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I Started a Greek Life Newspaper in College

June 24, 2026 by Shawn Collins

I always enjoyed writing, and the first time I saw my name in print was for my elementary school newspaper. It was just a photocopied publication of maybe six pages, but I loved being a part of it.

When middle school came around, we didn’t have a paper, but we did in high school, and I spent two years writing for the high school newspaper. My articles were mostly about music in high school. I remember one of the articles was all about how outraged I was that the band New Model Army could not tour in the US, because the government thought they were too subversive or something.

Also, during high school, I published a zine called A Silver Lining. It started out as a U2 fanzine, but over time it evolved to cover local punk shows, reviews of records that were sent to me, and cartoons from the guitarist of the Dead Milkmen (we were pen pals).

I also had some features in there. My two favorite items in A Silver Lining were a rambling multi-page letter from Charles Manson and Mad Libs from Evel Knievel. I’d asked Manson what he thought of U2, and he went on about government conspiracies and Abbie Hoffman. The Mad Libs from the legendary daredevil were typical answers, but it was awesome that he sent them back.

Pre-Journalism and College Newspapers

Anyhow, by the time I went to college, I still wanted to write. I started with a major in Pre-Journalism (my first of three majors I sampled), and I headed up to the Diamondback newspaper office at the University of Maryland. I was ready to be the guy writing about music. But they told me they wanted an article about the marching band to see my style, and I walked out and never returned.

A year or so later, I got involved with a newspaper called the Greek Insider and wrote a handful of articles. But that paper closed down after some key people graduated.

That door closing gave me an idea. Maybe I could start up my own newspaper on Greek life at the University of Maryland. So, I pitched it to the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Panhellenic Association (PHA) that if they covered the printing costs, I’d handle everything else.

They said yes, and the Greek Times was born.

Birth of the Greek Times

That was the easy part. After the yes, I had to figure out how to put together a newspaper. To that point, all of my college papers had been written on a non-electric typewriter that I’d had from my zine days. I had to figure out how to use a Macintosh SE in the campus computer lab.

Someone told me about a program called PageMaker for laying out the newspaper, but the software was not installed on the computers in the lab. So, I had to use MacWrite II and set the column width to a couple of inches so the pages would have four columns across.

After I entered the content, I’d have to cut each headline and column with an X-acto knife and then paste them onto these big boards. It was a painstaking, imperfect process, but I enjoyed it.

While I liked writing for the Greek Insider, I wanted to do something different. I was interested in a more lifestyle-focused publication. It had fraternity and sorority news, but also a healthy share of fun content.

The first issue featured some typical items like a Greek Week preview, coverage of rush, new Order of Omega members, and Greeks who were recently lavaliered, pinned, and engaged.

But I also added in the results of a student survey on opinions of Greeks from non-Greeks on campus, an advice column, my interview with Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen, and a think piece on Cisco (aka Liquid Crack). Plus, there were as many ads as I could fit in there, since I got to keep the ad revenue.

The students liked it, but the IFC and PHA weren’t as keen on the content. They wanted more serious coverage of Greek life.

With issue two, I got more serious by running the results of a sex survey, a hype article on the upcoming IFC Ball, an expanded advice column (all questions were fake and made up by me and given to the advice columnist, Kendra, to answer), “vox populi” (voice of the people) with the question, “What was your worst Spring Break experience,” and coverage of going to the Vous to get drunk on a snow day.

I also reprinted an article to bring awareness to students about date rape.

The second issue had another warm reception by students, and again I was asked to focus more on positive PR for the Greek system.

I said yes, and then put a photo of one of my naked brothers (it was censored) on the cover after he’d been honored as the Silver Sweetheart of Alpha Phi. There was also an article about an acoustic duo called Sean & Dave (my fraternity brother Sean Pelan and Dave Peter, who was in SAE), a full page for the ridiculous advice column, some letters to the editor, a goofy cartoon from a fraternity brother, and an article about Smurfing (writing all over someone when they have passed out).

I did include some serious content… a reprinted article about the legal bias against rape victims.

I was getting great feedback from fraternity and sorority members, and again, I got an earful from the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association.

It seemed like they were losing their patience with me, so I went serious for the next cover and ran an interview with Terry Zacker, the University Director of Greek Life, as well as schedules for fraternity and sorority rush.

