The new kids on frat row: FIJI

Phi Gamma Delta is the newest fraternity to be added to DU’s campus and is already making their mark with their unique pledge process and Campus Cleanup days. DU Media Journalist Riley Laub has more on the story!

There is a new fraternity on the block at the University of Denver with hopes of doing Greek Life differently.

Phi Gamma Delta or FIJI as many know it, joined the DU Interfraternity Council during the first week of the Winter Quarter. After a search for members by a FIJI representative across campus, the fraternity has already gained 20 members. 

One of those members was third-year student Tyler Miller, who is now the president of FIJI. 

Miller said he was skeptical of joining a fraternity at first, because of preconceived opinions of fraternity life, but was inspired “to raise healthy men on campus” from his involvement with the DU Masculinities Project’s workshops. 

“I sat down and talked with one of the representatives from [FIJI] HQ, and it was like all the pieces of the puzzle came together and it was like, this is how I help bring about a healthier idea of masculinity on campus and how I can change and impact a positive culture,” Miller said. 

After the initial recruitment of the cabinet members, Phi Gamma Delta at DU was finally coming into fruition. It wasn’t until the middle weeks of the Winter Quarter that the fraternity started holding chapter meetings, philanthropy events, and their unique Campus Cleanup Day. 

Every other Friday, the members of FIJI grab trash bags, gloves and a speaker to go around and clean up the campus alongside other surrounding areas. With the absence of a big philanthropy budget, FIJI Treasurer Zach Headley and the rest of the cabinet members decided to come up with a simple way to meet their value of giving back to the community. 

“One of the simple things we thought of was, ‘Hey, when we’re walking along University [Blvd] after a Thursday or Saturday night, there’re beer cans all over the place, there’s all kinds of trash, cigarette butts, everything like that. How hard would it be to grab some kitchen trash bags and some gloves and just walk around for a couple of hours and pick that up,” Headley said. 

The support for the Campus Cleanup days has been very positive and the number of people participating has grown by a lot since their first cleanup. Members of DU’s Tri Delta sorority joined the members of FIJI on April 12 to help clean up the trash left from the night before. 

“I think the reason we are able to continue doing [Campus Cleanup Days] is because of the really positive response the first time. When we went the first time, I think maybe there were six or seven of us that were going. It was cold out; it was kind of a tough day to be doing that, but we got a really positive response from pretty much everybody we ran into that were like, ‘Hey, we saw you out there doing this, what group is that for, and what is this,’” Headley said. 

Not only are the Campus Cleanup days a unique thing among DU fraternities, but the process of joining FIJI is also uncommon. 

Most pledging and rushing activities take up to a whole quarter to complete and must stick to certain timelines imposed by the University. FIJI’s membership process is shorter and does not necessarily stick to the same dates/timelines that other fraternities have with pledging. Potential new members (PNM) meet with the FIJI brothers, have conversations and attend service events over approximately 2-3 weeks. If a connection is made, then the PNM is given a bid, and if it is accepted, the PNM becomes an automatic brother of FIJI. 

“Once we feel out where they’re sitting, and where we’re sitting, if they work well with the other guys and their visions and goals match with ours, then we extend a bid. Once a bid is offered and accepted, you’re an automatic brother. There’s no pledge member, there’s no associative member, there’s no middle stage between when you are a full-fledged brother and when you accept that bid,” Miller said. 

To the brothers of FIJI, the value of depth of relationships and connections is very important with potential new members and the core values of the fraternity. The idea of having deep conversations about things that males wouldn’t typically discuss and fostering deeper relationships among the members was a value that was reiterated by the members of FIJI. 

“As fun as it is to have a social space just generally speaking that can take you away from work and school…we also wanted to just take it one step further and ask the harder questions and lean into the potentially more vulnerable conversations…and say, when we leave here and we call you a brother, that actually has some ‘oomph’ behind it because we had those deeper conversations and connected on a deeper level,” Headley said. 

FIJI came to DU at a time when multiple fraternities and sororities across the country tried to bring a chapter to the DU. The IFC will be adding a new fraternity to the council for the next three school years, with FIJI being the first addition this year. Phi Delta Theta will join in 2025-26, Kappa Sigma will join in 2026-27, and Sigma Phi Epsilon will join in 2027-28. 

“In this instance, Phi Gamma Delta has been at DU before…they reached out with, ‘Hey we would love to reopen our chapter’ and it kind of started with the alumni…as we were having that conversation, we had other organizations reach out, very similarly…we heard from two, then three, then seven, and eventually we ended up hearing from 14, so there was a lot of interest in coming to DU, and that was awesome,” Associate Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Christoper Miofsky said. 

It’s a testament to the future of Greek life on DU’s campus. More fraternities and sororities on campus open up the door for more opportunities for Greek life. To Miofsky, the addition of new organizations gives way for more like-minded and more diverse communities to sprout up on campus. 

“In thinking about ways that we can provide very unique experiences for students, that really, again, hit with their values and identities, particularly over the next five to six years we are going to see that. And ways that students are able to join where they feel called to join because it is a lifelong experience and we want it to be a lifelong experience. So that’s the ultimate goal,” Miofsky said. 

As for the future of FIJI, the community should expect the brothers to keep cleaning up the campus streets alongside other philanthropic events that are in the works. 

“The biggest thing you can expect from FIJI is just for us to keep doing our thing. Giving back, service, trying to raise as much money as we can. Social events, here or there, although we’re not going to be a big party fraternity, it’s not for us. We’re going to have fun and have a good time, but at the same time we want to be giving back, we want to be serving and developing ourselves as upstanding young men,” Miller said. 

To learn more about FIJI, you can check out their Instagram page. To learn more about the DU IFC, you can check out their website.