The women of Alpha Xi Delta offer a check of $1,157 to the United Cerebral Palsy charity. The money was raised through the Xi Man philantropy event Friday in the Kiva. Tracy Tucholski | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: Ron Soltys

Brothers from 10 fraternities took turns impressing the women of Alpha Xi Delta with song and dance at the annual Xi Man philanthropy event Friday night in the Kiva.

Xi Man is similar to a male beauty pageant, and participating fraternity members incorporated Alpha Xi Delta’s name, colors or mascot into song skits, said Renee Busack, junior marketing major and Alpha Xi Delta philanthropy chair.

This year’s theme was “Xi TV: Top Music Video countdown,” which was a spin-off of an MTV music video show.

Sigma Tau Gamma members danced for the women of Alpha Xi Delta in synchronization to the 4 Tops song “It’s the Same Old Song,”

“We’re keeping it classy, not cheesy,” said Corbin Rispoli, sophomore accounting major and Sigma Tau Gamma member.

Alpha Xi Delta’s philanthropy is Choose Children, and its charity organization is United Cerebral Palsy.

The sorority had penny wars, and each fraternity paid $35 to participate. There was $2 admission to get in, and the women sold $2 roses at the door, said Busack. Alpha Xi Delta raised a total of $1,157 Friday.

About 200 people, including Alpha Xi Delta women, fraternity members, parents, friends and spectators, filled the Kiva to take part in the event.

The women of Alpha Xi Delta, dressed in black gowns, started the night with a cheer from their seats. “Alpha Xi Delta, we are the best,” they sang.

Tau Kappa Epsilon was the first fraternity to perform. The brothers danced and lip-synched to Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero.”

“We’ve been practicing for about two weeks,” said Josh Meadows, sophomore visual communication design major and Tau Kappa Epsilon member. “I’ve been in drama in high school and just had a lot of fun with it.”

Lambda Chi Alpha was next and performed a dance to some newer hip-hop songs, including Omarian’s “Ice Box.”

Alpha Epsilon Pi, Kent State’s Jewish fraternity, performed a spin-off of a Tenacious D song called “Tenacious Xi.” The fraternity members of Alpha Epsilon Pi finished their set by performing a dance to Weird Al Yankovic’s “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi.”

Later acts included Sigma Nu brothers performing a Milli Vanilli skit to “Girl You Know It’s True” and Phi Kappa Tau serenading an Alpha Xi Delta member by singing Justin Timberlake’s “Lovestoned/ I Think She Knows.”

After all the fraternities finished their five-minute skits, a question-and-answer session began. A representative from each participating fraternity took the stage and was asked a factual question about the sorority and a characteristic question.

After a short speech by Trish Rooney, United Cerebral Palsy representative, and a tally of the votes, the winners were announced.

Tau Kappa Epsilon came in third place, Phi Sigma Kappa took second and Alpha Epsilon Pi won the title of Xi Man.

Xi Man brings the Greek community together, Busack said.

“When you have a philanthropy, you have all the sororities and fraternities coming together for that cause,” Busack said, “and in this case it’s cerebral palsy.”

Contact Greek life reporter Tracy Tucholski at [email protected].