But also went random again with advice on killing roaches, a threatening letter from a lawyer about a previous advice column answer, a new advice columnist (my fraternity brother, Aaron Falcione), a breakdown of different types of beer, and another cartoon.

At that point, the plug was pulled on the Greek Times. The IFC and PHA decided to go in a different, more serious direction, and I was pushed out after four glorious issues.

Originally published at https://shawncollins512.substack.com.

In 1992, Bill Clinton Got the White House—and I Got the Frat House

June 3, 2026 by Shawn Collins

One of the things that attracted me to Greek life was the opportunity to take on leadership roles. From the start, I was excited to be more than just a brother. I wanted to help, give back, build, learn, and support the brotherhood’s success.

While I was initiated in early 1989, my drive to be a leader in the house was delayed because I spent all of 1989 doing community service when I wasn’t working or studying.

My first roles were in spring 1990 as the public relations person for G.A.M.M.A. (Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol), corresponding secretary for Pi Kappa Alpha, the Greek Week booklet chairman, and as a copy editor and staff writer for the Greek Insider newspaper.

Each semester after that, I ran for various offices and served on committees to represent our chapter on campus and gain experience myself.

All of this led up to the spring of 1992, when I decided to run for President of the fraternity. I made some handouts to share with the brothers during the election that highlighted my experience and reasons I should be elected.

As the election drew closer, I made one of the toughest decisions of my fledgling political career. I had scheduled a get-together for brothers and alumni to begin encouraging alumni to come around more and help the active brothers with the chapter.

But after I’d scheduled the event with our alumni, my girlfriend told me her spring formal was on the same night. I knew what I had to do. I told her I was going to the fraternity event and would have to miss the sorority formal. That didn’t go over well.

I thought it would be important to show my priorities to the brothers and alumni, and reinforce how serious I was about becoming President of the chapter. Did skipping the formal help me win the election? I have no idea, but it didn’t hurt.

Well, it hurt my relationship with my girlfriend, but that ended a year later, and I still have the composite from when I was President.

Plus, as President, I got the best room in the fraternity house, and no rent was charged to the President, which was a huge perk for me, as I paid my way through school.

That same spring, a Democratic primary debate was held at the University of Maryland on March 1, 1992. Jerry Brown, Bill Clinton, Tom Harkin, and Paul Tsongas participated in the debate, and afterward, Bill Clinton held a party at the Santa Fe Cafe, which was next to our fraternity house.

My term began at the start of the fall 1992 semester, shortly after Bill Clinton had secured his nomination at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

I went to a campus rally for Al Gore on September 18, 1992, and got to shake his hand as he passed through the crowd. That day, I got a Clinton/Gore sign and put it in my room window.

My one-semester term concluded shortly before President Clinton was sworn in on January 20, 1993. I accomplished the goals I’d set and was happy with how everything went while I was in office.

Originally published at https://shawncollins512.substack.com.

My Most Compromising Gen X Photo

April 8, 2026 by Shawn Collins

I don’t think I had a camera in college. If I did, it was rarely used, because I didn’t have the money to get film processed. So, most of the pictures I have from those five years are the fraternity and sorority event photos.

I have a whole photo album of these types of pictures, but just a handful of non-event snapshots from 1988-93.

Gen Xers like to reminisce about not having cameras around all the time when we were growing up, so we wouldn’t have embarrassing images or even ones that could be a liability in our personal lives.

And yes, it’s a good thing those pictures don’t exist, because we were getting naked a lot in college. I can remember at least half a dozen times when I was in public without clothes on during my college days.

While I was pledging, we were nude a few times, including when we took a bonding photo of my pledge class on and around the University of Maryland Testudo statue (our Terrapin mascot) in front of McKeldin Library. While we posed, some brothers disappeared with our clothes, so we had to make our way across campus completely naked – 30 or so naked guys sprinting in the cold.

And another time, we did a “Love Run” at the Sigma Kappa (?K) sorority. Again, my pledge class ran around naked, but this time in a house full of sorority girls. Brothers stole our clothes as we made our way through the sorority, and we had to run home naked.

As a brother, I ended up getting lavaliered twice and pinned once to girlfriends, and each time I’d be grabbed off the street by pledges and tied naked to the anchor in front of the Delta Gamma (??) sorority. Then the girlfriend would have to come and untie me.

