Getting to know Brown's newest fraternity

Brown recently granted residential status to a new fraternity, Beta Omega Chi. The organization, which was founded at Brown in 2013, has grown dramatically and will now be occupying Olney House as of the Fall of 2016. To learn more about Beta Omega Chi, its founding, its newfound status, and its future, I sat down with three members of this self-proclaimed "very nice group of men"—current President Isaiah Edwards '17 and founders Ahmed Elsayed '16 and Andrew Gonzales '16. Check out our interview below.Blog: So, what exactly is Beta Omega Chi?Gonzales: Beta Omega Chi is a black male fraternity, started at Brown University, for the purposes of serving Black men in the pursuits of brotherhood, academic excellence, social action—social and political issues that are particularly salient to the Black community, both at Brown, Providence, nationally, and internationally—and lastly to just be a community involved in terms of charitable giving, in terms of brotherly kindness [and] in terms of different philanthropic efforts.Blog: Do you have any specific values, goals, and are there any organizations that you specifically work with?Edwards: So, a couple of things: we like to be totally integrated into the Brown community, so that means working with other Black organizations on campus, such as the Black Students Union, the Brotherhood, the League, etc. In addition, some other organizations that dedicate themselves to other issues, such as Sexual Assault Peer Education (SAPE). In addition to that, we like to work with organizations outside of Brown; so, for instance, we work with Save the Bay...to clean up the bay by India Point.Currently, we're in talks with San Miguel, which serves low-income minority middle-school-aged boys, to have a mentoring partnership with them. Actually, the program is set up [such that you] mentor the boys not only after they leave San Miguel, but [also] through high school and into [the college application process].Blog: What was the process of founding Beta Omega Chi like?Elsayed: We were conceptualized on September 17th of 2013, and that's when we started to develop an organization. Initially, it was more so just the founders trying to figure out how [they] wanted [BOX] to look, what they want[ed] this to mean, what they want[ed] the organization to represent...and then being able to sell it to people. And then we went out and started recruiting...and we had our first five strong initiates, who helped get the organization to where it is today. [The initiates] really believed in the organization, whereas in the early stages, there were [many] people who didn't believe in [it].Blog: What was the residential status process like?Gonzales: We were a recognized fraternity with the State of Rhode Island (last Friday was the two-year anniversary!). Because we didn't really fall in a domain that Brown was used to, there were no formal channels of recognition for us unless we had a house, and we were too small to have a house. So we didn't know exactly how we'd be recognized; the only thing we knew we could do was to work really hard and to do what we did well.Elsayed: We were very limited, especially in the climate of the University. We knew that it wasn't gonna happen right then. Even the administration was telling us, "this is a bad time;" but, being incorporated by the State of Rhode Island did give us that credibility to still exist, but not be able to take the perks of the University. Eventually, as we started to grow and do more things, people started to recognize [Beta Omega Chi].Edwards: [The process] was a large function of hard work...So when the time came that people started to notice the organization, some Residential Life Deans began to reach out to me and the Vice President [and] we were able to clearly delineate in that moment why we would be good for it. From that stemmed us going through more formal channels of being recognized [including a Residential Council application]. As far as Brown goes, the most straight channel [to recognition] for most fraternities is through Residential Life—so once you get a house and your residentially located, then you're recognized. We submitted our application right before the Winter Break, and they reviewed it...they unanimously decided that they would allow to be residential. Then the Dean, at that moment, established us as having a recognized status as a fraternity on February 11th.Blog: What does having an official home on campus mean to you?Elsayed: Part of the reason why we got recognition is the hard work, and plus people saw what we were doing—and that was without recognition, that was without support from [the University]. Now that we have a house, we can operate at a level that we've never been able to operate [at] before. Now that we have Brown's support—now that we can use spaces on this campus—the events are becoming endless. Now we can partner with organizations and actually do things on campus to more impact Brown. With this status, the sky's the limit. And that means a lot, because that really talks to the longevity of the organization—that it will be here 50 years from now, that it will be here 100 years from now, because now it's really becoming a part of Brown culture.Gonzales: I would say two things to that. [For] one, I think we really pride ourselves on the connectivity of our brotherhood, and I think that's one of the strongest pillars of the organization...how close we are. But I think that just living with someone—the proximity there [will] allow for that to be exponentially greater. And the second is what it symbolically represents for Brown University, a history of over 250 years built on the backs of our ancestors...to break down that particular barrier and to have a physical space on this campus for black men, I think, speaks volumes.Blog: How do you guys, now that you do have a house, see yourself fitting into the ever-volatile Wriston community?Elsayed: I think part of it is that we wanna demystify all the negative stigmas not around all fraternities, but definitely around our fraternity. We want people to know that we're not the average organization–that we're different. And I think you also gotta know that Greek life at Brown is changing significantly. We're moving into Olney...and it seems like there's gonna be a revamp of Greek culture on campus. And I think we had a good hand in that. There's been a lot of trouble surrounding these organizations, and hopefully we can help alleviate some of that.You can learn more about Beta Omega Chi by checking out their Facebook page.