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Fraternity revamps, plans inaugural event on March 9

Alpha Psi, a veterinary professional fraternity that fizzed out at UF a few years ago, is making a comeback.

The group will hold its inaugural social event, a barbeque, on March 9 from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.at Kanapaha Park in Gainesville.  Junior veterinary student Timothy Queeney, who has spearheaded the reorganization effort, hopes the event will draw UF CVM faculty and residents in addition to students interested in joining.

Queeney agreed to get involved after being approached by a UF veterinary alumnus who had been involved in the organization earlier and wanted to help get it going again.

“I learned about what the fraternity used to do here, and got in touch with the national leaders,” Queeney said. “This fraternity has chapters at most of the 17 veterinary colleges.”

Queeney attended the fraternity’s national meeting last January in Orlando to get better acquainted with the group and its goals.

“Every school’s chapter is very different,” he said. “They vary widely. At Auburn, for example, it’s a true social fraternity.  It’s also the only chapter in the country which is all-male, and members can live in a house on campus. Then there are also smaller chapters with maybe a dozen members that don’t hold a lot of events, but maybe once a year throw a big ball or something. Most chapters run somewhere in the middle, from a brick-and-mortar establishment where everyone lives, to a looser association.”

Queeney said most chapters function as a social organization which is also a fraternity.

“In addition to students, we’d like to involve members of the veterinary college faculty and staff,” he said.

Although UF’s club bylaws limit official membership to students or those associated with UF, Queeney envisions the fraternity will still serve to provide a network for outreach to UF veterinary alumni and even community veterinarians at some point.

UF’s chapter of Alpha Psi is open to all students and to UF CVM faculty and staff.

“My vision for our chapter would be to serve as a venue for social interaction between students and other groups,” he said. “We would really like to incorporate the faculty and engender a better collegiate atmosphere between students and our teachers.”

Queeney said an informational meeting would be held Feb. 7 to gauge interest within the student body about possibly assuming leadership positions in Alpha Psi.

He said the group will probably have a very small number of organizational meetings each year, and doesn’t envision the fraternity bringing lecturers to speak to the group.

“It’s really more of a social group, so I see us having more events like the barbecue,” Queeney said. “We also plan on resuming the Tail Gates, which have fallen off. A lot of alumni come to games and a lot of faculty go to games, so that would be a great way to host a gathering.”

Anyone seeking more information about the UF’s new Alpha Psi chapter may visit the group’s website or email Queeney at tqueeney@ufl.edu.