Hawke Ratliff has spent the last seven months working on the recharter and rebranding of Pi Kappa, and his efforts have paid off.

The social club was founded in 1996 but has disbanded twice over the years. Pi Kappa became an official fraternity again earlier this semester.

Pi Kappa disbanded in the spring of 2007 and again in 2020, said Ratliff, who is taking over as president. He said the club disbanded for several reasons.

“One of them being they just didn’t recruit very well,” said Ratliff, a junior engineering major from Garland. “They just pretty much disbanded because they weren’t reaching out to other people; it was a very tiny circle of guys.”

Ratliff said during the pledging process last year, he saw a need to cater to men who felt like none of the other fraternities fit their needs. He started to look into the process of restarting a social club.

“The more I went into it and started looking into the process, the more I realized I wanted to make sure that if I was going to do it, it was going to be a very Christ-centered thing,” Ratliff said.

He said he started talking to his friends about Pi Kappa, and after seeing their enthusiasm for the fraternity, he held interest meetings. He started campaigning and advertising and at the first interest meeting 30 men showed up and 20 signed a petition.

“And so to me, this was like a huge sign that this was something that could take off,” he said.

He started hosting more interest meetings and then started working with Greek Life to make Pi Kappa happen.

“They made us do some other things like revise our constitution, go back and start finding sponsors and collecting things from the old disbanded Pi Kappa so that we can actually become an actual club,” Ratliff said.

Tyler Rog, Pi Kappa historian, said a big part of making sure Pi Kappa succeeds this time is having sponsors who will hold them accountable.

“Our mission statement is to challenge men to honor Jesus Christ, pursue brotherhood, practice purity, build Christ-centered relationships, support the church, reach beyond barriers, serve the Abilene community and influence the world,” said Rog, a sophomore multimedia major from Cabot, Arkansas.”

Because of Pi Kappa’s mission, pledging for them will look a little different.

All existing Pi Kappa members and new members will be doing the joining process together. Ratliff said no member is higher than the other, and Pi Kappa is a community where they can hold each other accountable.

“The heart of Pi Kappa when it comes to joining, is it’s not us versus you,” Ratliff said. “It’s actually us welcoming you into our community, into our brotherhood, and actually growing you.”