When one young man went to a Rush party at Western in the 1960s, he was turned away by a white Greek fraternity because of the color of his skin.

The man, Howard Bailey, is now vice president of Student Affairs.

After his rejection, he founded the first traditionally black Greek fraternity at Western — Kappa Alpha Psi — in May 1969.

At the age of 21, he was the youngest member of the chapter and was elected president.

Forty years later, Kenneth Thomas, a senior from Lansing, Mich., now holds that position.

In honor of their 40th anniversary this year, the Kappas will have a welcome-back reception for their alumni members on Friday and a banquet and awards ceremony on Sunday to honor members’ special achievements.

They can celebrate 40 years thanks to Bailey and others who worked to get Kappa Alpha Psi on campus.

After his rejection in the ‘60s, Bailey and a handful of other black students wanted to have their own organization to help them form relationships and do service.

The group petitioned administrators to start an organization, but they were turned down, he said.

Administrators told them they didn’t have enough people to start a fraternity, so the group decided to form a club instead, Bailey said.

He said for the most part the black students at Western were athletes, and the majority of Western officials and administrators at the time were white.

“They didn’t want us to have one, and they didn’t want us there,” he said.

In the fall of 1967, the Kappa Que Club was formed. The group was active in community service and participated in campus events. Bailey served as the club’s president.

But he still hadn’t given up on having a fraternity of his own.

With a friend’s guidance, he successfully petitioned the national Kappa headquarters and Western administrators to establish a local chapter.

In the fall 1968, Kappa Alpha Psi had its first pledge class at Western, made up of some Kappa Que Club members.

“To be a fraternity on campus meant to us that we had a new identity, a new pride, opportunity to take advantage of internal training that the national fraternity offered — leadership.”

Forty years later, Thomas and others get to enjoy the brotherhood that Bailey and other Kappa founders started.

Thomas was raised in a military family and came to Western never expecting to be involved with Greek Affairs, he said. No one in his family was a Greek.

But he was drawn to Kappa Alpha Psi’s leadership and achievements.

Alumni of Western’s chapter include Erik Jenkins, head coach for men’s track and field; Michael Crowe, director of Judicial Affairs; the Rev. Earl Jackson, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Bowling Green, and John Moore, associate professor of teacher education.

Moore was in the fraternity from 1977 to 1980. He said his membership motivated him to achieve some of his feats, such as working on his doctorate at the University of Kentucky to become a leader in his field and running for president of the National Council for the Social Studies.

“My roots in Kappa Alpha Psi helped me to achieve in those ways later on in life,” he said.

Moore said he was drawn to the organization’s priorities of community service and individual achievement. He said he’s still involved with the fraternity’s national chapter and will continue to be.

Moore said the group regularly engaged in events to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Kappas’ national philanthropy, when he was a member at Western.

Thomas said the fraternity is carrying on the tradition of community service.

In the past two years, members have worked with local and national organizations including the March of Dimes Foundation, the Housing Authority of Bowling Green, the Boys & Girls Club of Bowling Green and St. Jude, he said.

Amelia Miller, program director of the Boys & Girls Club of Bowling Green, said the Kappas regularly work with the children there.

“They are very good with them,” she said. “They are also very involved with all of the programs that we have running.”

Thomas said being a Kappa has had a great impact on his life.

“I try to embody our motto — achievement in every field of human endeavor — as much as I can,” he said. “I hope to be able to continue pushing our members to be future leaders, so it’s carried on for the next forty years.”