

Lee attends Indiana University, but was in Terre Haute Friday night for a party at the school's Alpha Tau Omega fraternity fraternity house. Meningitis is spread by kissing or by contact of bodily fluid, like drinking from the same cup, or smoking the same cigarette. Despite obvious concerns, some students have been reluctant to pick up the free antibiotic...

At least 200 people attended the Open 'Til Midnight benefit concert at Theta Xi on Saturday, which raised $1,750 for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
Theta Xi, Alpha Tau Omega, Gamma Phi Beta and Delta Gamma each donated $300 to the event...

"We wanted to raise money for Katrina but also do something fun, so we thought having a band play while collecting donations could be very successful"...

Warning signs restricting access to Alpha Tau Omega's house were still posted on Wednesday as fraternity President Alex Brown prepared for a Recruitment Week open house...

"It's kind of hard showing (the pledges) the outside of the house and not being able to show them the inside and what it has to offer," Brown said...

The recent move hasn't caused problems in the group, said David Marks, a member of the fraternity. "We're still very close-knit," Marks said. "We'll be back on our feet shortly. I'm optimistic about everything."

Who's Floyd? ...

Junior Evan Schaefer has been a member of Alpha Tau Omega since his freshmen year. He said the Ask Floyd campaign worked well just to get people talking about Greek life. "I think that 'Ask Floyd' helped out because just getting people to learn about Greek life is the first step to recruitment," Schaefer said.

The fraternities ended their Fall Rush with Bid Day on Thursday, September 14th. As of September 21st... Alpha Tau Omega received 11 new members...

... That value continues today on the campus of Monmouth College, where members of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) provide their time and labor for various projects throughout the community and outlying area...

On Saturday, 25 ATO members used blueprints to install new playground equipment purchased by the township. According to one member, the chapter participates in several projects a year, with the goal set at one per month. "This project was brought to our attention, so we jumped on it," one member explained. Helping the ATOs find this particular project was Greek advisor, Kenny Blair...

What do David Letterman, Tom Selleck, Meg Ryan, Kirstie Alley, Sheryl Crow, Brad Pitt, John Wayne, President Ronald Reagan, President George Bush, Dr. Suess, Harrison Ford, Jimmy Buffet, John Elway, Jane Pauley and Robert Redford have in common? ... they also are members of a fraternity or sorority.

At some point in their life, all have shared the core value of the Greek community "to give back to the community." That value continues today on the campus of Monmouth College, where members of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) provide their time and labor for various projects throughout the community and outlying area...

It's 7:30 a.m. and Nick Papatonis is on his 24th hour without sleep. Cramped in a makeshift 8-by-10-foot office in his modest one-bedroom apartment dining room, he rubs his sleepless eyes... Next to photographs of smiling New Orleans evacuees, buried beneath a stack of donations lists and rental truck forms, a phone begins to ring. "Katrina Help Austin, this is Nick. How can I help?"...

Last week, UT Student Government President Omar Ochoa, corresponded with Katrina Help Austin and helped recruit more than two dozen volunteers ... For four hours Thursday night, members from fraternities Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Lambda Beta organized and moved tables overflowing with donations...

Rose-Hulman [web/tickets] Athletic Hall of Fame... inducted Saturday... Ron Reeves - An electrical-engineering alumnus, Reeves served as Rose-Hulman's vice president of development from 1967 to 1997. He was a chapter adviser for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity from 1977 to 2001. Considered by many to be Rose's "No. 1 fan in the stands," he has attended more than 1,000 games.

... Colin Clark, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity recruitment chair, said he planned a steak dinner at a restaurant on the Corner, a mixer with a sorority and a semi-formal date function at the end of the rush period.

Clark said he likes having both the smaller fall rush and the larger spring rush because it allows all different kinds students to feel comfortable...

... The purpose of Baylor [web/tickets
/eBay] premiere weekends is to allow high school students and their parents an opportunity to get as much information as possible about college life at Baylor through informational sessions, campus tours and integration with Baylor faculty, staff and students. The main student organization sponsoring fall premiere is national fraternity Alpha Tau Omega...

