Ideas for promoting Greek unity?
 

Here's my story:

I go to a school with about 2000 students. We have 2 sororities -- Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Phi -- and two fraternities -- Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi. I think that the total number of members in all the groups is around 60. So as you can tell, we have a small Greek community, which we're trying to expand.

One of the things that keeps coming up, however, is that most of us don't know a lot of the people in the other group. For various events, ADPi's tend to pair up with the Sigs, and the Phis with the Betas. Because of that, each of us has a limited knowledge of one of the other groups. In a school where we're working to strengthen and expand the Greek community, there are some of us who think that it would be a really good idea if we all worked together somehow. The only events we ever have together are parties, and, well, that gets old, and you don't so much meet people (or, in some cases, remember that you did....). There has been talk of doing more together with everyone among all of the chapters here, but nobody ever does anything about it.

We had a 'meeting' (well, more of a discussion) today -- one person from each group -- just to get some ideas out there. I think we have some really great stuff! Potlucks, intermurals, attending campus events as a group... But I'm wondering what we might be leaving out.

So. I don't know how much this applies to people at bigger schools, but maybe it does, to some extent. What do you guys do to unify the Greek community at your university, or what are some things that we might be able to do with ours?

Get your names and presence out there by helping out around campus and town. The greeks in our area have been getting a bad rep for some shit that went down the first few weeks of school, so we're slowly trying to build that back up. But I would suggest doing a town clean up, or volunteering with an after school program or a shelter, get involved with the student government, or help represet the campus.....this way not only are people becoming more aware of the greek orgs in the area, but they will see that they're some pretty awesome college students too who are just trying to make things better!

ForeverDiamond, I don't know what your "house" arrangements are, whether you each have a room, a suite, or a house. One thing that I think works well is the Midterm & Finals Study Break. We would put out a coffee urn & keep it filled with water, and have instant coffee, tea, creamers, sugar, sugar substitute, hot chocolate, disposable cups, spoons etc at the ready. If anyone has some cookies or fruit, all the better! Declare ONE HOUR for a study break, and have all the Greeks in. It's amazing how y'all will pull together over that common problem - tests!!

FWIW, we did this just for sororities, since there were 9 sororities in one building, and didn't allow men. That way, everyone could come in comfy clothes, glasses, no makeup, slippers... well, you get the idea. :) It also gave us a reputation for being good hostesses - which made our alumnae so happy, they often provided the goodies! :)

how about an all-greek philanthropy event? it will help promote Greek life!

I like the idea of all 4 groups getting together and doing some community service as a group. We used to have a community service day where members of each fraternity, sorority, and dorm would go out to a homeless shelter, food pantry, school, etc. You could do a day like that, but assemble teams from all 4 orgs rather than each org doing its own thing. You could do some volunteer work in the morning and then go to lunch as a group...

You could also do mixers that go against the "pairing" of fraternity and sorority that you described, i.e. you mix with the Betas, and the Phis mix with the Sigs.

Or, how about a progressive dinner?

Thanks for all the replies so far!

We definitely want to get more involved in the community. Our idea was to go visit residents at a nearby nursing home. Groups around here are always supporting the women's center and youth programs. While those are both good causes, we think that the nursing home deserves some attention too! We were thinking of getting a group together with representatives from each GLO every week to go visit.

honeychile ~ I love that idea!! We don't have a house, but the Betas and Sigs both do.
The Beta guy was talking about opening up the Beta house for a few hours on Sundays as a sort of open house too...

as for an all-Greek philanthropy, we were thinking of doing a bottle drive (because Bishop's students are infamous for really liking their beer) and donating the proceeds to something the university supports, like the refugee scholarship (which helps students from poor countries come here for and education).

aephi alum ~ what's a progressive dinner?

