A Bear Who Gives Expecting Nothing Thereof
Spring semester is here! And with spring comes recruitment, meaning our Greek Life bears are out in full force right now.
Their intrepid leader, Dominic Kane (he/him), is president of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and an all-around bear extraordinaire. Kane is one of the best examples of Greek pride this campus has ever seen.
As a transfer student starting in fall 2019, Kane was most interested in joining a fraternity when he first started here. He says his connection to the fraternity is what made him want to spend the next four years of his life at BSU, as a brother belonging to Phi Kappa Theta.
“I had just transferred to Bridgewater … I was up in the air about whether or not I wanted to come here,” he reminisced. “I was like, ‘you know what? I gotta find something here that’s gonna keep me here that’s not gonna make me want to transfer after a semester’ … Let me give fraternities one more chance because I had heard that things were a little bit different here, and I was completely right.”
Having held numerous chairs within the fraternity (truly, many) his favorite one was Active Member education, in which he met with those interested in fraternity life, mentored them, and explained his experiences to these students.
“Giving back was the biggest thing for me. President was great, but it was really stressful,” Kane explained.
Although he has previously been a part of other organizations on campus, Kane firmly believes that for both social aspects and positions, Greek Life has been the most important part of his college life, to the point where he has even given up other opportunities to pursue this path. Originally planning to study abroad in Thailand, upon finding out that he had been made president of Phi Kappa Theta, he made the decision to stay at BSU.
“For a long time I looked back on it, like, was that the right decision? … But in the end, being President taught me how to lead … people in discussion … it helped my confidence a lot … when I set my mind to something I do it,” he said.
A history major with a minor in social studies, Kane already has big plans for after his graduation this semester! Enthusiastically describing his future job with Teach for America, it is easy to see the passion that he has for education, as well as the impact he will no doubt have on children in the future.
Currently, he is trying to get the university to support a proposal that is dear to both Greek Life and himself, Greek housing for the university. Despite the current reputation of Greek life as one of the organizations that has a big presence on campus, is very philanthropic, and boasts students with very good grades, the university has been reticent to allow this, due to the general reputation of Greek organizations. According to Kane, this is very much not what they are about.
“Joining a fraternity or sorority, that’s your family.” Kane stated, later saying, “[Phi Kappa Theta] have a motto called ‘give expecting nothing thereof.’” He explained, “it was weird, I had never actually heard the motto before but … that’s kind of always been my motto since I was a kid … when I heard it, and based on the conversations I had afterwards, I knew that was it for me … genuinely being a good person is what Phi Kap had to offer.”
