Go Greek!: Week Two

For the past month, ONU has been sporadically dotted with members of the campus community in black t-shirts with a large, bold, orange "G," smack dab on the front. The shirts carried the message, "Find out what it all means on September 18." People wearing the shirts have been everywhere from helping at freshman move-in and the academic buildings to the Green Monster and Mac .

Today is September 18.

Those people that had previously been wearing the "G" shirts now donned shirts that say, in the same orange lettering, "Go Greek." On the back, the shirts list the accomplishments of the Greek community in the last year:

- raised $26,274.84 for charity,

- performed 3768.5 community service hours,

- had a GPA equal to the all-campus GPA,

- were involved in almost every other group on campus,

- did it all with only 530 members,

- and had a great time doing it!

Imagine what is possible.

Stand out. Go Greek.

ONU's Panhellenic Council (consisting of Alpha Xi Delta , Delta Zeta  , Zeta Tau Alpha and Kappa Alpha Theta ) and Interfraternity Council (consisting of Delta Sigma Phi , Theta Chi , Sigma Pi , Sigma Phi Epsilon , Phi Delta Chi and Phi Mu Delta ) teamed up to put together what came to be known as the "G" campaign to spark interest in Greek life and, I must say, it worked. Those of us in the "G" shirts had students of all ages, as well as faculty and staff members asking us what it meant. Our response? "Find out on the eighteenth."

Today, the campus community put two and two together. Faculty that had been Greek during their time at ONU were also invited to wear the "Go Greek" shirts. "Ohhhhh!" came the exclamation as comprehension dawned. Yes, we Greeks did, in fact, do all that. 

In a world where Greek life is often criticized and persecuted, our Greek community is taking steps to shed light on our triumphs. I understand why and how the negative stigma surrounding Greek life explodes the way it does, and how it came to be in the first place. But I am so proud of our Greek community for not allowing themselves to be discouraged by it and for moving past the sensationalism into the positive.

Additionally, tonight is the first round of formal sorority recruitment of 2009. This year, it was decided that we would utilize a new schedule for recruitment. In the past, formal recruitment was four rounds: open house, philanthropy, sisterhood and preference. This year, we'll be having two informal rounds (welcome kit and open house) and three formal rounds (philanthropy, sisterhood and preference). Panhellenic Council has been doing a kick-butt job of promoting the recruitment process and explaining the new structure to the chapters.

I am so excited for formal recruitment to begin. The potential new members (PNMs) I've met so far have been charming, well-spoken, bright young women that any chapter would be lucky to have. I can't wait for them and the rest of my sisters to meet each other.

Happy recruiting!