With the help of Hillel adviser Jon Schulman, GJC president and member of Alpha Epsilon Pi Michael Bruell plans to expand the council to reach an estimated 1,000 Jewish greek members, Bruell said.
“We really wanted to revitalize it and turn it into what it could be and have it start to reach its full potential,” Bruell said. “I think it really has a lot of potential.”
The GJC is an organization that brings together the greek and Jewish communities on campus.
Although the GJC hosts events for both Jewish and non-Jewish students, the group is an outlet for students with commonalities, Schulman said.
“It’s two groups of people that before they even meet each other they have two things in common,” Schulman said. “You’re already working within a pretty strong framework, so for us it’s a natural thing to bring them together.”
The GJC lends itself as an outlet for celebrating Jewish holidays and traditions. This is because the majority of IU Jewish students identify as culturally and socially Jewish rather than religiously observant, Schulman said.
“My job is to help facilitate students’ Jewish experience in any way, in the way they want to do it best,” Schulman said.
Jewish students across campus Saturday will celebrate Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, by fasting. The GJC has teamed up with Bloomington Bagel Company to host a breaking of the fast event at 8 p.m.
In restructuring GJC, Bruell reached out to many Hillel connections. However, the GJC and Hillel have essentially different goals of what they want to offer students, Bruell said.
Specifically, GJC plans to engage and strengthen the bonds within the greek community, Bruell said.
Aside from the predominantly Jewish fraternities and sororities on campus, such as Alpha Epsilon Pi and Sigma Delta Tau, Jewish members are represented in each chapter, Bruell said.
“Usually greek systems are very segmented and you stay within your own chapter,” he said. “You might not know many people outside of that. We’re really trying to beak down those barriers.”
To connect students throughout the greek community, GJC started a chapter liaison portion of its executive council.
Each liaison will bring information about meetings and events to chapter meetings, Bruell said.
The GJC has 15 chapter liaisons to spread the word. Combined with members of its executive board, almost 20 chapters are represented.
GJC is looking to expand its liaison outreach to all 54 greek chapters, Bruell said.
“I wanted to be part of Greek Jewish council because it blends my two favorite things at IU: Jewish community and greek community,” Bruell said. “Something I’m really excited about is not only growing this organization but also seeing it develop in the future.”
The group has expanded within its executive board as well, Bruell said. There are four vice president positions but GJC plans to double that by the end of the semester.
“It’s an exciting time for us,” Schulman said. “I really like working with the students and helping them create something that’s being built up. It’s nice to see students get involved with something they really care about and then see their successes.”
