After being at IU for 105 years, the National Pan-Hellenic Council will be getting visual representation on campus.
NPHC will accomplish this with the Divine Nine Plots Project.
This will be a monument in honor of NPHC, said Lindsay Echols, the senior assistant director of fraternity and sorority life.
“It will serve as a monument to show that black culture is alive and thriving here at Indiana University,” Echols said. “This is to pay homage to people who have been members of black culture in the past and the future.”
The monument will be made up of 10 small plots, Echols said. Nine will be for the nine NPHC chapters at IU, and one will be for the NPHC governing council.
The designs for each of the plots will be different and will bear the names of the chapters, as well as their respective shields, NPHC President Frank Bonner said.
IU will be the first Big Ten institution in the country to have a plot project for NPHC like this, Echols said.
It is the plan of NPHC to put the monument in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center courtyard, Echols said.
In order to have it built, Echols said NPHC is trying to raise $100,000 for the Plots Project. So far, about $14,000 has been raised for the project.
Echols said she hopes to have the money raised by the 2016 homecoming and to have the monument built by Little 500 next spring semester.
Bonner said if they raise money sooner, the plot can be built sooner.
“The sooner we can get it raised, the better,” Bonner said.
Each NPHC chapter is in charge of raising $2000 for the Plots Project, Echols said. She said NPHC has also been reaching out to various alumni and companies for funds.
NPHC also started a Fundly page, which raised about $3,000 with the help of more than 100 donors, according to the page.
“We are really trying to get creative with our alumni and the people and families of our community to get people to donate to the Plot Project,” Bonner said.
On IU Day last week, Bonner said NPHC set up a booth by Showalter Fountain, where they advocated and educated others about the Plots Project.
The IU Foundation offered a challenge for the project: if the Plots Project could get at least 45 donors during the tabling, the Foundation would offer an additional $1,500 to go toward the project.
Bonner said the project had 80 donors throughout the day.
The idea for the Plots Project was conceived about 10 years ago, Echols said. However, Bonner said the idea faded over time and wasn’t considered again until about a year ago.
“It was kind of snowballing, and now we’re trying to get it amped up again,” Bonner said.
Because it will be the first visual representation of NPHC on campus, Bonner said he believes the Plots Project will have a positive effect on the influence and culture of NPHC.
He said more people will know about the Council because of the monument.
“Having a plot will let people know about our presence on campus,” Bonner said. “They will want to inquire more about the Council because we will actually have visual representation on campus.”
With this monument, Echol said she believes it can show others that NPHC is just as relevant to greek life as it is to black culture.
“Unfortunately, not a lot of people know about the National Pan-Hellenic Council,” Echols said. “This will be something that shows it.”
