In previous years, University of Georgia sororities took the stage to perform iconic choreography live in front of a packed audience for Sigma Delta Tau’s annual dance competition, SDT Greek
, discussions of abolishing or reforming Greek life have continued on campus. The Daily spoke to Interfraternity Council
President and Weinberg junior Nick Papandreou about his perspective on recruitment, parties and the future of Greek life on campus.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
The Daily: IFC chose to continue with formal recruitment this year. How has it changed this year because of COVID-19 and the Abolish Greek Life movement?
Papandreou: We did expect lower numbers and we do still expect fewer people to rush. The chapters are making conscious decisions in terms of who they’re recruiting, and we’ve kind of formed our recruitment process for this quarter to kind of facilitate that.
The Greek life community at Mississippi State University consists of four main divisions: the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council and the Multicultural Greek Council. Two of these councils, the Panhellenic and Interfraternity councils, are experiencing some growth this fall.Â
Sigma Phi Epsilon, or SigEp, a fraternal chapter at MSU since 1938, was removed from campus in 2014 after having their charter revoked. According to a previous Reflector article, the fraternity s charter and house were revoked following hazing violations. They returned to campus in the fall of 2017 and have been working to get their house back ever since.Â
Austin Wesley, a junior electrical engineering major and vice president of communication for SigEp for the 2021 calendar year, joined the chapter in 2018 and said the chapter has been working on rechartering with their alumni association. Â
After months of contending with the Abolish Greek Life movement, many Northwestern fraternities and sororities plan to continue with recruitment this winter.
Although NU’s Panhellenic Association voted to cancel formal PHA-sponsored recruitment this academic year, individual chapters are hosting virtual informal recruitment. The Interfraternity Council is also recruiting virtually. Previously, IFC allowed for small in-person events as long as they met University rules and kept contact tracing logs. In a statement to the Daily, IFC President Nick Papandreou
said the policy was changed this week to ban all in-person events until future notice.
According to each chapter’s leadership, Northwestern chapters of Delta Tau Delta, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau are officially holding recruitment. Though other chapters are listed on the IFC interest form, they did not respond to the Daily’s request for a comment on whether they will recruit classes.