Greek Weekend service event, mixer receive mixed grades

The year's best weather conditions to date helped make for what Greek officials called a very successful "Greek Weekend." Hundreds of students -- about 95 percent of whom were Greek -- turned out at Friday's InterFraternity Council all-Greek community service event and barbecue and Saturday night's all-Greek mixer, according to IFC President Josh Belinfante. Although the community service event and barbeque went relatively smoothly, the staff of the Doubletree Hotel closed the Greek mixer at 12:45 a.m. because they felt the size of the party had gotten out of hand, Greek officials said. Belinfante, an Alpha Chi Rho brother and College junior, estimated that about 30 percent to 40 percent of male Greeks attended the community service event, in which students helped the local organization Christmas in April renovate area houses. The students performed tasks such as laying tile and knocking out ceilings. Sororities chose not to participate in the community service event because of the mostly manual labor involved, according to Panhellenic Council Vice President for Publicity Meredith Lahl, a Nursing junior. Belinfante said the event was very successful, although the IFC is still "waiting for feedback from Christmas in April." But he added that there were complaints about a lack of people at one of the sites. Following the service event, the students who participated or had tickets for the mixer Saturday night were treated to a College Green barbecue hosted by the IFC, which provided food and music. Greek officials said other students -- including many non-Greeks -- also attended the barbecue and paid $2 for food or simply sat on the Green to listen to the music and enjoy the beautiful weather. "The barbecue in particular was an example of the Greek umbrella organizations working together to put on a good event open to the entire campus," said IFC Vice President of Rush and Membership Education Jeff Snyder, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist. Snyder, a Wharton junior, added that such constructive, non-alcoholic events are the kind the IFC should be looking to fund with the money the UA has allocated for them in next year's budget. At its annual budget meeting three weeks ago, the UA voted to allocate $30,000 to the IFC for campus-wide, alcohol-free events. Finally, on Saturday, more than 600 Greeks and their friends donned "upscale casual" clothing and headed downtown to the Doubletree Hotel for an all-Greek mixer which IFC officials admitted was less than a complete success. Although most people said they enjoyed the event, the Doubletree closed the mixer because the group had exceeded the ballroom's capacity, according to Panhel President Janelle Brodsky. "Security felt like it got out of hand," said Brodsky, a College and Engineering junior, adding that one student who drank too much had to be escorted out. "The Doubletree had a complete lack of confidence in dealing with a large-scale event," Belinfante said. And Snyder said the hotel was "incompetent" in how it handled with the event. Doubletree Hotel representatives were unavailable for comment last night.