Gamma Psi, an off-campus organization not currently affiliated with Longwood, is in the process of coming on-campus and being recognized as a fraternity by the university, a process which takes around three weeks.
The organization has attempted to go through the process before, but has never completed it due to inhibitions from past members, and the inability to finalize an agreement with multiple on-campus subsidiaries.
“We’ve tried to go on-campus in the past, but we just couldn’t reach an agreement with the IFC and Longwood together,” said Douglass Dey, Gamma Psi’s president.
Recognition from the university would allow the fraternity to hold fundraisers and events on-campus, something which they are unable to do as an off-campus group. Dey stated that the recognition would also allow more opportunities for community service and recruitment.
Gamma Psi was founded in 1969 and stemmed from Gamma Delta Psi, a high school fraternity that was founded in 1879. Gamma Psi has had a chapter at Longwood for the past 22 years, but has not yet been officially recognized as a fraternity by the university since the chapter’s creation in 1993.
“The Member Fraternities of the IFC will not prohibit an international organization from selecting undergraduates for the purpose of establishing a chapter on the campus,” states the IFC constitution.
It continues, “(They) will not deter expansion by withholding membership in the IFC for any international member organization.”
According to the IFC constitution, the expansion process can occur one of three ways. An open invitation from IFC to colonize, a petition to join, with a Letter of Intent sent to the IFC president or student interest group colonization which involves a group of students forming a chapter affiliated with an established international organization and submitting a Letter of Intent for approval.
