Alpha Epsilon Pi is the premier international Jewish fraternity. We have over 170 chapters spanning 5 countries including the US, Canada, Israel, England, and France. With the #1 GPA of the 75 IFC fraternities in the country, we always keep academics, scholarship, and our community in mind. AEPi is the only Jewish fraternity present at UC Santa Cruz and is going into its 100th year nationally!
We are one of the newer social fraternities on campus and are growing at a rapid pace. Improving Jewish life at UC Santa Cruz is one of our ideals and we work with the other Jewish organizations to do so. We won the most outstanding delegation at the 2012 conclave in San Luis Obispo due too what we do on campus. As a chapter we have several brotherhood events every quarter including our annual camping trip in the spring.
The fraternity was founded in 1913, with the inception of the Alpha Chapter at NYU, which consisted of a group of Jewish students who had been excluded from other fraternities on the basis of their religious heritage and identity. The purpose of the fraternity remains to this day to provide a social and cultural home-away-from-home for Jewish men, although the fraternity does not discriminate on the basis of religious practice and is open to all who espouse its purpose and values.
AEPi's alumni network is vast and prominent. Check out this page
for a list of distinguished AEPi graduates. Even Mark Zuckerberg,
the founder of facebook is an alumnus of Harvard AEPi!
Is Alpha Epsilon Pi just a social fraternity?
No, not at all. Fraternities are not all about partying. While socializing with our brothers is one aspect of brotherhood, and we certainly spend time together hanging out, having dinner, and enjoying the social opportunities that Santa Cruz and UCSC offer, we also participate in community service activities together and have fundraising events to support charity organizations.
I thought there weren't any fraternities at UCSC?
Fraternities are officially recognized by the University. Over the last few years the Greek seen at UCSC has seen a large growth and now boasts a prominent presence on campus. Having a strong greek community has allowed us to partake in many social events with sororities and fraternities alike.
Does Alpha Epsilon Pi haze their pledges?
Absolutely not. Alpha Epsilon Pi strives to build brotherhood among pledges and to develop leaders We believe brotherhood is built on friendship and kindness, not hurting others or forcing new members to participate in objectionable activities. Chapters caught hazing their new members risk reorganization or losing their charter from the International Fraternity, and individual brothers involved almost always face expulsion from their chapters and the fraternity. But beyond these consequences and the policies of the fraternity, we simply do not believe that hazing builds the kind of brotherhood that we seek to build in Alpha Epsilon Pi.
