BU film fraternity in full swing during fall recruitment

Boston University’s chapter of Delta Kappa Alpha, a national, coed cinema fraternity, is hosting recruitment events through Sept. 26 to expand their film-focused community at Boston University.

DKA is comprised largely of aspiring film-industry professionals, a thread that distinguishes the professional fraternity from other Greek Life organizations at BU, said Vice President of DKA Joseph Curtin.

“We set goals for the projects we want because the entire goal of the fraternity is to have collaborative filmmaking and storytelling,” he said. “We really encourage working together.”

The fraternity will host a 48-hour film festival later this year, which will be open to all members of the BU community, Curtin said.

DKA was founded at BU in September 2013 and is recognized by the Student Activities Office. The fraternity has 30 members and is hoping to double that number during their 2014 rush, said DKA President Rebecca Dobyns, a senior in the College of Communication and the College of Arts and Sciences.

“We have internal goals in terms of building a community of like-minded artists who want to pursue the cinematic arts, but also the end goal of being industry professionals when we leave school,” Dobyns said.

DKA is hosting a series of recruitment events from Sept. 22 to 27. Their next event is a blue chip, invite-only dinner on Wednesday.

“Our rush week consists of four or five events where our chapter gets to meet people who are interested, potentially members,” she said. “It’s basically a series of really open, fun events so we can get to know all the new potential members and see if our values align, to see if we are good fits for each other. DKA is a value-centered organization, so that’s really important to us.”

DKA Pledge Education Officer Dale Mason, a senior in COM, said DKA encourages collaboration among its members.

“The goal is not to make it a rat race where people are trying to put down others to climb to the top, but more so helping others to get to the top,” he said. “…Here, everyone has their own skill sets, and we really value the idea of working together as a team and making a product that is great all around rather than just led by one person.”

Mason will be responsible for educating new pledges over the course of 8 weeks in order to prepare them for a life-long membership in DKA. After recruits complete their training, the pledges will become official members of DKA, Mason said.

COM sophomore Vanessa Quintero is rushing DKA, and she said she hopes to join the fraternity to gain hands-on experience with filmmaking.

“I really wanted the chance to learn how to use all of the equipment because I never had a chance,” she said. “I haven’t had the opportunity to take classes where they teach you how to use it yet. I also just wanted to meet some other people with similar interests.”

Hanna Anderson, a sophomore in COM said DKA sounds like an interesting alternative to traditional, social Greek organizations at BU.

“I don’t categorize Delta Kappa Alpha and similar fraternities with typical Greek life,” she said. “It’s cool to have that option on campus as opposed to social sororities.”

Phung Vo, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said the idea of a non-traditional fraternity is appealing.

“People have this association with fraternities that they are just parties,” he said. “It’s good that we have career based, professional based aspects of fraternities.”