Suggestions on how to increase GREEK LIFE at our school
 

I'm currently attending the University of Hawaii. Greek Life out here is not what it is in California or any other place for that matter. I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything to just change the culture of the school to become more greek. We have 3 fraternities (Tau Kappa Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, and a local fraternity Kappa Epsilon Theta) and 2 sororities (Beta Beta Gamma, Alpha Gamma Delta).


Personally I am content with the current state of our chapter out here. It's not too big, not too small. Is there sometime that is going on on other campuses to help greek life thrive that might not be happening out here?


Out here we don't have a greek row. Our campus, during freshman orientations, doesn't even have a greek section like I know a lot of schools do.


So I guess my question is how to increase the amount of people who rush. Is it all advertising? Is it just getting out there and communicating?


Please forgive me if I'm asking some pretty obvious questions but I was just recently initiated and I want to be as involved as possible.

Any and all respectful suggestions will be appreciated.

Whoa, bud -- you just initiated. Take some time to enjoy it. I would focus on learning the ins-and-outs of my fraternity before trying to make waves in the Greek system.

Your school may not be able to support the huge, SEC-type chapters. Nothing wrong with that. Just make sure you're representing your fraternity in a positive light, and it should get some interest. Once you've established yourself in your chapter, try getting involved with IFC/whatever council you have. You can use that platform to help set up larger events that can hopefully spark some interest.

I know I'm not going to run a one man show. Lol. Just excited, that's all I guess. Me and some of the brothers were all just talking about RUSH next year and how we could try and change the culture of Greek Life at this school. Nothings going to happen overnight but it's worth a try. :)

Do you have a greek advisor? what is he/she like?

You can't have your cake and eat it too, not to mention it will take the participation of all the GLOs on campus to change things. If you want more people (in general) to go greek you need to advertise, be visible, and have an active IFC and NPC.

A result of increased interest in fraternities is well....more members;) If you enjoy the current size of your "right-sized" chapter, why would you want a sharp increase in membership?

I guess I worded it wrong. I love my chapter and my brothers but I think that with more effort or some extra work we can just improve the Greek System.


I mean not every college started out with huge fraternities or sororities. I just want to do the best I can to increase it.

We don't have a greek advisor. We have a council of leaders for each sorority and fraternity to discuss things like greek week I guess. I don't really know their exact responsibilities but whatever they are doing it could be done better if you ask me.

According to the webpage at U of H, there are 4 fraternities and 6 sororities including two with names that look like they are ethnic greeks for Native Hawaiians (Imiloa Fraternity and Wakaba Kai Sorority)

No. That information is outdated. The school doesn't really seem to care about promoting greek life at all. When I asked about fraternities during my freshman orientation to one of the people leading it they didn't know any fraternities on campus.

There cannot be an active College Panhellenic because there is only one NPC group on campus.

When I was there, there were about 8 each sororities and fraternities, including Imiloa and Wakaba Kai. They were all cultural (i.e., you had to be Japanese to be in Wakaba Kai and Hawaiian to be in Imiloa, etc.) and they all hazed with a vengeance, which is probably one reason they folded. Who wants to pay good money to be hazed? And everyone knew they did it because they hazed openly--in the cafeteria, on the main campus, etc.

Plus it's a commuter campus with lots of kids who have jobs and no time for any extracurriculars. That makes recruitment hard.

That's definitely going to make getting numbers very, very difficult. But see, with the other leaders who organize Greek Week and stuff, if you can hold some more "open" events to non-Greeks so that they can see if they would enjoy being Greek. That'd increase visibility and hopefully interest. Make it worthwhile for these students to not go home every weekend.

We often have concerts with our philanthropies, everyone can attend--sometimes with the purchase of a ticket, sometimes not. Try a Hawaiian BBQ, we host a BBQ in the quad to generate freshmen interest in IFC, and in your case, who doesn't love Hawaiian food!? We have booths set up for each fraternity, with these information cards of our rush events and who we are.

There are very many ways, and the other repliers are on point. Be visible, but be respectable. Interest in IFC will follow. This may take time, Greek life may be more popular only after you graduate, so enjoy the brotherhood you have, although I admire your desire to do better.

SMH.

The last thing he should think of doing is a "Hawaiian" anything.

Stuff like that only works in Texas lol

Or as they probably call it: Food.