After a four-year suspension from campus, on Nov. 22, the Provisional Kappa Alpha Order (KA) inducted 18 members into the newly re-established fraternity led by president Michael Diaz ‘26.
In September 2020, KA was suspended after having an unapproved party in an off-campus house that left nearly 60% of self-reported attendees positive for COVID-19. This party occurred while the fraternity was under a social events suspension due to a prior incident in 2019, according to an email from the university.
Last year, Furman’s Interfraternity Council expansion committee, composed of faculty, staff and students, met to select two new fraternities to join campus. After reviewing applications and hosting campus visits with several national fraternity leaders, the committee recommended KA and Chi Psi to return to campus. Chi Psi, a fraternity on Furman’s campus from 1858-61 and 1870-98, is set to return in the fall of 2025.
As part of these efforts, KA is on track to be officially chartered at Furman with the help of Brandon Brown, a KA nationals representative sent to Furman to aid in recruitment measures, along with Diaz. This semester, they have been recruiting upperclassmen and will participate in formal IFC recruitment in January.
“I want to show the first-years that the KA their dad or their grandparent is a part of is not going to be the KA that we have here,” Diaz said. “We will be different in how we approach fraternity events, hold ourselves and other fraternities accountable and interact with sororities on campus. We want to be role models. Like other fraternities, KA has its own issues and history, such as KA’s spiritual founder, Robert E. Lee. The history alone won’t resemble who we are.”
KA and Furman have a strong history of collaboration. The Kappa Alpha Order was founded in 1865, and Furman was home to the ninth chapter of KA in 1872. KA traces its roots to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., where Robert E. Lee, once a general in the Confederate States Army and later the commander, served as university president. While Lee was not a founding member, he is considered to be the organization’s “spiritual founder.”
“We don’t agree with the idea of Robert E. Lee as the Confederate general. If we ever align with him, it would be with him as a university president of Washington and Lee University. Through that role, he showed how to become a gentleman. His goal was to cultivate successful men who embodied the qualities of a true gentleman,” Diaz said.
He hopes that KA will build a new name for itself within the Furman community.
“I don’t especially look like a Kappa Alpha president, let alone a fraternity president in general. That is what is unique about Furman. When it comes to national fraternities at Furman, many don’t look like how they are known nationally. Furman sets a different tone and a different standard,” Diaz said.
For Andrew Cooter ‘25, this controversial aspect of KA’s legacy was a deal breaker when it came to joining. Last spring he was appointed as the non-Greek life delegate to the IFC expansion committee as a potential president for the next fraternity on campus. When KA was selected as the first fraternity to return, Cooter felt uneasy about its association with Lee.
“Even though (KA) tries to spin it in a positive light, most people who hear that they are associated with a Confederate general are not enthusiastic about joining that fraternity. That’s the biggest thing,” Cooter said.
Before Diaz was brought in, Cooter met with Brown and asked if he would be willing to have a town hall at Furman to address the Lee association and announce that the club only aligns with him as a university president.
“Brandon said he would be willing to have those conversations individually, but not in a group. To me, that wasn’t enough. Before they can make change on campus, they need to make changes on the organizational and national level. I have no idea what KA is going to look like at Furman, and I trust in Michael, (Assistant Director of Student Life Caro Douglass, Fraternity and Sorority Life) and everyone involved to get guys who are going to make a positive change on campus,” Cooter said.
With 18 members accumulated in just three months, Diaz expects a large class of KAs after IFC recruitment.
“The selection process for KA is simple. We want guys who are leaders, who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves,” Diaz said.
He hopes to create an inclusive fraternity adhering to the KA values of chivalry and respect, setting the tone for what the Greek life experience at Furman should be.
“The people we already have, myself included, are not necessarily ‘fraternity guys.’ We are just guys who are interested in a fraternity. We’re the ‘maybes’ or the ‘nos’ you would see if you were trying to recruit. First of all, I’m a computer science major. I rarely see that (in fraternities). We have a great time, but we don’t have to party the entire time,” Diaz said. “With KA we hope to be models along with Clemson and Wofford to paint the picture of what a ‘True Modern Gentleman’ looks like,” Diaz said.