There are no photos of any of these events, as far as I know, but another time, when I was in my birthday suit, I was captured on film, and I didn’t find out until months later.

I was elected President of Pi Kappa Alpha (?KA) at the University of Maryland for the fall 1992 semester. We had a tradition where pledges would kidnap the new president, get them very drunk, and deliver them back to their room many hours later.

After lots and lots of drinks, I guess I passed out along the way. That’s when the pledges “smurfed” me. I think this must have gotten the name in the past because passed-out guys were painted blue. But when I was in college, “smurfing” meant someone was passed out and had stuff written all over them in marker.

Anyhow, I guess I needed to pee after getting back to the fraternity house, so I wandered into the bathroom and dropped my boxers, since I couldn’t stand up straight. Someone snapped a picture and gave it to me months later, when they developed their film. I don’t even remember who took the photo.

Late that night/morning, naked, covered in marker, and having a couple of scraped knees, my phone rang. Some townies had parked in our house parking lot, and we had a tow company that would come by and give a heads up that they were towing cars parked illegally.

I went out to see the tow truck driver, still oblivious to the ink on my body and face, and the driver laughed and asked what the hell I was up to. I looked in his sideview mirror, and my head pounded as I squinted at my messed-up reflection.

It took many showers to get all of the marker off my skin. I think I skipped class the next day, due to my jacked-up appearance and torturous hangover. But I got a cool picture out of it.

Originally published at https://shawncollins512.substack.com.

The First Affiliate Summit Was 20 Years Ago Today

November 3, 2023 by Shawn Collins

My life changed in a big way twenty years ago today. It was the first Affiliate Summit that I organized with Missy Ward and it took place at Baruch College in New York City on November 3, 2003.

Pulling the whole thing together happened pretty fast. We chatted on the phone about trying to start a conference and registered AffiliateSummit.com on May 19, 2003.

The original goal was to put on a conference on a cruise in 2004, but we decided to do a small event before that to get the name out there and build a list.

I heard about an opportunity at Baruch College, which was a few blocks from where I worked at the time, and I went over to speak with them. We were able to get a room for 200 with chairs, tables, A/V, etc. for free in exchange for giving some passes to their marketing students.

That was perfect since we didn’t have money. If it wasn’t for that free spot from Baruch, the rise of Affiliate Summit may never have happened.

In the months we had to set up out first conference, we called in favors from friends to staff the event, and did everything very primitive. All sales went through my PayPal account and confirmation emails for people who registered were manually pasted from a Word doc and sent from our emails.

Industry friends volunteered to be speakers and we got a bunch of friends with companies to “sponsor” it (we didn’t charge them, so we would have a bunch of “sponsors” out of the gate).

We scheduled it on the first day of the ad:tech conference in New York, which was a huge event at the time, so we could capitalize on people coming into town, and we set a low price point ($75 for all day and lunch).

Our only expenses were lunch and printing for the day, and with ticket sales we broke even but became rich in industry reputation for Affiliate Summit.

Affiliate Summit 2003 was a sell-out a handful of days before. We had a dozen or so people show up hoping to attend, and we quietly loved that we couldn’t fit them, because it created a buzz and demand when we started promoting our next event.

So many things worked out just right and propelled us into a dream that lasted nearly two decades.

Check out photos from Affiliate Summit 2003.

Affiliate Summit Sort of Started as a Spite Store

May 5, 2023 by Shawn Collins

In April 2003, I attended an affiliate marketing event on a cruise ship out of Miami. This was the third year it took place on a ship after an inaugural version on land.

Over those years, I met Missy Ward at these events and became conference friends. While sitting at a bar on the ship in 2003, we realized we were both unhappy with the event’s direction.

We had provided much help to make it happen, and I was the top affiliate referring attendees. The last straw for me was when the organizer got up in front of the crowd and thanked me for telling him he wouldn’t have to pay me the many thousands of dollars I had earned through referrals because the numbers were tight for him to make the cruise happen.

I never had that discussion with him, and I was counting on the money as the sole provider for my expanding family (Kerri, baby #3, was due later that year).

I was furious, and he said he could do nothing about it because he didn’t have the money to pay me.

