IFC and Panhellenic leaders think the good, charity, outweighs the bad, absent Multicultural Greeks
Campus Greek organizations will once again be putting on the annual Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Sororities-inclusive Greek Week.
The event will be held between April 16 and April 23 at both on-campus and off-campus at such venues as the Boulder Theater and Cafe Play on the Hill.
Greek Week Calendar
April 16: Letter check-in and philanthropy donation and sign up for Dance Marathon at the UMC, letter check in for study tables at Norlin starting at 6 p.m., banners must be hung from sorority houses by 12 p.m.
April 17: Letter check-in and philanthropy donation and sign up for Dance Marathon at the UMC, letter check in for study tables at Norlin starting at 6 p.m., Sorority Dodge ball at Sewall Field.
April 18: Letter check-in and philanthropy donation and sign up for Dance Marathon at the UMC, letter check in for study tables at Norlin starting at 6 p.m., Greek Trivia Bowl at Cafe Play.
April 19: GORD Speaker for all new members of the Greek Community.
April 21: Fraternity Football.
April 22: Dinner at the Sink 5-9:30 p.m.,10 percent of proceeds going to Children’s Miracle Network.
April 23: Songfest at the Boulder Theater, $5 admission.
The Greeks are very optimistic for this year’s merry-making and festivities. Sara Davine, Panhellenic Sororities’ director of Greek activities and coordinator of Greek Week, spoke about the importance and significance of the event.
“I think Greek Week this year has a lot more importance in terms of what it means to all the houses,” she said. “Because everyone has come together more as a Greek community and while everyone has a competitive attitude, it’s more of competing in a friendly way. People get really excited about Greek Week because there’s a lot of things to do, and a lot of ways to show the Greek presence on campus. That’s really exciting.”
Davine, along with her counterpart in the IFC, Vice President of Greek relations Brian Bell, have worked to put together a series of events that bring together the academic, athletic and philanthropic aspects of Greek life on campus as well as the Greek ideals of fun and unity. The major events include sorority dodge ball and fraternity football as well as a number of philanthropic events.
Director of Greek life John Henderson is in favor of the philanthropic aspect of Greek Week.
“Anytime we can support that cause, it’s a really good thing,” he said. “I think the idea is not only to have these competitions like kickball or something else that’s more athletic in nature, but to also challenge and encourage organizations to do something around philanthropy, where there is a competitive edge to it. You get points towards winning Greek Week based on how much you support the philanthropic endeavors. It’s a good thing.”
On April 22, campus Greeks will be hosting a dinner at The Sink, and 10 percent of the proceeds will go to support Children’s Miracle Network.
Children’s Miracle Network, a nation-wide benefit program for children’s hospitals will also receive donations through random offers by fraternities and sororities at Greek Week check-in at the beginning of the week and through the culminating event of the week, Songfest.
Songfest will cap off the week on April 23. The biggest event of Greek Week, it takes place at the Boulder Theater with an admission fee of five dollars, all of which will go to donations for the Children’s Miracle Network and to fund the annual fall sorority philanthropic event, Dance Marathon, which regularly generates over $50,000 in donations to Children’s Miracle Network.
The admission price will not be ill spent, however. Each of the pairings of fraternities and sororities picked several months ago will enter a group to perform a song and or dance routine for the crowd’s amusement.
“They win only recognition,” Henderson said. “But that’s enough, because the IFC and the Panhellenic communities take it very seriously. Certain members of the community get really excited about Greek Week. I think it’s great when folks are coming together for fun.”
On April 18, a trivia bowl will take place at Cafe Play. This event will replace the traditional karaoke jam.
Cafe Play has played a large role this semester in the philanthropic aspects of Panhellenic sororities. Last month, the sororities held the competitive philanthropic event, “Coffee-for-a-cause,” hosted by Cafe Play, during which the various Panhellenic sororities competed with each other to see who could raise the most money for their philanthropy by purchasing coffee from the cyber coffee house.
Not all campus Greek organizations are able to participate in Greek Week. Multicultural Greeks have not been invited to the festivities.
“It’s a tough situation,” Davine said. “Personally I think it would be great to have Multicultural Greeks involved, it’s just a lot harder to do than you’d think, there’s a tradition of a rift between the two, but we are working on fixing it. We’re working towards it.”
Henderson feels that for Greek Week to be a truly all-Greek event, the Multicultural Greeks should be included.
“There has been interest shown (to involve Multicultural Greeks) at various time from Multicultural Greek leaders, Panhellenic leaders and Interfraternity Council leaders,” Henderson said. “Until the three different communities can have representatives sit down and together co-plan out Greek Week, it won’t be a Greek week that is all inclusive of every one. There is an interest by some Multicultural Greek leaders to participate, but only if it is co-planned and there is interest by other Multicultural Greeks to not be involved, that it isn’t something that in alignment with what their organizations do.”
Davine counters that the events good qualities outweigh the unfortunate lack of involvement from Multicultural Greeks.
“It is important for people to realize that Greek Week is something that has a lot of good qualities to it,” she said. “Some people tend to overlook the positive contributions that the Greek community makes to Boulder and to CU in general, not just this negative stigma that surrounds us. Greek Week proves that we are good kids and that we do a lot for this community. It’s good to start emphasizing that the Greek community does want to work with the school and not against it. We’re all students, we’re all looking to find our place and the Greek community is a great place to do it, but we want to make sure we have that connection to the entire community at large.”
Contact Campus Press staff writer Brandon Springer at brandon.springer@thecampuspress.com
