Some may think it’s odd that on Monday nights, you can find a flock of fraternity men and sorority women in formal wear walking the streets of Eugene. For those who don’t know, this odd spotting is most likely a pinning. A pinning is when a fraternity man gives his fraternity’s pin to his significant other in a sorority. By pinning her, he is figuratively putting her above his brotherhood.

Generally those who get pinned are seniors and are the couples that many suspect will one day get married. All members of both the sorority and fraternity house get together while the couple’s closest friends give speeches about the couple’s relationship.

Pinnings are unique to each house and each couple. I sat down with Katie Stockwell of Alpha Chi Omega and Max Zech of Sigma Phi Epsilon, who were just pinned, to get details about what it’s like to display their love in front of their chapters.

Q: How did you guys meet?

Katie: In the dorms freshman year. My roommate was dating one of his friends.

Max: She lived on the fourth floor and I lived on the third floor. We kind of met through mutual friends. We started dating a month into college.

Q: Why did you decide to have a pinning?

K: It’s one of those lifetime experiences that not everyone gets to do. It’s not just special for us but for both of our houses. It wasn’t just me that was excited but all the girls in my house were excited. I’m glad that it wasn’t just fun for us but fun for everyone.

M: We’ve been talking about it since sophomore year. We started going to pinnings and a lot of guys I looked [up] to in the house had pinnings. Not only did I want to do it for her, but it was also a rite of passage.

Q: What were you feeling when the pinning was happening? Nervous, Excited?

K: Almost an out of body experience. You sit for three and a half years and watch all these girls get pinned. And then it was me sitting in that chair. I kept looking at people in the crowd’s reactions; I was enjoying the experience as a whole and trying to soak in every moment.

Q: Has Greek life supported your relationship, or hindered it?

K: My friends are super supportive of it. We joke that he’s our whole house’s boyfriend. They think he’s the greatest.

M: I feel the same way. But I think that the system as a whole is against pinnings. There are so many different people you can meet in Greek life. I’d say it’s not set up for people to meet and date the entirety of college and stay dating. I don’t think that happens too much. But we have great friends, that’s what did it for us. We had a great supporting cast.

Q: How would you describe your relationship?

K: He’s the hopeless romantic, he was lying before. We are just best friends. I know we’ve been dating a long time, but we’re still learning new things about each other.

M: True love.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to have a pinning?

K: Pick the right people to speak for you. Make sure they know you really well. Make sure they know which buttons to push and which buttons not to push.

M: Know your audience. Don’t air your dirty laundry around your friends.

Q: Now that the pinning is over, what’s next?

K: I have one more year here. I’m going to grad school.

M: I’m moving to Texas for a job. For fourteen months we’ll most likely be apart. We’re gonna do the long distance thing. Neither of us see it as bad.

Q: Did the pinning solidify your relationship?

M: We didn’t need it to solidify the relationship. Our relationship was solid before. But it’s always like, “We had a pinning.” We can always say that.

K: The next day I was like, well, we’re pinned now. No turning back now.