The coed business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi held its first recruitment event this week and hopes to receive a charter from its national organization early next year.

“We are currently aiming to recruit what will become the founding fathers of the GW chapter,” said Casey Pond, Alpha Kappa Psi chapter president.

Pond said that potential pledges are enthusiastic about joining the fraternity. Forty-seven individuals attended the fraternity’s first recruitment event.

“(We had) many more e-mails to tell us that they were interested but could not make it the first night,” Pond said. “Obviously we have minimum amounts we need to start a chapter, but we are expecting to pin anywhere from 30 to 60 new colonists. It’s really hard to know how many people to expect to come out to a brand new organization.”

Alpha Kappa Psi was originally chartered at GW in 1933, but left the University in the late 1970s. The chapter began to recolonize this year, with its first 19 members “pinned” as colonists by the national organization on the Oct. 17.

As a discipline-specific fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi emphasizes the business aspect of their organization.

“Alpha Kappa Psi gives business-oriented individuals a chance to network with people who are going into the same field as them, rather than individuals with majors scattered all the way across the board,” Pond said.

A coed organization, Alpha Kappa Psi currently has 11 male and 9 female members. Pond underlined the positive aspects of this relationship.

“We are a fairly gender- equal organization at this point, and I would personally like to keep it that way, as it enriches the experience of a coed professional fraternity.”

Pond also stressed the importance of founding a personal chapter on the GW campus.

“Obviously there are national traditions of Alpha Kappa Psi, but anyone who is in a Greek organization knows that each individual chapter creates their own tradition,” he said. “We, along with the colonists we pin this rush period, will be able to create that tradition, and that is something very exciting.”

Founded at New York University in 1904, Alpha Kappa Psi is the largest business fraternity in.