Emily Wickstrom

As of now, there are three Greek chapters on the SDSU campus; the Greek Programming Board; the Panhellenic Council, which oversees the women’s chapter; and the Interfraternity Council, which oversees the men’s chapter.

This all will be changing so SDSU will have only two chapters: the IFC and the PHC. This means the Greek Programming Board will no longer exist. The chapters will meet every other week and will be called the Unified Greek Council.

Alec Vanhove, IFC President, said the only extra responsibility to be taken on after the dissolution of Greek Programming Board will be managing a budget and setting up Greek Week.

The presidents of each board will tackle the budget during their bi-weekly meetings.

Greek Week is normally set up by either the IFC or PHC. This year it was setup by GPB, which was not the normal routine. The obvious changes are one governing board dissolving and being replaced by the Unified Greek Council.

“Our hope is that by having a main governing board consisting of the IFC and PHC exec. boards, those people on the boards will have more knowledge of what is going on and what needs to be done within the Greek community,” said Vanhove.

“We are designed to have fewer programs that make up Greek Life at SDSU, and we need to develop them more,” said Nick Wendell, assistant director for student activities.

Each fraternity and sorority has its own president, vice president, secretary, recruitment/rush chair, philanthropy chair and social chair, etc.

Each fraternity and sorority has a representative on the IFC or PHC. When either board wants to set up a Greek community-wide philanthropy event or social, these boards set it up.

“Try to relate it to American government; each chapter is a ‘state’ with a representative to the ‘Congress’ (IFC or PHC),” said Vanhove. “If anything needs to change, such as amendments to the constitution or bylaws, it has to go through the board, be approved by the chapters and then voted upon during each board’s meeting. There is no ‘Obama,’ but with this new change, there will be two presidents working together for the good of the whole Greek Community.”

These programs are designed to bring the chapters together and to learn what each chapter is doing. By redesigning these programs, they will strengthen the current structures of the programs.

“IFC had six chairs, and multiple tasks will be consolidated to the four chairs. There were certain executive chairs that really didn’t do much, so hopefully, by using only four positions on the board, maximum efficiency can be reached,” said Vanhove.

This spring, the chapters will celebrate the 34th Volstorff Walder Awards, which award excellence in the Greek system.

“We want to focus on specific events and make them really strong to help our community come together, said Wendell.

Greek Life at SDSU promotes leadership, campus involvement, community service, academic achievement and social development. Greek Life now contains nine national/international organizations that provide different opportunities for SDSU students. Some of these opportunities include training, guidance, friendship and inspiration to the campus and community.

March 30 through April 2 also kicked off Greek Week. Events that took place included a canned food drive, penny wars and a Greek god and goddess pageant. Typically during the year there are speakers and workshops.