Greeks chalk to combat prior graffiti

The greek community took pieces of chalk and a small piece of paper as they walked out of the IU Auditorium. They swarmed Showalter Fountain to write facts about homosexuality and HIV with the hashtag #greekscare.

Interfraternity Council Vice President of Communications Sean Jordan said this was to combat the statements last week about Phi Gamma Delta.

“It was constructive for us to take the first stand,” Jordan said. “We wanted to use the same tool they used for hate for love instead.”

The greek community worked in conjunction with representatives from the GLBT anti-harassment team. At the Greek Awards and Assessment Program, director of the office of diversity education Eric Love said some people viewed the incident last week as a prank, but everyone lost.

“Many think this is a negative reflection of the greek community as a whole,” Love said.

Love said the students in the greek system are held to higher standards and live up to the hype by speaking out against the chalking incident.

“We just hope to show we don’t stand for ignorance and want to shed a positive light on the issue,” Panhellenic Association President Anjulia Urasky said.

Michael Goodman, senior assistant director for fraternity and sorority life, said he hopes the positive chalk messaging will encourage people to come forward and say they saw something. He said he hopes it makes people stop and realize they are not okay with the negative acts.

“Regardless of who made those derogatory comments, we need to respond positively,” Urasky said.

Jordan said they are still investigating who made the negative claims, and they have contacted the IU Police Department to see if they could help get the negative chalk graffiti stopped.

“We will not stand for words and acts of hate,” Jordan said. “This is one more step toward advancing our great community.”

— Carmen Huff