Members of the University’s Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils who attended the Mid-American Greek Council Association Conference in Chicago returned with some heavy luggage. Both councils brought home a total of 11 awards recognizing outstanding leadership.
Greek leaders from the University joined 1,800 representatives from more than 200 colleges and universities from 17 states at the February meeting, which is the largest Greek conference in the nation.
Brian Cao, a junior exercise and movement major and vice president for academic success for the council, is one of 30 University students who attended the conference and accepted the awards honoring excellence in such categories as membership recruitment and retention, public relations, community service, leadership and educational development, academic achievement and self-governance and judicial affairs.
“It’s a real confidence booster,” Cao said. “It lets us know that we are doing things right.”
Senior journalism major Rena Adelstein also went to the conference and participated in seminars and workshops on leadership and Greek values. Adelstein said she attended the conference for the second time, this time acting as a speaker.
Both times she noticed that the Greek system at the University is ahead of Greek systems in other regions when it comes to dry houses, security at Greek functions and student-driven initiatives, she said.
“Basically, I think the consensus was that we really saw that our Greek system was ahead of everybody else,” she said.
Cao and sophomore business major Jackie Sias, president of Chi Omega, said they were amazed to see that some other Greek systems around the country have never even heard of security guards at functions or many other issues that are taken as a given in the University’s Greek system.
“We’re very far ahead in the way that we’re handling our functions and our means of security,” Sias said.
Council President Dave Gorman, a senior majoring in political science, said University students went to the conference hoping, but not expecting, to bring home some awards.
The Interfraternity Council was also one of three finalists for the Jellison Award, which honors best overall excellence.
“I think it’s a great honor,” Gorman said. “It gave us recognition for our positive programs. It was kind of an eye-opening experience.”