The IFC Bro Gam Program

Starting this fall, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) will offer the Bro Gam program as a resource for all potential new members throughout the formal recruitment process. Read on to learn more about this new program and how it can benefit you and your decision to Go Greek!

 

What is a Bro Gam?

A Bro Gam is an upper-class, Greek affiliated man who is your ultimate resource for fraternity life at Lehigh. Bro Gams are trained with information on all IFC organizations as well as the Multicultural Greek and Panhellenic Councils. A Bro Gam is proud of his membership but understands that there is a fraternity for every man who is interested in affiliating. He offers support and guidance to you through your decision making process. Your assigned Bro Gam is there to answer questions about fraternity membership and life at Lehigh.

 

How do I get assigned a Bro Gam?

When you sign up for the spring formal recruitment process online, your information will be given to an assigned Bro Gam who will then reach out to you to welcome you to Lehigh and the fraternity community.

 

How will my Bro Gam assist me with the process?

Bro Gams will be able to provide you with answers to the questions you may have about the recruitment process as well as life as a fraternity man. They will also provide information on upcoming recruitment events including the formal IFC Open House event. During this event, you will have the opportunity to meet all 18 IFC fraternities over three days. You will meet with your Bro Gam group prior to the event and walk together to each open house event.

 

Is there additional information that I can get on the IFC recruitment process?

Bro Gams will be hosting residence hall floor meetings once per month during the fall semester for potential new members to attend. During these sessions, potential new members will have opportunities to learn more about the fraternity and sorority community and have their questions answered by their Bro Gam. Information on these floor meetings will be emailed to you from your Bro Gam.

 

 

 

For further information, please contact the IFC Recruitment Chair:

Max Miller (mdm214@lehigh.edu)

Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute: Kyle Ferdinando, Pi Kappa Alpha

 

In just five short days, I learned the true meaning of being a "values-based organization",  of how to connect my fraternity's rituals to our everyday lives, and made extremely strong and lasting friendships with fellow students from across the country. This was my UIFI experience.

 

UIFI was built upon the reconnection of fraternities to their founding purposes, as values-based organizations. But what does this mean? It was introduced to us simply enough as, making men better men, and women better women. From there we expanded, discussing why our organizations were formed and the purposes they originally served. We were challenged to think and talk about our own values: What was important to us? What do we most value? This simple yet serious questions introduced us to that idea that knowing yourself and what you stand for is essentially important to realizing your potential as an individual and as a part of any group. Being values-based is knowing what is important to you, and acting in a way that best exemplifies these beliefs.

 

UIFI talked a lot about our fraternity rituals, the words and acts that connect our chapters across the nation and through the years. We were introduced to the idea that these rituals are not just for special occasions and closed doors but for every day and every where. These rituals express the values and beliefs that are important to us, and by trying to live them out not once a year but every day, we can lead more fulfilling and rewarding lives. We looked at the idea of fraternity ritual in a whole new way, as a guide to the principles on which our groups were founded and as a way to reconnect with those ideas.

 

I entered UIFI knowing no one; I left with countless lasting friends. Our small groups truly bonded over the few days we were there, sharing our problems and concerns and being vulnerable to one another. The leaders there were really great people, the sense of community at UIFI was extremely strong and impressive. It quickly became easy to see that the fraternity experience is so similar across the country, and that this is a bond that we all share with so many others. 

 

I cannot recommend highly enough the experience of UIFI; every person in a Greek organization has so much to benefit from this unique experience. I enjoyed it immensely, and know that it has made me a strong leader and put me more in touch with what my fraternity truly stands for.

-Kyle Ferdinando, Pi Kappa Alpha
IFC President