Greek Life puts pride on display

Greek students from all four councils wore "Greek" T-shirts on Wednesday.

By Megan Stroup

Published April 23, 2009

Neon shirts emblazoned with the word "Greek" could be seen all over campus Wednesday as students involved in Greek Life wore bright-colored T-shirts as a symbol of unity and pride.

The brightly colored shirts were seen in classrooms, dining halls and the Student Recreation Complex as 4,000 students from all four Greek councils participated in the event.

Panhellenic Association Lindsey Hoffman spokeswoman said the shirts were a collaborative effort from students who attended the Greek Leaders Retreat at the beginning of the semester.

"The four councils and its presidents thought it would be really neat for Greek students to see how many other Greeks there are on campus -- in different majors, doing different activities, in all parts of campus during the day," Hoffman said in an e-mail.

Delta Tau Delta President Corey Dye coordinated the T-shirt effort.

The original plan was for Greek students to wear identical T-shirts at the beginning or end of Greek Week, but Dye noticed two weeks before Greek Week he had not heard anything about the shirts.

Dye e-mailed the chapter presidents who attended the retreat to see if anything had been organized and was told the committee in charge of the event had not been able to get together.

"I thought, this is a really tight idea, and I'd really hate to see it go to waste," Dye said. "So I went ahead and put it together myself."

Almost two-thirds of the Greek community bought the shirts and 46 out of 51 chapters participated. The National Panhellenic Association and Multicultural Greek Council joined PHA and the Interfraternity Council for the event.

"We hate the misconception of Greek-dom being divided down a racial line," former NPHC Vice President Jaqui Rogers said. "Having all four councils involved promoted a very unified message."

Delta Sigma Theta sorority member Andrea Lee said two NPHC organizations bought T-shirts this year, but the event is something her council would be interested in doing again next year.

"NPHC's motto is that when there is unity, there is strength," Lee said. "We believe that should be a big principle for all councils."

Sophomore Kathryn Mansur, a member of Panhellenic sorority Zeta Tau Alpha, chose to wear her Greek shirt as a symbol of unity.

"We're all in the Greek system for the same reasons," Mansur said.

She listed volunteer activities, new friends and greater campus involvement as some reasons she joined.

Mansur said one of the biggest problems in a large Greek community such as MU's is the division between separate chapters. She explained sometimes students make assumptions about Greek students based on the letters they wear to represent a specific chapter.

Hoffman agreed this division between chapters was one motivation for the T-shirt idea.

"At the retreat, many expressed concern that we often limit ourselves to our own personal chapter and often lose sight of the Greek community as a whole," Hoffman said.

IFC spokesman Ryan Morimura said all Greek students, regardless of chapter or council, stand for the ideals of Greek Life: scholarship, leadership, service and brotherhood.

Dye said he hopes to see the event taken over by a specific council next year so the financial burden will not fall on individual chapters.

He also said whether the event is repeated will depend on next year's council presidents and whether anyone will take the initiative to coordinate ordering 4,000 T-shirts.

"It sounds really simple, but honestly it was like pulling teeth," Dye said.