Greek councils meet to promote diversity, unity

To most IU students, greek life includes only the houses on Third Street and North Jordan Avenue.

But Thursday’s Neo Unity event brought all four greek councils together for the first time to promote diversity in the community. The idea came to Ruchi Shah, the president of the Multi-Cultural Greek Council, two years ago when she saw a need to network with other councils outside her own.

“When a lot of people join greek communities, they don’t know about the other councils and that they even exist,” Shah said.

The first Neo Unity event only included the MCGC and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

This year’s event was larger because it included all four councils: the MCGC, the NPHC, the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association. Rashelle Ludolph, the PHA vice president of public relations, said the idea was introduced last semester.

“Most of the planning was done this semester,” Ludolph said. “Other events will build off of this, like Safe Halloween and other collaborative things.”

Shah applied for a diversity grant of $500, which primarily paid for the T-shirts each attendee received and wore throughout the night.

Director of Diversity Education Eric Love hosted the event, which started with icebreakers and time for members to interact with members from other councils.

Andrea Robledo, the staff adviser of the MCGC and the NPHC, said meeting each other will help with future planning.

“For me, it’s important because it gives a forum for networking, which helps with collaborative events,” Robledo said.
At Neo Unity, each council performed a skit or a performance to educate the other councils. The MCGC showed dances from different cultures, and the NPHC shared some history about each chapter.

The Junior Greek Council, an organization with representatives from each fraternity and sorority performed a skit together. Sophomore Kristin Burt, a Junior Greek Council and Phi Mu member, said they worked on the skit for about two weeks. She also said she liked learning about the other councils.

“You see them around campus in their letters, so it’s interesting to finally see everyone together,” Burt said.

While the icebreakers and skits allowed the four councils to meet, each council kept to itself throughout the event. But Robledo said bringing the groups together is important for the greek community.

“This is probably the only time you’ll get these people in the same room,” Robledo said.