TCU became the first university in the country to have pillars created to represent the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), which includes historically African-American Greek organizations. The first NPHC organization on TCU’s campus was Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in 1971. Today, six of the nine organizations in NPHC are on campus: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Delta Sigma Theta, and Sigma Gamma Rho. “We knew we wanted something on campus in the Greek village that represented not only us as an organization but our university,” said Kylah Bell, 2016 graduate who was a catalyst to getting the pillars on campus. In 2015, Bell, who is a Delta, petitioned the chancellor and asked to have black Greeks were represented in the new Greek Village. The cost was included in the Worth Hills Village project, according to Brooke Scogin, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Evan Konecky, Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life said the pillars are uniform with the fraternity and sorority houses and use the TCU color brick. There’s a pillar for each organization. It includes the group’s Greek letters, crest, open motto and founding date. The pillars are arranged in order of each organization’s founding date beginning with Alpha Phi Alpha in 1906. The pillars were revealed Aug. 29 during the council’s “Hump Night” event, which featured food, dancing and strolling.

“It’s just kind of surreal seeing your vision come to life, especially this is something that I did three years ago,” Bell said. Konecky said more than 400 people attended the event. “I’m so glad our students finally get something that they deserve and that they want,” Konecky said. “They are equals on this campus, and they have representation down in Worth Hills.” He hopes that this will bring the Greek community closer together, one person at a time. “If a big figure in an organization, like the Panhellenic president or IFC president, starts attending these events because they want to, hopefully that drives more people from other organizations out to that,” Konecky said.