Kappa president looks to keep tradition alive

When Terrell Cooper was applying for college, he knew he couldn't stay in his native Muncie. He yearned to experience life as others knew it. But most of all, he sought to discover himself. \n"I wanted to see what life can present," the senior telecommunications student said. "I wanted to expose myself to different people, different traditions."\nAs a young boy, Cooper believed that athletics was the only path to a better life. And despite his mother's admonitions to the contrary, it wasn't until he came to IU that he realized creativity also could provide a valuable asset in life. Through his telecommunications classes and involvement with Kappa Alpha Psi, Cooper, who is also a marketing staffer for the Indiana Daily Student, found out he has a talent for putting things together -- from fliers to press releases to advertising. \nKappa has been both a point of inspiration and a learning experience for Cooper. When he began the membership intake process in the fall of 2001, he had a personal introduction to the fraternity because he had already had family in Kappa's Alpha chapter at IU. By the time the membership intake process began in fall 2001, he counted the senior Kappa members among his friends. Today, the nine Kappa members enjoy a sense of community among themselves that has been fostered as a testament to the respect all current members bear for the original five men who founded Kappa at IU. In 1911, Kappa became the first black greek organization at IU and paved the way for other black greeks to establish themselves on campus, Cooper said. \n"It touches you inside to think that these men had it in them at that time on a predominantly white campus," Cooper said. "And it's been going strong for almost 100 years."\nAs the fraternity's polemarch, or president, Cooper is also the keeper of the fraternity's history. Among his chief responsibilities is passing down the knowledge just as it was taught to him. \nBut Cooper did not get to be polemarch because he knows the chapter's history. When he first joined, he produced flyers for Kappa events and manned the publicity chair. He then became vice polemarch and spent two years in that position assisting with event planning.\nHe is the kind of leader who is hands-on without being overbearing and approachable without being a push-over, his brothers said.\n"In a fraternity, there are a lot of different attitudes, a broad range of people under your leadership, but we all have one common goal," said Jeremy Morris, Cooper's Kappa brother and current president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. "It's important to have the ability to not close yourself in a box, allow yourself to be an approachable, friendly person. And that's how (Cooper) is." \nWhen the time came to select the new polemarch, Cooper's knowledge and insight into the Kappa way of life was a perfect fit for his brothers' ideas of what they wanted in a leader. And Cooper made a promise to them that he would lead in the way he was led, in the way it's been done for 94 years before him, he said.\nIU Director of Diversity Education Eric Love, a Kappa alumnus and IU graduate student, first met Cooper at a Kappa program. Then, even before Cooper's role as polemarch, Love was struck by his vision for the fraternity.\n"He doesn't just talk about (what he wants to do). He's a high achiever," Love said. "He's very open and honest and very real. If something is wrong, he'll talk about it and not pull punches. He doesn't sugar coat it either."\nBut the essence of Cooper is even more responsible -- he knows his process of self-discovery would be impossible without guidance from others, like his mother and his Kappa brothers. \n"One major factor in where I am and where I'm trying to be is people who have made me the person I am," Cooper said. "Everyone's been in my life for a reason -- good or bad, but it's a lesson learned, never forgotten."\n-- Contact Copy Chief Jane Charney at echarney@indiana.edu.