The Gamma Eta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. welcomed its newest members with the first spring class in 10 years: The I.N.E.V.I.T.A.B.L.E. 9.
About 500 students, family members and National Pan-Hellenic Council members came from across the state and packed into Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union.Each class has its own name because the class is meant to be a unit, and each class is different.
“It was a crazy moment, really indescribable” said junior and new member Christopher Alexander. “I wasn’t going to cry but I had tears in my eyes, all the time I put in all came to this moment. This was it this is what I worked for.”
They were welcomed to The Yard, which is a term used by NPHC fraternities and sororities for the place where the chapter was started. In this case it's IU.
New classes of members are welcomed in the spring or fall. Depending on when they're initiated, fall or spring along with the year is put on their shirts and jackets.
“The last Gamma Eta probate was in fall 2016 at Wilkie auditorium," IU senior and Alpha Phi Alpha member William Clay said. "To come back and have a probate is a really good feeling."
The newest members include: David Harrison, Christopher Alexander Jr., Jordan Lloyd, Olufolabomi Odekunle, Joshua Pack, Deontae Bolden, Morifing Kone, Aahron Revell and Moses Baryoh.
“The campus is very on edge about this event, very ready to see who these young men are and ready to see the fresh face of the chapter,” Clay said before the event.
Family and friends filled the hall with cheers as members of The I.N.E.V.I.T.A.B.L.E. 9 made their way to the stage. The members were dressed in matching black jackets with a gold sleeve on the right side and their line number on the back, black turtlenecks, black pants and black shoes.
“They supported me throughout all of this and without them I wouldn’t have gotten through it, friends and family,” Alexander said, “It’s a blessing and I’m still soaking it all in.”
The night before the event, the class of new members traveled around Bloomington, from Briscoe Quad to the Quarry Apartments, to recite information about the fraternity and do greetings in small public performances.
At one location, The I.N.E.V.I.T.A.B.L.E. 9 arrived in a U-Haul rental truck and was greeted with cheers while dressed in matching black clothes and gold shoes, which are the fraternity colors and masks to conceal their identity.
The probate itself provided an opportunity for the IU black community as a whole to come together and celebrate black excellence.
“In most of the things I do on campus, there are not a lot of opportunities to get that many black people to come together and focus only on uplifting each other,” sophomore and audience member Michael Utley said. “They are very in tune with their identity and very poised. Not just the Alphas but all the black greeks.”
