Quad picnic closes Greek Week '96

Free food, a sunny afternoon and blaring music attracted about 1,000 students to the annual Greek Feast in the Lower Quadrangle Saturday. The barbecue capped off a week of Greek Week festivities, including last Tuesday's "Meet the Greeks" on Locust Walk, a mixer night on Thursday and InterFraternity Council open houses Thursday and Friday nights. Greek Week will officially conclude tomorrow afternoon with a faculty tea and awards reception. Greek Week Co-Chairperson and College senior Lisa Hernandez said the Greek Feast offered a "casual and laid-back atmosphere" for freshmen to become acquainted with the Greek system. "If they're interested in rushing, this should spark their interest," the Pi Beta Phi sister said. To encourage that interest, the Greeks changed the event's location from Hill Field, where it was held last year, to the Quad. "There's no way to walk through the Quad and not be in attendance at the event," College freshman Lenny Simon said. And Engineering freshman Ryan Dashkewich said the event's "open atmosphere" gave all freshmen a chance to be on "equal footing" with members of fraternities and sororities. Freshmen comprised about half the students in attendance at the Greek Feast, according to IFC Executive Vice President and Wharton senior Tim Lash, a Sigma Phi Epsilon brother who serves as Greek Week's co-chairperson. Some students said they felt the event catered more to members of the Greek system than to freshmen. "Everyone I see is in a fraternity or sorority," Phi Sigma Kappa brother and College junior Bill Hardt said. "The event defeats its purpose to have freshmen get to know the system." Nonetheless, Panhellenic Council members were on hand to provide information about their organization at tables highlighting philanthropic involvement and sorority events. "We want girls to be interested in rushing," College senior and Pi Beta Phi sister Amy Gross said. "But we're not trying to get them interested in a specific house." Lash emphasized that the Greek Feast provided an example of the Greek system's "non-alcoholic programming." Thursday night, members of IFC, PanHel and the BiCultural InterGreek Council attended the first all-Greek mixer night. According to Lash, 75 percent of fraternity and sorority chapters participated in Thursday night's mixers. "I think this is something we will do each Greek Week," Lash said. Zeta Phi Beta sister and Nursing junior Andrea Charlton, who attended a mixer at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, said the all-Greek mixers were a "good gesture." "But when it's mandatory for people to mix, it defeats the purpose of the mixers," she added. On Friday, the Big-C held a barbecue to reach out to freshmen in the minority community, according to adviser Rana Walker. "It was a way for us to showcase our organizations and for freshmen to find out about the organizations," Walker said. IFC chapters held open houses Thursday and Friday night to introduce freshmen to the system. Delta Kappa Epsilon President and College senior Archie Casbarian said his house's Thursday night open house attracted many "good guys." "We wanted them to get an understanding of what goes on and get a sense of what our house is like," he said.