Emory’s Division of Campus Life received $300,000 to build the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity house, due to a donation made possible through fund-raising efforts by alumni.

The donation is preceded by the return of Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) this month, who will be moving back into 22 Eagle Row, where AEPi has been housed for the past three years. AEPi will remain in the house for the 2009-10 academic year and will be guaranteed University housing until the new house is made available.

AEPi President Michael Rabin said that the donation is a turning point for the Epsilon chapter.

“This is bigger than me, bigger than everyone standing here, but it represents all of us and it represents the next 80, 90 years to come,” Rabin said.

Director of Fundraising for the Epsilon Chapter Campaign Zachary Allen, who graduated last year, said the money was raised over the past seven years. He said that the first six years yielded $27,000 of the $300,000 that was donated yesterday.

Allen said donors are given the option of both high-dollar donations and low-dollar donations. High-dollar donations, he said, are given under a naming program, in which certain dollar amounts ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 are assigned to rooms in the new house, such as bedrooms, the library and the chapter room. Low-dollar amounts range in the hundreds and are meant to help alumni remain involved with the fraternity.

AEPi alumn Don Reisman, who graduated in 1949, said that he is proud of how far the Epsilon chapter has gone and credits this success to Allen’s efforts.

Allen said that it is also the strength of the fraternity itself that made fundraising possible.

He said that Reisman’s dedication to the campaign is a mark of true brotherhood, and is indicative of AEPi’s prestige.

“I hope we don’t forget whose shoulders we stand on — they are very broad shoulders,” he said.

Rabin said the donation and the new house solidify and maintain the fraternity’s dominance on campus by showing that “the Epsilon chapter is here to stay.” Allen said that the new house will strengthen the already dynamic bond between brothers.

Campus Life Dean John Ford said that the building of the house is reaching its beginning stages. He said that negotiations and concerns such as location and design have yet to begin. According to a press release, financing and construction will begin as soon as funds are received.

After the event, several brothers crowded around the check for photographs
and thanked alumni for their hard work.

Allen, who according to Reisman was the reason the campaign was as successful as it was, said that he couldn’t take all the credit.
“You’ve come from every corner of Long Island,” Allen joked, speaking to fraternity brothers. “By keeping this house in order, you’ve given alumni a chance to give you a home.”

— Contact Alice Chen