Presidents Letter

The first rush class of the new millennium was the largest number of pledges since the rebirth of the fraternity in 1995. With a total of 22 gentlemen finishing the two week long process of intense physical and mental challenges we are now one of the largest social organizations on the Gustavus Adolphus campus. Despite our growth in size I can still with the utmost confidence say that we are the closest group of men that attend this institution. This closeness is and always has been because of the respect and adherence to the traditions that this group follows, and that feeling was fully embodied in this years rush. Part of retaining traditions is reanalyzing them from time to time to discover what we hold dear and what sets us apart from all other fraternities on this campus. This is the process that we are currently going through, the Eppies are exploring their past by gathering information from literary sources and alumni to help our new brothers and our future brothers to understand what it means to be an Eppie. This is not just a one-time procedure it is an ongoing mission for this fraternity to maintain its close connections and to continually challenge itself.

Finally I want to say that you should be proud of these young men. Within this organization we have some of the most upstanding people on this campus, men with leadership roles and that are active participants in all aspects of college life. There are captains and leaders of athletic teams, beautiful musicians and artists, moral leaders within the church community, and above all we have the respect of our peers and the administration. It has been and will continue to be a pleasure to serve as president of these 53 gentlemen.

-John Laursen

Rush Class of 2000

Nate Brase

Lane Cowger

Jay DeLaRosby

Cal Dickman

Nick Early

Hunter Jenzen

Ethan Kellar

Dan Legreid

Greg Linder

Eric Nerland

Stew Nigg

Jesse Pearson

Doug Pugh

Mike Ryan

Tom Scott

Adam Smith

Mike Spenningsby

Chris Stavenger

Dan Suedbeck

Mike Will

Scott Witty

John Zupancich

Eppie Activities

This year has been a whirlwind of activity for the Epsilon Pi Alpha Fraternity. Rush came up on us very quickly this year and for two weeks and three weekends the blues and grays once again graced the Gustavus Adolphus Campus. Alumni drove in from surrounding areas and offered time-honored advice to our four intimidating and tireless rush leaders. Rush, like in past years challenged not only the pledges but the actives as well and after what seemed like an eternity Hell Night came and went and we were honored to allow 22 new gentlemen in to our fraternity.

Since the end of Rush the Eppies have not been stagnant, planning for upcoming events and banquet has taken up most of our time. On the social end Banquet was held for the second year in a row at the Radisson South in Bloomington. The men of the Epsilon Pi Alpha Fraternity in formal attire and some of the most beautiful dates that Gustavus has to offer danced and partied the night away. As the holidays approached our annual Christmas parties with the Theta and the Delta sororities offered some relief to the stress at the end of the semester. During the month of January, when all of us have more free time, activities such as horse drawn sleigh rides and a trip to the award winning Schell Brewery are planned. The Eppies have always known how to have a good time and this year will be no different. So if you hear singing on a cold winter night, listen and you might here the words of Mister Moon.

Community Service

Community Service has been a large part of the mission for the Eppies since their inception and rebirth and this year will be no exception. We have recently adopted a community service mission statement that outlines our commitment to helping the community we live in. Once again this year the Eppies will be sponsoring a week of Domestic Abuse awareness along with bringing down to Gustavus an event called the Clothesline Project. The Clothesline Project is a nationwide project that helps raise awareness for domestic abuse. Women and children, along with friends and relatives of murdered victims write their stories of abuse on T-shirts and then hang these shirts on clotheslines. People can read the stories on each shirt, to try to begin to understand the level of violence and heartache that takes place in an abusive relationship. Every year the Eppies try to offer a fresh new approach to the project and this year we have adopted the theme The Morning After, with this theme we will offer ideas on prevention and we will also look at how the community can offer support after the incident occurs.

While the Clothesline Project is our major community service project we have also offered our services to many other ongoing causes. The Eppies have pledged their support to the Habitat for Humanity program in St. Peter and are going to help with the construction of a new playground for the children of Saint Peter. On Campus the Eppies have committed themselves to a workday for the professors and administrators of Gustavus. Finally the Eppies are offering an ongoing event of Entertainment Pie and Awareness or E Pie A in our new campus center. We will be offering free entertainment, free pie and information on various topics that affect the campus. The first night was November 29th and we lucky enough to have a fold band led by Karl Sundquist to start us off right.

Alumni Relations

We are now in our 6th year since the Eppies were reborn and as we continue this tradition of creating brotherhood with some of the finest men out there we understand that the connection with our alumni is crucial to understanding what it is to be an Eppie. It was great to have alumni who graduated 4 years ago down offering support before and during rush and we would like more of that. In fact, we have added to our officers an Alumni Affairs position, in order to ensure that we keep in contact with our Alumni that mean so much to us. We are planning to have a semiformal banquet in the spring in our new Campus Center. It would offer a chance to reconnect with old friends and meet some new great guys. Now that the campus is completely finished you can witness the new Gustavus Adolphus College. If you are interested in attending, please let us know via a letter or email so we can make initial arrangements for the number of men we would need to accommodate. Also, please inform us if you know of any Eppie alumni that we failed to get in touch with. Please send correspondence to

Epsilon Pi Alpha

800 West College Ave.

St. Peter, MN 56082

Or you can email our President, John Laursen at jlaursen@gac.edu

Also, as always, the fraternity would greatly appreciate any other letters or stories, or financial gifts. We always love to hear any of your questions or suggestions about the fraternity. Thank you and have a very Happy Holidays.