So anyway, Missy and I were chatting about it, and in the fog of many drinks, we decided we’d create a competing event that was bigger and better.

The one hitch was that we had neither the experience to start a conference nor any money to put into it, but we wanted to make it happen.

In May 2003, we chatted on the phone (one of fewer than a dozen we would have over the next couple of decades) and decided to make it happen.

On May 19, 2003, AffiliateSummit.com was registered. We didn’t have funds to incorporate, get a professionally designed site, etc. So, we did it all ourselves because we were ambitious and passed off.

Thinking back, it’s like the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode in 2020, where Larry David has a run-in with a guy who operates a coffee shop, and he decides to open a competing coffee shop next door.

The original plan was to do a cruise conference in 2004 to compete head-on, but I suggested we do a smaller, cheaper event in 2003 to get the name out there and build some momentum.

Our site was ugly, and we didn’t have a payment processor (we used my PayPal account), couldn’t afford to incorporate, and had no money to rent a space. But we were stubborn, and it was going to happen.

As it turned out, a friend mentioned that the marketing department at Baruch College, a few blocks from my office then, allowed people to run events in their space for free in exchange for allowing some of their marketing students to attend for free.

I reached out and struck a deal with them that included free A/V and everything – we just had to pay to bring in lunch for the attendees.

We decided to set a low price ($75 for the whole day, including lunch) and then called in favors to get friends to staff it, and our industry friends stepped up as sponsors and speakers.

Our little venture was immediately profitable, and people liked what we did. We were sold out a month before the conference.

That first event was a big hit, and we rolled the success into the 2004 cruise. The people in the industry had shifted to our event, and the guy with the other event ended up canceling and screwing many other people out of money.

In the span of a year, he went from being the main event in the industry to going out of business. He topped out at around 200 attendees. At the end of our run, we were pushing about 8,000 in Las Vegas, and he is long gone from the industry.

There is a lesson in there for you… treat people with respect and honor your obligations, so you don’t get obliterated by a spite store.

Affiliate Summit – The Family We Chose

February 3, 2020 by Shawn Collins

We just celebrated the 50th Affiliate Summit event over 17 years and I am still trying to process all of this.

Back when we started all of this in 2003, I don’t think Missy and I could have imagined what it would become. We just wanted a place for the industry to get together to learn and network. Also, we thought most of the conferences out there were lame, so we wanted to create something that didn’t suck.

Missy and I were conference friends for a couple of years before Affiliate Summit, but still, we didn’t know each other that well, and we didn’t have any money or knowledge of running events.

But we believed in it and we were sure we could create something useful, fun, and different.

Along the way, we met more and more amazing people in the space. Over time I recognized that these people weren’t just colleagues, they were friends… and family.

Our family, that we discovered at Affiliate Summit, would often remark that attending was like going to a family reunion, but one where we got to pick the family.

I felt the same, but I never had my heart swell up with love as I did at Affiliate Summit West 2020 when so many people came together to recognize Missy and me. Two different events with so many awesome people and drinks and cake and awards and pictures and cards and videos and hugs. I was so overwhelmed that I was speechless.

Affiliate Summit is such a family that it’s where my brother came and introduced me to his wife Victoria for the first time and they’ve been to lots of Easts and Wests.

It was amazing and I’m still on a high from it.

Deb Carney, Warren Corpus, Angel Djambazov, Liz Fogg, Bhavik Modi, and everyone else who made those days so special – I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was amazing and perfect.

And so great to end it all with drinks at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill – something that started small in the days we were doing Affiliate Summit at Bally’s (2006 maybe?) and grew to a grand goodbye party for all of us.

Poet Rod McKuen once wrote…

We come into the world alone. We go away the same. We’re meant to spend the interlude between in closeness or so we tell ourselves. But it’s a long way from the morning to the evening.

That reminds me of all of us – so many of us were living in places where other people didn’t get us. Then we’d get together and all speak the same language. We made sense to each other and we liked being with one another. We didn’t just share the latest tips and tricks. We shared our lives.

This was supposed to be a business thing, but yet I would always be so excited to see everybody and I had this sad feeling in my heart when it would end each time.

That closeness we all shared was just a couple of times a year, but when it happened it sure was awesome. Thanks to all y’all for all of these years, and cheers to the times ahead.

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