Greek Weekend starts today

Students on campus may have noticed the river of Greek-lettered hats meandering between classes.

Under the hats are fraternity brothers and sorority sisters celebrating Day One of the five-day fiesta known as Greek Weekend.

The Weekend, now in its 11th year at Penn, marks an extended celebration of Greek unity and community service and features six events over the course of the weekend.

Greek Weekend started today with Letter Day, in which students don any and all Greek-lettered clothing in a show of support for their chapters.

"The point is to get people excited about the weekend," said College junior Laura Minskoff, executive vice president of the Panhellenic Council.

Tomorrow, Greeks will join student-nominated professors and staff at the Faculty Tea, hosted by the Psi Upsilon, or Castle, fraternity.

Friday is Powderpuff day at 4 p.m. - all eight sororities and a Multicultural Greek Council team will compete at 40th Street Field, with coaches and referees from participating fraternities.

The community service portion of Greek Weekend begins bright and early Saturday with a Philadelphia cleanup project.

From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., students will work in shifts, picking up trash all over the city, from West Philadelphia to Rittenhouse Square.

At 10 p.m., fraternities up and down Locust Walk will open their doors for a massive block party. Three dry and three wet registered parties will cater to the cast of hundreds.

Also on Saturday night, MGC will host a dance party at one of the dry houses with support from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

Team Sober, a student-run alcohol-awareness group, will brighten up the parties with neon shirts, strolling in between houses to ensure student safety.

The block party is the only event officially open to non-Greek members, and is expected to attract over 700 students.

Finally, on Sunday, Greek chapters will compete in an academic bowl hosted by Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs Ajay Nair. The Jeopardy or quizzo-style event will include a mix of current events questions, trivia and Penn history. The winning team will be awarded a trophy and $125 to Starr Restaurants.

Panhellenic Council President Alissa Eisenberg, a College junior and former Daily Pennsylvanian editor, said she is enthusiastic about the weekend.

"The entire Greek community is really excited," she added.

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