Greeks recognized at banquet

The Greek community gathered together last night at the Penn Tower Hotel for its annual Greek Awards Banquet. More than 100 fraternity and sorority members filled the ballroom and listened to speeches from the past and present leadership of the InterFraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council and the BiCultural InterGreek Council. Among the big winners were Delta Delta Delta, which received the Helen S. Berkowitz Award for Sorority Excellence, Phi Sigma Kappa, which received the Crawford. C. Madeira Cup for Fraternity Excellence, and Sigma Lambda Upsilon, which received the Sadie T.M. and Raymond P. Alexander Award of Excellence. In addition, Zeta Psi was awarded the most improved IFC fraternity, Kappa Alpha Theta, the most improved Panhel sorority, and Zeta Phi Beta, the most improved Big-C Chapter. After a sit-down dinner, Greek Alumni Council President Andrea Dobin was the first to speak. Dobin spoke about the new alcohol policy and the "Chisum Commission," the Commission on Strengthening the Community chaired by Gloria Chisum. The Commission report initially recommended an all-inclusive sophomore rush, which was modified to a second-semester freshman rush in the final draft. Dobin said it is important to "spread the word" about the accomplishments of fraternities and sororities so they will not be attacked by the University administration in the future. Former Big-C president Floyd Houston was the next to talk. The Engineering senior said that Big-C had made strides during his tenure, and added that the organization increased its name recognition, particularly through increased media coverage in The Daily Pennsylvanian. Former Panhel President and College senior Allison Marinoff and former Interfraternity Council President and College senior Morris Massel then spoke about last year. "We tackled the alcohol policy and moved forward," Massel said. In other awards, the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity received the "Non-Alcoholic Social Events" Award, amidst an ongoing investigation of that fraternity by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and the Judicial Inquiry Office. And Kappa Delta won the Panhel "Special Accomplishments" Award for a particularly successful rush this year. KD also won the "Inter-Greek Activities" Award. Individual members of fraternities and sororities were also given awards at the banquet.