IFC to award first scholarships

This semester is the first time the Interfraternity Council will award its own scholarships to fraternity members.

The scholarships, which have yet to be formally named, will be awarded to both general fraternity members and fraternity presidents. There are three scholarships total.

The IFC released applications Oct. 1.

Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to general fraternity members and one $1,500 scholarship will be awarded to one president. The deadline for all applications is 11:59 p.m. Nov. 3.

The general member scholarships will be awarded each semester, and the presidential scholarship will most likely be awarded on a yearly basis because some fraternities appoint a new president each year instead of each semester, said Brett Benigni, IU graduate student and vice president of finance for IFC.

Winners will be based on academic achievements and on a dedication to the IFC and greek community, said IFC President Sean Jordan.

The IFC wants this scholarship to recognize some of its exceptional community members, Benigni said.

“Many of our IFC members are doing their job by incorporating our values in their communities, and we thought that some of them deserved to be acknowledged for that,” Benigni said.

General members must submit a résumé and answer one of two open-ended questions. There will be two winners, one for each question.

The first question asks how the applicant has integrated his fraternity’s values into his everyday life. The second question asks how the applicant has worked to create a community among IU greek life.

There is also a minimum 3.0 grade point average requirement, an IFC standard, Benigni said.

Fraternity presidents applying for the scholarship must answer one open-ended question in addition to submitting a résumé.

The application  will ask the applicant how he has incorporated IFC initiatives of Value Integration and Creating a Community into his chapter. This serves as a combination of the previous two questions, Benigni said.

The IFC has an annual budget for community programs, Benigni said. Scholarships fall under this category.

Most of the IFC budget comes from the individual IFC chapters through member dues, Benigni said.

“These men should be rewarded for driving our initiatives into the greek community,” Benigni said. “This is a good way to award and increase our high expectations of our members.”

General members and presidents are free to apply more than once, Benigni said.

Winners are also able to apply again, but they must apply with a different set of credentials.

This means the applicant must have different answers to the application questions, Benigni said.

“I think this is a good first step in this direction,” Benigni said. “We think it fuels the vision we see for the greek community.”

The IFC plans to continue issuing these scholarships in the coming semesters, Jordan said. 

“We want to keep rewarding high performing members not only for their academics, but also in terms of achieving our over-arching IFC initiatives,” Jordan said.

Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.