This past Thursday, Oct. 17, Friday, Oct. 18, and this coming Saturday, Oct. 19, the sororities and fraternities have been putting on and will put on events that make up campus’ first “GreekEnd.”
The fraternities and sororities on campus are sponsoring a variety of different charities, including The American Cancer Society, Wounded Warriors, Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs, and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).
To raise money for these charities, students have been participating in a wide range of festive fall activities.
Senior and president of the Panhellenic Council Maggie Brickner explains, “We have [planned] a ton of events: Flag football, three-on-three basketball, an amazing race-style event, root beer pong, pumpkin carving, pumpkin smashing, Pie-a-Phi—throwing pie in the faces of the Phi Kappa Tau members—and the list goes on. All the money raised goes towards the sororities’ or fraternities’ philanthropy.”
Junior Spencer Swick, Inter-Fraternity Council President and member of Delta Tau Delta, said, “I am working on getting a grill for the tailgate on Saturday which will be from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. over at the Banta Bowl before the home football game. Free food will be available for everyone who wants to come and join. Sig Ep will be there with balloons filled with paint, which you can throw at members of that frat.”
At a crossroads with a member of Sig Ep? “Our event will allow people to take their anger out on members of the frat,” assure junior and member of Sig Ep Connor Beaulieu.
This Greek Life-sponsored charity event started Thursday and is continuing until Saturday. This is the campus’ first GreekEnd, which replaced the usual fall Greek Week. While the latter is a thing of the past, students can still look forward to Greek Week during Spring Term.
Brickner said, “In the Spring, it is a full week. A group has a new event every single night. We are trying a new format this year. We are switching to more of a carnival feel where there are multiple events going on at once. Our goal is to draw more students into the activities so our events are more successful and people get more out of them. We’re looking for whole campus involvement.”
Swick agrees with Brinker about the goals of the new format.
“We crunched [the event] down to get more numbers. In the past, Fall Greek Week has been pretty anemic in terms of numbers, so we hope that if we condense it, having it all at the same time and in the same area, [there will be a higher turnout],” said Swick.
Besides the charity, GreekEnd is a way to remind people of the perks of the organizations.
“[We want to] showcase what Greek life is all about,” said Swick. “There’d be no way I’d be the president of anything if it wasn’t for Greek life, they really helped me get out of my shell. Greek life really helps you branch out and create a close-knit group of people. It is a really amazing opportunity.”
Brickner said, “People join [fraternities or sororities] to have a really good, strong backbone group of friends that they can come back to all the time. After graduation, it is a great network of people that you can connect with in a variety of different fields. “
As a final note on the advantages of Greek living, Beaulieu said, “Regardless of individual flaws, it is nice to have a group of like-minded people that you can rely on.”