Basically, you go from one house to the next, and have a different dinner course at each house. This, of course, is easiest if you all have houses, but perhaps you could reserve a classroom or something for yourselves (and you didn't mention if Alpha Phi has a house?) With 4 orgs, you could have hors d'oeuvres, salad, a main course, and dessert.

what an awesome idea!!
the Phis don't have a house either, but we both have somebody's apartment we could use, I'm sure...

For homecoming, Greek Week, etc. Try joining two groups each time that usually don't have anything to do with eachother. We did this on our campus and I think the results were great.

Our school has an all-Greek Bible study! It isn't mandatory for anyone, you just go if/when you feel like it. I've never been to the one at our school, but I'm sure it is great way to connect with other greeks.

Something else you could do is have study sessions in the library together :) This would be cool b/c you get to meet new Greeks, study, and also get help if you need it. (With so many people there, there is *bound* to be someone who would be able to help you if you or another greek member had a problem with something on homework :) )

Don't invite more groups on, just hold unified rush. Also, play sports against each other out in the quad. Be as vocal as you can with the members you have, encourage other activities, and recruit. Good luck and Go Greek!

Service events together is the way to go, especially if you invite other non-Greeks out to take part-- then it becomes a community event sponsored by your greeks!

A really popular event like this at my school is Trick or Treat On Greek Street--- the Greeks decorate their houses and dress in costumes, have apple bobbing, a "fun house", inflatable slides and other inflatable fun stuff-- like a bounce house-- and invite all the local elementary schools, churches, temples, etc-- schools and day care centers to bring the children down in costume during the day. Non-Greeks can also set up tables and help out, etc. It's a lot of fun, we make t-shirts and promote the heck out of it!

UGA has an Inter-Greek Council which is working to unite all of the greek houses on campus.

Last year, they made Greek WEek non-competitive so we could just hang out together.

Now I think they're talking about an All Greek Formal.

There was an article about the council in Today's Red and Black, you can read it at http://www.randb.com

that's another thing we'd like to start -- Greek Week. we've never had one. I figure that it should be non-competitive at first, because with so few groups, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to turn it into a competition.

so what exactly goes on during a Greek Week anyway?

At my old school I was really big on greek unity. So one thing i did when i was social chair was a mixer with another sorority. it was the first time an all soror mixer was done. It turned out great! We did a scavenger hunt. we paired up a few girls from each org and sent them off. And what was really awsome is that one of the fraternities threw us an after party.

One event that i really wanted to do was a battle of the sexes. the events could be from athletic to logic or hisotry questions. I personally thought that would be soooooo fun. and you could always make it into a philanthropy event too.

Good luck!

Big philanthropy events are great for getting to know people in other orgs and for creating a presence on campus. Playground clean ups are always great and you sometimes you can "adopt" a local playground and run activities for the kids on an on-going basis.
I don't know your area at all but what about a Greek Garden? If there's a plot of unused land somewhere; i.e. a former parking lot, you can raise funds in the fall and then do a clean up/ planting in the spring.
How about Christmas/Holiday follies? We used to do this with with our Sigma Chis; we would put together a Christmas Program and then perform at a few local nursing homes.
As for Greek Week activities you could actually do a boys vs. girls competition which is actually lots of fun.
You can also start with something low-key but fun like an ice cream social or pizza night with your Alpha Phis.
Hope this is helpful!

Show a United Greek Force of Charity Events:) Or anyother Functions that are available to you!

Yes, there is Compitition, but Unification for doing THE GOOD THINGS!:) is the way to expand!

We Lost a Chapter at Alfred U along with All of the Greeks there because of a Hazing Problem. A Local I beleive did it but it spotlighted all Greeks, Now, They are GONE!:(

What do you do at Homecoming?

Have found without the Greeks at Home coming, it is the bands first and the horses last!

homecoming here is just one big drunken mess... a lot of the alumni come back to the school, there's a football game, too many kegs & eggs parties, and just massive amounts of drunken stupidity. no parades or anything... just lots of alcohol. i usually go away for the weekend.

this year, we do have quite a few of our ADPi alumnae coming up, and i think we're trying to plan a social event with the Beta alumni -- yay for mixing with a different group!!

