Picnic creates inter-council unity

Though nearly 20 different greek organizations were present, divisions blurred Thursday in Dunn Meadow at the Meet the Greeks picnic, making it nearly impossible to distinguish between the groups.

Members of the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council promoted their individual organizations and celebrated inter-council unity at the picnic.

“This is not about recruiting,” said Charlene Nortey, secretary of Alpha Kappa Alpha. “It really is just a meet and greet. It’s a chance for all of us to get together.”

The event was a cook-out where interested students were invited to browse the different informational booths set up by the organizations, and join in on the mingling of the members.

“This is more of an introduction to the campus to let people know the things we are trying to do for the campus and the community,” said graduate student Adrian Land of Omega Psi Phi.

Omega cosponsored the event along side Sigma Lambda Upsilon.

Many of the organizations were focused solely on promoting their philanthropies and different campus projects. Delta Phi Omega was raising awareness for their service event celebrating Global Gandhi Day on Oct. 3, while AKA was collecting donations for their Lupus fund.

Lambda Upsilon Lambda spoke about their upcoming PATHE project. PATHE, which stands for Providing Access to Higher Education, will be a two-day event educating Latinos about college, said senior Pierre Perez, secretary of LUL.

Students who attended Meet the Greeks were looking for a less traditional college
experience.

“I wanted to look at all the different sororities because I want to find more diversity in my campus life,” sophomore Nikita Menchaca said.

Though the event was not focused on recruitment, both the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council hope to encourage interested students to get involved.

“It isn’t just the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association,” said senior Maritza Arredondo, president of SLU. “People don’t realize that there are two other councils and there are a lot of choices for
everyone.”