CORRECTION: The featured image and cutline was changed on Feb. 2, 2014. The original photo incorrectly implied that the Multicultural Greek Council would be moving into the Chi Omega house at 3014 Daniel, as was shown in the picture. The MGC will be moving into the house at 3160 Daniel, and the Memorial Health Center will be moving into the Chi Omega house.

The Multicultural Greek Council will finally have a permanent home on Daniel Avenue. What is now the RLSH Greek and Apartment Maintenance building is being remodeled and will open as meeting and residential space for the five chapters that make up the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC).

“MGC has been on campus for 14 years, but we have never had a space of our own,” said Amy Chen, MGC president and member of Sigma Phi Omega. “We hope that having a house on campus will help our members become more united and give us a common space to hang out.”

MGC, which includes three sororities, Kappa Delta Chi, Sigma Lambda Gamma and Sigma Phi Omega, and two fraternities, Omega Delta Phi and Sigma Lambda Beta, was first chartered to promote cultural awareness and unify the multicultural Greek community, Chen said.

The new Multicultural Greek Council house will house 13 members of the five different organizations who will be chosen through a housing lottery.

“As anyone in a Greek organization knows, it is sometimes difficult to go beyond your own organization and make meaningful connections with other chapters,” Chen said. “The MGC house will give the five chapters a chance to get to know each other’s members better.”

The location of the house, at 3160 Daniel Avenue, also provides the opportunity for the eight Panhellenic Council chapters located further down Daniel Avenue to get to know the MGC chapters.

“It is important to know that Greek Life at SMU includes four councils: MGC, NPHC, IFC, and Panhellenic,” Student Body President Ramon Trespalaciossaid. “All of them bring significant benefits to the SMU campus. Those who are involved in MGC value service, leadership, education and strong relationships. These organizations bring opportunities to the student body to learn about this values.”

“They also add another dimension to the SMU experience, that of cultural awareness,” Trespalacios said. MGC groups often put on events with the purpose of providing attendees information about their history, background and experiences. These type of opportunities are invaluable to SMU students.”

The house will also serve practical purposes.

“It will give us more visibility on campus, and serve as a place where we can meet up with prospective new members,” Chen said. “We will have a location to host mixers, give information sessions, and hold meetings in it.”

In the past years, members have had to use their off-campus residences as storage for recruitment and service materials.

“We had to lug our Homecoming Peruna around Dallas because we had no where to keep it on campus. Now we can keep stuff conveniently on campus in a safe location,” Chen said.

The completely refurbished house, which previously served as a general multicultural house before being converted into a staff office, will open at the same time as the residence halls in the fall.

The Multicultural Greek Council’s five chapters are currently recruiting new members through Feb. 12. The MGC Showcase for all potential new members will be Friday at 8 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg Theater.