Fraternities, sororities honor their own at awards banquet

As the end of the semester draws closer, members of the Greek community gathered together Thursday night to celebrate their organizations' accomplishments over the past year at the annual Greek Awards banquet. At the ceremony, held in the Penn Tower Hotel ballroom, the Delta Upsilon fraternity garnered three awards, including the top award for excellence within the InterFraternity Council system -- the Madeira Award -- which the fraternity has racked up for three consecutive years. The Alpha Phi sorority won the Panhellenic Council's award for excellence, while the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity attained the honor for the top Bicultural InterGreek Council chapter. To be considered for the award, chapters from all three Greek umbrella organizations submitted packets -- typically containing pictures, flyers and descriptions of events -- to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and the Greek Alumni Council. The alumni council and student representatives from the three umbrella groups selected the award winners with input from OFSA. DU President Orin Bloch, an Engineering sophomore, commented that this year's award was a bit unexpected since the fraternity had received it twice before. "We're quite honored," Bloch said of the Madeira Award and DU's other recognized achievements. Altogether, 41 awards were handed out before a crowd of approximately 150 students, faculty, administrators and alumni advisors. There were no keynote speakers at this year's event. Phi Kappa Psi and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities nabbed the most improved awards -- which focus mainly on grade point average -- for the IFC and BIG-C respectively, while Panhel chose not to dole out that particular award. Former Panhel President Janelle Brodsky, a College and Engineering senior, explained that all eight sororities were strong initially and did not need to increase their chapter grade point averages. "There wasn't really a chapter who had significantly improved," said Brodsky, a Pi Beta Phi sister. Alpha Phi -- which won three distinctions in total -- also earned the Special Accomplishment award for its fall Career Tea, where about 25 Alpha Phi alumni returned to campus. In addition to the organizational awards, each fraternity and sorority nominated an "outstanding Greek leader." Two leaders from each umbrella organization were honored. The banquet occurred in the wake of several events that rocked the Greek system last week, with Phi Gamma Delta brothers forfeiting their fraternity's charter, the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity suspended from holding any chapter activities and the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity investigated for rules violations. Many people at the event Thursday evening noted that the awards ceremony was as festive as usual with fraternity suspensions and violations going -- for the most part -- unmentioned. Former Panhel Executive Vice President and Sigma Delta Tau sister Liz Bernard, a College senior, said, "It was a night to celebrate the Greek system, not to spend time brooding over what's been going on."