A Bob Jones High School graduate with hopes of being an attorney is leading this year's Student Government Association at the University of Alabama in Huntsville...

Ryan Schueler of Madison, a 2002 BJHS graduate, was elected SGA president earlier this year... Schueler is the current vice president of the UAH chapter of Alpha Tau Omega and is a member of the student chapter of the Financial Management Association. His major is finance and his ultimate education goal is to attend law school...

Both University of Tennessee-Martin [web/ eBay] Greek Life and the Athletics Department have worked hard in their respective areas this past semester; however, they have also worked diligently in the classroom...

Alpha Gamma Rho led the fraternities again this past semester with a 2.98 GPA. They were followed by... Alpha Tau Omega with a 2.91 ...

The Greek community at Marshall [web/tickets] is making an active effort to help those victimized by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina...

Members of Alpha Tau Omega said they plan to take relief donations at the next Marshall football game...

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has celebrated the start of many buildings and projects over its more than 50-year history... Ground will officially be broken for five fraternity and sorority houses...

those scheduled to move into the new housing complex are the Delta Zeta and Kappa Delta sororities, and the Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Nu fraternities...

...I should start off by stating that Greek Life is not for everyone. That does not mean that it is only for the captain of the football team or the homecoming queen. I am in the Greek system as a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. And I am admittedly short, skinny and kind of awkward. When I say that Greek Life is not for everyone, I mean that it is specifically for those men and women who are seeking to better themselves through the virtues that brotherhood and sisterhood offer...

The Greek system is arguably the largest group of philanthropists on the campus, contributing to society through fun philanthropy events such as the Alpha Tau Omega Virgin Party which last year raised over $9,000 for the Hero Campaign and Make a Wish Foundation...

The following crimes were reported to the UA [web/tickets] Police Department this week:...Gertrude's flowers parking lot: A car was broken into, and one amplifier, two sub-woofers, two CD cases, two decks of playing cards and one unused Magnum condom were stolen...

Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house: An MP3 player and stereo were stolen...

The verdict is in, and Ferris Wharton has a guilty pleasure. He's hooked on fitness...

"I always played sports at Mount Pleasant High. I was on the basketball and soccer teams. Then, when I was in college at Delaware, I was playing a lot of basketball at Carpenter Sports Building. I had a couple [Alpha Tau Omega] fraternity brothers who got me into running...

Twelve percent of FSU's population is greek with over 20 different fraternities to choose from...

Many of these fraternities have relocated to Heritage Grove, which is an upscale development complex and home to some of the most extravagant fraternity houses in the nation...

In Heritage Grove alone, there are 11 fraternities located within its premise... Alpha Tau Omega... call Heritage Grove home. Leaving the other 10 fraternity houses still on campus to compete...

Rose-Hulman [web/tickets] Hall of Fame:

Ron Reeves - A 1958 electrical engineering alumnus, Reeves served as Rose-Hulman's Vice-President of Development from 1967-97. He was a chapter advisor for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity from 1977-2001 and as Rose-Hulman's "No. 1 fan in the stands" has attended more than 1,000 games...

On a back porch in the East Campus neighborhood, eight partiers under 21 spent Friday night sipping Bud Lights and smoking cigarettes. None of them seemed to mind that if caught, they could lose $1,000, their driver's licenses and one year of their lives...

Pat McHargue, who is the philanthropy chairperson for his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, said the new laws will not effect off-campus fraternity parties where alcohol is served. "When we have parties associated with our fraternity, those who aren't 21 don't drink," McHargue said. "I don't even drink at those parties"...

Close to 100 students, faculty and staff gathered in Witherspoon Cinema last night to discuss relief efforts in reaction to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina earlier this week...

Randy Cotten,Alpha Tau Omega service chair, said the fraternity is cancelling one of next week's rush events and donating the money directly to the Red Cross. He said that although the donation would only amount to a couple hundred dollars, his fraternity would be encouraging others to do the same. "You gotta start somewhere," Cotten said...

...With the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the Greek community is planning future events to help the victims...

Alpha Tau Omega and Omega Pi Epsilon fraternities will host an auction to raise money...