The MSU chapter of a faith-based fraternity held its first rush last week, ending with Bid Day Saturday.
The fraternity, Beta Upsilon Chi, pledged 16 new members, adding to the 23 members involved in starting up the fraternity over the last year.
Casey Zumwalt, president of BYX at MSU, said founding members of the MSU chapter started meeting and recruiting members last fall to see if there was enough interest in forming a chapter of the fraternity at Mississippi State.
“We started meeting in September of 2004. We had several interest meetings over a period of eight months, and we recruited guys to start a founding father class, and on April 5, 2005, we received a charter from the national fraternity,” Zumwalt said.
Assistant professor of food science, nutrition and health promotion Brent Fountain said he was approached to be the faculty adviser and was glad to do so.
“I think it’s an exciting opportunity. I’m looking forward to working with the group and helping them in any way,” he said.
BYX began in 1985 at the University of Texas at Austin when a group of college students decided they wanted an alternative to the stereotypical fraternity lifestyle.
The fraternity currently has 15 chap ters nationwide, with the MSU chapter, known as the Omicron chapter, being the newest.
Vice president of BYX Nick Dampier said the fraternity will focus on helping members grow strong in their relationship with God while outreaching to others with social parties on campus.
“Our plans for the year are just to grow strong together in brotherhood and in our Christian walk, and we are going to have parties here and there,” he said.
“We will have another rush in the spring, and in April we will have our Island Party which is kind of announcing that we are here and we are a real deal. We are going to have about four or five bands come out, and we are going to have a speaker,” he said.
“Our goal is to unite each other in brotherhood through a common bond in Jesus Christ and we just want to outreach to the campus,” he added.
Fountain said he feels the group will be a good addition to the MSU community.
“I think they will be a very positive influence on campus, and I’m excited to be a part of it,” he said.