Greek leaders forge for stronger bonds

Greek councils met this weekend to plan for the future.

By Gwen Daniels

Published Jan. 29, 2008

Greek leaders across campus met this weekend at a retreat to get acquainted and to make plans for the new semester.

Executive board members from all four Greek councils, fraternity and sorority chapter presidents, and representatives from the MU Office of Greek Life attended the Greek Leadership Retreat at Windermere Conference Center in Roach, Mo., sponsored by the Office of Greek Life.

The four Greek councils at MU are the Interfraternity Council, Multi-Cultural Greek Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Panhellenic Association.

The main goal of the retreat was to better understand the values, priorities and organization of all four councils, executive board members said.

In the past, the four councils have acted independently with little interaction between members, executive board members said.

This year, they hope to work more cohesively.

“We want to form strong relations between the councils,” MGC Spokeswoman Mari Moseley said. “We want to be more educated on all of the other chapters, get a better feel and a better knowledge of everyone.”

Together, the executive boards have planned many steps toward unity between the councils, they said.

The council presidents will support the activities of all four councils.

“One goal that I solidified for myself and hopefully my council is that I want us to participate in at least three MGC or NPHC events,” PHA President Diamond Scott said. “That’s something that was not necessarily done in the past but is really easy to do.”

NPHC President Christopher Addae could not be reached for comment.

Another major goal is opening the lines of communication, Scott said.

The executive boards plan to create a mailing list between the four councils, informing one another of upcoming activities within each council.

“Any events that are open, we’re going to put on the Listserv,” IFC President Bryan VanGronigen said. “It’s the responsibility of the council presidents to alert their chapters. As opposed to me just focusing on my chapters and our IFC events, I’m going to alert my presidents of things happening in the other councils.”

VanGronigen and Scott both said the executive boards also want to organize a service event between the four councils later in the semester.

Joint activities are already in the works. Moseley said MGC and NPHC will plan a party together in February, providing the opportunity for members of both councils to get to know each other.

Scott also suggested a Greek letter day on which fraternity and sorority members from all four councils would wear their Greek letters.

“It would show unity and pride for the campus to see all of us doing something together, instead of the divisive nature that people sometimes associate with us,” she said.

Accountability between the executive board and the chapter presidents is another priority.

“I want the chapter presidents to hold me accountable for everything I said I was going to do,” Scott said. “I have people I’m supposed to be serving, and if I lose track of that, then I’m not doing my job.”

The retreat also provided an opportunity for executive board members to meet with the chapters in their councils.

IFC presented several plans for the new semester to their chapter presidents, VanGronigen said.

The council will submit news releases about fraternity events to local news outlets to combat negative publicity.

Before a news release is drafted, individual chapters can submit a form describing the event to IFC, VanGronigen added.

“We do have a lot of positive and meaningful events that take place in every one of our chapters every week, and nobody really hears about them,” VanGronigen said. “We made a promise to our chapter presidents to try and get their events in the press.”

In addition, IFC will sponsor a one-day New Greek Education session this spring focused on community involvement, he added.

MGC plans to target recruitment this semester, Moseley said.

“We basically want to accomplish getting more known in the university, getting the word out about MGC,” she said. “We are trying to recruit more members to join, and we want to be available for anyone to come talk to us.”