The Alpha Upsilon chapter of Phi Kappa Tau is the youngest fraternity on the Colgate University campus. Founded on March 17, 1906, at Miami University, Phi Kappa Tau was only installed at Colgate in 1937. The fraternity emphasizes three core values: learning, leading and serving.
One of Phi Kappa Tau’s philanthropy chairs, junior Andrew Titus, explained his role and interest in their philanthropy.
“I just really wanted a role where I can host events, come up with my own ideas and have some sort of goal that I can actually focus toward. I think with all the charities we’ve been emailing, making t-shirts for and selling, it just feels like a more rewarding experience,” Titus said. “I can actually do something good and have to set up for it, and I actually have to put in work towards it.”
Junior Tucker Dunagan is also a Phi Kappa Tau philanthropy chair. Dunagan expressed his passion for giving back and his sentiments about the mutual benefits that Greek Life Organizations and Colgate can offer each other.
“I feel like a lot of other leadership opportunities that come with Greek life don’t necessarily have to do with helping others or helping yourself per se, but as a philanthropy chair, I feel like you really get to come together as the Colgate community and improve the community as a whole,” Dunagan said. “I think that’s probably the most important thing as an organization we do on campus, because we’re partially funded by the school — the school helps us — so I think we should make the school better, and give back to something really important.”
In order to make their events successful, Phi Kappa Tau gets creative with their philanthropy events to try to encourage as many people as possible to stop by and support their causes.
“We have two main events that we do each year, one in each semester. This fall semester, we’re doing a petting zoo with goats that are trained for goat yoga. We get a bunch of them, and we always do it on [Family Weekend], so that way we can get a bunch of people to come. It’s just a fun event, and it’s to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. We sell pink shirts and everyone is dressed in pink,” Dunagan said.
The goat yoga is not only a hit for the community, but also for the members of Phi Kappa Tau, who love to host the event year after year.
“They’re baby goats, so they’re super cute. They’ll jump on top of you, and they’re just pretty awesome,” Dunagan said.
Titus echoed these positive sentiments about the goat yoga event.
“The people that we work with for the goats are super nice too, so we continue working with them every year, which is great,” Titus said.
For the spring semester, they involve the Colgate community in an even more unique way.
“In the spring, we do a [Campus Safety] dunk tank. You get a [Campus Safety] officer, you get a dunk tank, you throw a ball to try to knock them in the water. It’s just a really fun thing to do because it’s just super laidback. People would want to do it even if it wasn’t for philanthropy,” Dunagan said. “We’re trying to raise money for [St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital].”
Ultimately, Phi Kappa Tau’s philanthropy events — both amusing and a great way to bond the Colgate community — has given the organization a reputation as a unique place on campus. Junior Adam Luse, another philanthropy chair for Phi Kappa Tau, explained that these events are supported by the alumni of the Colgate chapter.
“It’s important to us that our house represents more than just a social space — we want it to stand for something meaningful. I’m especially proud that our alumni match every dollar we raise, which doubles the impact of our efforts. While I can’t speak to how our values compare to other houses, I can say that we consistently support the same organizations year after year. By focusing our efforts, we’re able to make a more meaningful and lasting impact, rather than spreading our donations thin across random causes,” Luse said.
Titus stressed the importance of enjoyment at Phi Kappa Tau’s philanthropy events, which serves as an incentive for more people in the Colgate community to participate and donate.
“What we try to do is have it be more fun, because — at least for us — that’s the most important part of our philanthropy goals, is having something where everyone wants to come enjoy,” Titus said.
If being mounted by baby goats and dunking Campus Safety officers sound like fun activities to do with family and friends, stop by Phi Kappa Tau’s philanthropy events, which guarantee not only an enjoyable time, but also the gratification of giving back and helping others.
