The Independent Council, which is an alternative to greek life for women, has grown from 70 to 112 members in just one semester, Independent Council Co-President Anna Chapman said.
The Independent Council has formally changed its name to Independent Council for Women, maintaining its core values associated with women empowerment, Chapman said.
“We really want to empower independent women on campus and not be considered GDI’s,” Chapman said. “We don’t want to be anti-greek or against greek, this is just what we chose. This is our lifestyle, and this is an organization for us to be a part of.”
The council has also created a constitution with new guidelines for the ?organization.
These guidelines include a mandatory attendance policy at weekly meetings, a 2.0 GPA requirement and rules against hazing, Independent Council Co-President Heather Mielke said.
These new requirements also align with IC’s five core values: friendship, service, leadership, community and acceptance.
The IC leadership council added two faculty advisers this year and split the role of president into two positions. Independent Council also offers leadership opportunities as executive board members and committee heads.
The eight committees focus on involving independents with other campus organizations, Mielke said. The IC leadership council tries to implement IU traditions as well as its core values to fulfill the IC motto, “Be Who You Want to Be With IC.”
“We’re just trying to provide a venue, especially for new students, like freshmen and sophomores, who may not know all of the opportunities that the IU and Bloomington community have,” Mielke said.
Specifically, IC focuses on participating in larger IU events such as IU Dance Marathon, Little 50, Little 500 and other events that are often dominated by greek members, Mielke said.
“The greek community is an awesome community, but they are such a big powerhouse that people sometimes don’t realize the independent community,” Chapman said. “One of our missions is to get the independent community involved in more things on campus.”
Independent Council serves as an alternative to greek life for many women on campus, Independent Council Adviser Cassidy Sansone said.
“For a lot of women, greek life is not an option for many different reasons,” Sansone said. “IC is a really great alternative to greek life because you still get the sisterhood, you still get the leadership opportunity, but it just looks a little bit different.”
Independent Council is only five years old and has no national ties or ?mandates.
This makes it more flexible and less costly than greek life, Mielke said.
Independent Council is structured as a democracy. All of the organization’s decisions are voted on by members and carried out through committee leaders and members.
This year, Mielke and Chapman are looking to legitimize the group with longstanding precedents, as outlined in their constitution, Mielke said.
The Independent Council website received a makeover from the IC public relations committee, Mielke said.
The site now features calendar updates, membership applications and a brief presentation explaining what the new ?constitution is.
“It’s just a nice way to present ourselves,” Mielke said. “IC is hard to describe to people because it’s so broad so it provides them with something to look at and something to read about what we actually do.”
With roughly 40 new members, IC is focused on creating bonds between members. On Monday, all 112 members attended a family reveal in the IMU, Chapman said.
The council was divided into 10 groups with traditional IU names including, Wells, Showalter, Dunn and Kirkwood.
The families included 10 to 12 girls that are placed together based on their respective interests and to what extent they wish to be involved in IC socially, philanthropically or through leadership.
The families will be required to meet at least once a month, Mielke said.
Independent Council has also created an IC bucket list that contains 50 to 60 IU traditions and IC-inspired activities that the girls can do to together as a family.
This year’s changes were made in an effort of forward-thinking. Independent Council plans to continue growing and become a household name on campus through involvement, Sansone said.
“What I would love to see is them contributing to the empowerment of women on campus,” Sansone said. “One voice or one organization’s voice is strong and can mean a lot, but a whole community coming together can mean even more.”