ForeverDiamond, it looks like the Greek system at Wichita State University made a real attempt to build Greek unity and get the campus to know the Greeks better with their recent Greek Week. There's an article in the student newspaper at

http://www.thesunflower.com/web/isite.dll?1063172588179

Some of the things they did: a clothing drive, blood drive, open houses, etc. Alpha Phi and Beta both have chapters there, so their chapters at your school might be able to get more info from them if the ideas sound interesting. I believe a new membr of Alpha Phi there posted her rush story on GC six weeks or so ago, too. Although Wichita State is a fairly large school, its Greek system is relatively small, so some of what they did might mesh with concerns at your school.

At Illinois we have Greek Reunion during the summer. All the Greeks would come to campus the second weekend in July to get together.

Forever Diamond...i feel your pain with trying to mix w/other greeks. i go to school at rutgers, camden, its the small campus in south jersey. my sisters and i just founded sigma delta tau there in december of this past year and we have been trying to get the greek life back on that campus for 2 years now. we have quite a few sororities and fraternities on campus, but most of them are inactive. one has 1 member, one has 3 members, one has 5 members. we're the biggest w/25 girls. its definetly a challenge getting the greeks together that are there. there's a lot of behind-the-scenes fighting and rivalry going on. but, TEP frat just came back after being suspended and the greek life is picking up again.

our greek week starts on oct. 13. we're having a trivia game that night, tuesday is a bbq during the lunch period and a toga party at night. wednesday is just a chill day. thursday is meet the greeks where we all explain our organization and any interests can ask questions and everything. we're ending the week w/friday having a greek vs. civvy flag football game and saturday night there is a step show that kappa is hosting. the way this was organized is that each greek group that is active takes one day and organizes that event. this makes it very interesting since we are all coming from such different points of view.

some advice to start to get to know the other greeks....just be real casual...have a movie night one night and invite a few members...it doesnt have to be all members in all the groups at one time. this way you can get to know them on a more personal level. my sisters and i like to go bowling every monday night and whoever goes from all the greeks goes. its a good time.

just a few ideas....good luck!!

Is there Intermural Competition, run outs (Fraternity/Soroitys)? With 3 Soroitys and 6 Fraternitys, we did a Float for H C with STG, great interaction as I see it!

With out having to look up, and see who is on Campus, Do you do a House Decoration/Parade? Charity Events, we have a Hot-Tub-A-Thon, with a Soroity each year for Ronnie Mc D house.

If all Alums do is come Back and Get Smashed, wow, that sucks! Especially if it is done with the Chapter!:o Great Leadership.

Shockers Who!? LOL!

God Kansas has it shares of Mascots!:D

you guys are giving me so many great ideas to work with! thank you!

wishuweresigdel ~ home for me is about 15 minutes or so from your school! that's really great that you're getting greek life going again there! i hope that continues to go well for you.

Greek Week
 

For Greek Week, there are some things that we did at North Carolina State University:

-Blood Drive
-All-Day service event (service raleigh)
-Step Show
-Body Image Fair
-Lip Sync
-Serenade
-Bowling
-Movie Nite
-2 speakers
-Cookout
-Award Presentations
-Concert
-Bracket Events (Volleyball, Kickball, Basketball, Tug-of-war)

We also had Greek Week T-shirts that everyone could purchase. perhaps one day out of the week, everyone could wear their shirt together

i like the all-greek formal idea.....how did that work and how many groups were there? PM me bout it! :)

forever diamond....where are you from...im from gloucester twp and went to triton high school.

The Blood Drive alone will bring you all together, and get some good pr!

The last I heard, the Pitt Greeks provide the largest pool of blood donors in Pittsburgh, and the Central Blood Bank LOVES them!!

thats really neat...we live a few towns away from each other....what school do you go to??

haha -- nothing close to there! I'm at Bishop's University, in Lennoxville, Quebec!