The flavor of the week is Greek.
March 26 marks the start of Penn’s annual Greek Week, a seven-day event organized by the Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council and Multicultural Greek Council to celebrate Greek life on campus.
The week’s first event, which will be held this afternoon, is the traditional Meet the Greeks, in which each Greek house gets a table on Locust Walk to display information about their chapter.
The week’s events are centered around the theme “Greekelodeon” — a tribute to 1990s programming on Nickelodeon. Though the theme does not dictate all of the events throughout the week, it does provide “a fun thing to put on T-shirts” and a way to get Greeks excited.
In choosing this year’s events, the councils wanted to keep with tradition while trying something new, according to College junior Beryl Sanders, Panhel’s vice president of programming.
“We decided to branch out this year,” Sanders said. “So we’ve decided to get in some new ideas, while improving upon old ones.”
According to Sanders, Greek Week, a tradition that has “evolved over many years,” tries to highlight the four aspects that Greek life with which Greek life is involved — social life, scholarship, philanthropy and leadership.
“It’s a great way for us to become more visible on Penn’s campus,” Sanders said.
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College junior and IFC President David Shapiro agreed.
For him, the week is important to demonstrate the “power and influence” of the Greek community. However, Shapiro also believes the week is essential to bring the Greek community together.
“The Greeks have a large, diverse, decentralized community, so Greek Week allows us to come together to pursue a greater initiative,” he said.
Shapiro hopes that this week’s programming will highlight the breadth of the Greek community at Penn. Currently, the overall number of students actively involved in Penn’s Greek system comprises more than 25 percent of the total undergraduate population, according to the Office of Student Affairs/Fraternity Sorority Life.
Another event that has been a constant of Greek Week over the years is the Faculty Tea, in which Greeks invite some of their favorite professors for tea and celebrate excellence in teaching. New this semester is a carnival, in which chapters host games and activities.
Freshmen who are experiencing Greek Week for the first time agreed that this week marks an important time for different chapters to bridge the gap between Greeks and the rest of campus.
“A lot of people may have some misconceptions about Greek life, so it is important for us to interact with the entire Penn community, not just the Greeks,” said Wharton freshman Anna Reighart, a sister at Sigma Kappa. Reighart added that while she does not know what to expect from Greek Week, she is excited to participate in events like the Faculty Tea and a Powderpuff football game.
However, Wharton and College freshman Lindsey Koller, a member of Alpha Phi, believes that while Greek Week is important to communication between the Greek and non-Greek community, the councils could have done more to advertise the event.
“Not too many people know about the event,” Koller said.
Regardless, Sanders is looking forward to the week that lies ahead.
“It really just is a fun week,” she said.
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