Austrian Students want to found a Fraternity

[joachim]

Hello,
we are a group of students at Vienna's School of Business, Economics and Computer Science. As we do not appreciate the Austrian franternity system (very catholic, nationalistic and considered to be very 'right wing'), we are looking for other possibilities.

We are highly fascinated by the Greek System in the USA. Is it possible to found a chapter outside the US? Which fraternity would fit for us?
To give you an idea of what kind of persons we are, I list some of our goals/ideals: We want to help students to find their way through university and campus life, form lifelong friendships and a business network, help community members to have a good start in a new town (vienna). We want only 'good' students with high moral and ethics as well as a also sense of humor.

Joachim

[LyonAZD]

I am pretty sure that TKE is an international fraternity. KE has European roots. I would suggest talking to various national organizations about international status.
Good Luck,
LYON AZD

[CutiePie2000]

It's hard to say whether American fraternities would be interested in having a chapter abroad, what with the expense of maintaining it from afar, etc. (There are pretty few fraternities in Hawaii and Alaska, for example, because it can get expensive with them being so far away).

I'm quite certain that NPHC groups have European chapters, perhaps initially intended for Americans living overseas?

LYON AZD is correct, Kappa Sigma has roots in Italy.

There are lots of fraternity websites...have a look at them and perhaps email some inquiries.

[Tom Earp]

You might try greekpages.com. You can look at all of the Fraternitys and Soroitys. It will list chapters and colleges. I know Lambda Chi Alpha has chapters in Canada, but not in Europe. Nothing ventured nothing gained. I agree with the cost of travel, it may be prohibitive. You may want to do as I did and start a local Fraternity. After 9 mo., we associated with Lambda Chi Alpha which is about a record and have never been sorry. Good LUCK in your endevor!!!

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by LyonAZD:
I am pretty sure that TKE is an international fraternity. KE has European roots. I would suggest talking to various national organizations about international status.
Good Luck,
LYON AZD

kappa sigma can be directly traced back to european founding, in 1400 at the university of bologna - however, our american version currently only has chapters in the US and canada. so . . . while it wouldn't hurt to contact national (www.kappasigma.org), there's no precedent for it other than the historical founding. good luck guys!

Originally posted by CutiePie2000:
(There are pretty few fraternities in Hawaii and Alaska, for example, because it can get expensive with them being so far away).

I don't know about Alaska, but the reason why there aren't too many fraternities in Hawaii is because of low interest, not because it gets too expensive. A few years ago there were 3 NIC fraternities on campus: Tau Kappa Epsilon, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Phi Epsilon. Now, only TKE remains, and they do not own a chapter house.

Another important reason is that local fraternities have long standing traditions on my campus and have shown no interest in affiliating with a national. NIC (as well as NPC) fraternity alumnae have tried expansion, but interest is just simply too low.

[33girl]

Hi Joachim,

Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity has a 'reciprocal arrangement' with a fraternal organization called Popes Society at Oxford. Their website is http://www.dke.org if you want to check it out. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by 33girl (edited February 22, 2001).]

[DeltAlum]

Hi Joachim,

I think the advice above is good. Delta Tau Delta is also in the US and Canada. Check the website at www.delts.org for information on expansion.

Fraternally,
DeltAlum

[joachim]

hi every1. i´m a fellow student of joachim. today we discussed the idea of establishing an austrian (european?) chapter of an american greek fraternity or starting an associated fraternity a little further, and the following is our idea of how it should look like: 1) we want to be partners of a democratic (party) fraternity, as we agree with their values a little more than with the republican ones 2) we plan to establish a fraternity sport and to (once a year) compete with our american affiliates 3) we´d like to establish an exchange program within our fraternity, ie. offering room&board to american students and vice versa 4) we want to establish connections to important business companies 5) our fraternity should be for business students only.
this is a short summary of what we´re looking for, if any fraternity would be really interested in associating with us, don´t hesitate to contact us and we mail you more details - besides, we would need some advice on greek rituals, etc.
cheers, burkhard

ps: if you know of any fraternity brothers currently being on exchange in austria or germany, please also contact us on where to reach them.

[CutiePie2000]

joachim
You should talk to matthewg
His email is: mgruhn@gmx.net
He is a user on this board in Germany and you two might be a big help to each other, since he's interested in American style fraternities, as well.
Good Luck!

[Billy Optimist]

Joachim,
Fraternites in American aren't really offically tied to one party or another. However, I know that Delta Kappa Epsilon has had like 5 republican presidents. From perception the more liberal/democratic ones might be Alpha Sigma Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Kappa Psi, or Pi Kappa Phi. This is just from my experience and bassed on friends/family members in these fraternities.

[Billy Optimist]

Joachim,
What is the situation with the Freedom Party in Austria? Are they still in power?

[BFulton]

If you're specifically looking for a business fraternity, you might look at the umbrella group site. There are a few U.S.-based business fraternities.
www.profraternity.org

[joachim]

Billy Optimist,

the Freedom Party is still member of the Austrian Administration. Their charismatic leader, Jorg Haider, is not a member of our government, but he still is Governor of Corinthia and the one who acts behind the scenes. At the moment, the FP is about to take control of many important functions in the Austrian Republic. They dismiss key players in Social Insurance (which is a very important institution in Austria), and they are overtaking the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation.
For students, the situation is bad as well. Tuition fees were not known in Austria until now.

@all:
Thank you very much for your comments, which I consider to be very helpful.

Joachim

[ilovemyglo]

Hey! Good luck in your quest to find brotherhood and a fraternity that represents yourselves!!! There are many BUSINESS fraternities and sororities in America... you may want to contact them.
As a reply to the posts about Alaska and Hawaii, there is only one NPC organization there, AGD, and they are VERY strong. Although it is expensive when they have to travel to things, like Convention (which is required) there are things that help divert the costs. They are very strong there and I know that many of the women at their college like the idea of a NPC group that has roots and family everywhere!