For Omega Delta Phi members, they live by this — one culture, any race. Founded on campus in 1997, Omega Delta Phi prides itself on its philosophy of inclusion and diversity of its members.
“Our mission is to graduate our brothers and give back to the community,” Alonzo Burris, exercise physiology junior, said.
Jose Torres, bilingual education sophomore, joined Omega Delta Phi on Sept. 8. He was introduced to the fraternity at game night in fall 2015. He suggested that others get out and try to get connected with the different organizations. Torres encourages joining an organization that gives you the chance to meet new people.
“Continue to look around and find a group of people you’re comfortable with,” Torres said.
He also said that being part of a fraternity is “amazing” and “surreal.”
“I wanted to be in something bigger than myself and I was looking for a brotherhood,” Torres said.
Isaiah Edwards, art junior, said “We’re not an average fraternity, we are a lot closer as a fraternity than others. We prefer quality over quantity.”
The fraternity members always keep tabs on one another and help each other when they need it. They often have study groups and let each other know when they have a test. They do this to help with the “graduate members” portion of their mission statement.
“We would like to do as much as we possibly could for the community while balancing our grades, that’s our main goal,” Edwards said.
Not only does the fraternity keep up with their members they try and interact with as many people as possible.
“We try to be involved with everybody and look for peoples best interest off and on campus,” Edwards said. The Omega Delta Phi members are always looking for way to interact with their fellow students.
Preston Busby, criminal justice sophomore, said, “We want to have different connections to a variety of people.”
Some examples of how Omega Delta Phi members help out the Wichita Falls community is through their involvement with the Mustang Move-In, volunteering at the city food bank and being part of the Sikes Lake cleanup. They plan to do a clothing drive and participating in some of the events for Family Day Sept. 24.
One of the events they enjoy doing the most is the pig roast. The pig roast is a region wide conference with the Omega Delta Phi members and the other schools within their chapter, and takes place every spring semester.
“It’s like going to a family reunion,” Burris said.
Not only does Omega Delta Phi contribute to their community they also contribute to one another.
“It can be time consuming at times but at the same time it can be fulfilling,” Edwards said.
Despite the consumption of time it take to be in this organization, members like Burris still enjoy being part of Omega Delta Phi.
“I know I made the right choice,” Burris said.
Concerned Citizen • Sep 24, 2016 at 9:03 AM
Everything is now about race. Why can’t we just do things and ignore the racial side of it? I can’t even breathe without adding that the air isn’t racist.
Real diversity is IDEOLOGICAL diversity. Ethnic and racial diversity is not real diversity. You can have a 10 black people in a room, if they think differently, we can all agree that the room is diverse. You can also have 3 white, 3 blacks, 3 hispanic and 1 asian in a room, if they all think and behave alike, then I’m afraid there is no diversity in that room.
And yes, I’m a black man. I don’t want to be included in a place just because I’m black. I want to be included because of my potential intellectual and ideological contribution.