New Multicultural Greek Council president shares vision

Recently, the Multicultural Greek Council announced newly elected members to its 2011-12 executive board. Jae Barchus, a College junior and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. was elected president of the MGC. He sat down with The Daily Pennsylvanian to talk about his new position and the MGC.

Daily Pennsylvanian: What are your goals for the MGC this coming year?

Jae Barchus: First, I want to help each MGC organization to improve upon their brand. I would like to help each fraternity and sorority expose themselves to Penn more, through events and recognition on campus. My second goal is to work closely with Makuu, La Casa Latina and Pan-Asian American Community House to help bridge the gap between our sororities and fraternities and these organizations. My third goal is to come up with fun and interesting fundraising ideas to help organizations raise money because many fraternities and sororities in the MGC find that funding is one of the biggest challenges our organizations face.

DP: How do you see the MGC working with the university this coming year?

JB: During Penn Previews and events like that, where students of color will want to see the diverse initiatives Penn has, I would like to see the MGC work hand in hand with admissions to truly expose students to the diversity Penn has to offer.

DP: Do you expect the MGC to work closely with the IFC and Panhel in the future?

JB: Absolutely. A lot of people have reached out to me and my colleagues about the collaboration with Panhel and the IFC. Already a few organizations have had collaborations, and we would like to facilitate more events and relationships like those because they bring together a lot of different people and friends in different settings.

DP: How will you look to expose more students to the MGC?

JB: If we plan our initiatives and events ahead of time and have great marketing for our events, I think people will be attracted to what we have to offer.

DP: What sets apart the MGC chapters from Panhel and IFC chapters on campus?

JB: The biggest difference is the amount of members we intake each year ­­— we don’t have the same numbers as the IFC and Panhel chapters. One of the biggest differences is we are very involved in our school because some of our chapters are citywide chapters. We operate as citywide chapters which means that our chapters don’t only intake from Penn but also Lasalle, Villanova and Drexel. This gives us the opportunity to not only have an influence at Penn but at the neighboring Philadelphia schools as well. Most, if not all, Panhel and IFC organizations only function as Penn groups.

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