Over 35 years ago, a group of Ouachita men decided to form their own club. Those 23 charter members formed the men’s social club of Kappa Chi. Since 1981, the men of Kappa Chi have promoted three main principles within their club, on campus and beyond: respect, diversity and brotherhood.
Will Combs, a senior mathematics major from Hot Springs, has been a Kappa Chi member since 2014. He has held the offices of secretary and president and is currently the webmaster for the club. Combs takes pride in the details of Kappa Chi history.
“It was basically just a group of guys that felt like they didn’t really fit anywhere on campus,” Combs said. “So, they decided to form a club. KX actually stands for two Greek words: Kyrios Christos, which is ‘Christ is Lord.’ . . .What’s interesting is, when they founded it, there were three main points that they emphasized. And those are respect, diversity and brotherhood. That’s been the main theme ever since.”
Chris DiGiovanni is a senior mass communications and history double major from Leesland, Va. He joined Kappa Chi in 2015 and is the club’s historian. DiGiovanni outlined the purpose of the club.
“To take a group of guys and really work together for Christ and through Christ,” DiGiovanni said. “To be different and diverse as a group . . .to be different, together in Christ.”
He explained that there is not just one type of Kappa; they are all individually unique both in what they study and what activities they are involved in.
“We have every major on campus,” DiGiovanni said. “We’re involved in all kinds of activities: government, band, any kind of missions, science—we’re all over. And we all get together and still hang out and spend time together somehow.”
Tyler Lewis is a senior theatre arts major from Magnolia, Ark. He has been a Kappa Chi member since transferring to Ouachita in 2015. During rush week, Lewis noticed this type of diversity.
“One thing that I missed from my fraternity at SAU was that there [weren’t] really any people in theatre that were also in it,” Lewis said. “And I saw that in Kappa. Not only did you have people that were in theatre, but then you had people that I would never get the chance to talk to, like soccer team players. So, that was really cool and that’s what led me to [Kappa].”
Most every other men’s social club has a group of honorary women members, called sweethearts. Kappa Chi calls them Little Sisters.
“They called them Little Sisters because they’re not just like sweethearts to the club, like we love our Little Sisters as if they were our little sisters,” Combs said.
Lauren Hutcheson is a senior musical theatre major from Bossier City, La. She became a Kappa Chi Little Sis at the beginning of her sophomore year.
“Being a Little Sister to the men of Kappa Chi means that I have brothers on this campus,” Hutcheson said. “Brothers that will help me carry my stuff if they see me struggling, pray for me when I am going through a hard time, say hello to me in the hallway, bring me roses and sing to me, listen to me when I need to talk and never cease to make me laugh!”
As far as traditions go, one of the biggest events for the whole club is Tiger Tunes. The men of Kappa Chi have won 11 Tunes shows over the years.
“We take it really seriously, and we also enjoy it,” DiGiovanni said. “It was a big thrill to win for the alumni this past year.”
Combs described the experience you feel when your club wins Tunes.
“Fantastic–there really isn’t another way to describe it,” Combs said. “It was really exciting for me, because my freshman year, before I pledged, we got second place. And we hadn’t won since 2008. So, it was kind of a drought. That show, before I pledged, was expected to win, Paperboys. And it didn’t, and that’s OK, but we came in, when I pledged, just with a fire. We came in, and Egyptians was my first Tunes show with a club, and it won and we loved it.”
The Safari Tunes show in 2015 won third place. This most recent Tunes show, Kappa Chi Express, won first place. According to Combs, their club felt some pressure to do well with the show.
“There were a lot of things that could’ve gone wrong,” Combs said. “…It was [also] our thirty-fifth anniversary, so we had all of our alumni—more alumni than we’ve seen in a long time—coming back to watch Tunes. So, there was a lot riding on this year at least being a good show. No matter what place it got, we wanted to make it a big deal.”
As for Lewis, last years’ show was his first chance to perform with Kappa Chi. He learned a lot from this experience of practicing and performing a Tunes show.
“It doesn’t matter who you put together in a group, as long as you have the same goal and respect and passion, there’s nothing you can’t do,” Lewis said.
By Sarah Hays, Staff writer
