The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) held their annual Greekforum Wednesday evening, as representatives from differentorganizations mixed and mingled with non-affiliated students.
According to NPHC president John Oyedele, those involved had newstudents in mind when planning the event. “The program ismainly geared toward first-years,” he said, “and thisis a good venue for them to meet and greet currentmembers.”
Oyedele, a senior electrical engineering major and member of theOmega Psi Phi fraternity, went on to note the positive turnout ofabout 50. “We have a good number of people here,” hesaid.
Sophomore theatre major Ryan Johnson, a member of the KappaAlpha Psi fraternity, pointed out that all five NPHC fraternitiesand sororities on campus were present, giving interested studentsan opportunity to converse with the organization(s) of theirchoice. “We have information on all of the [groups],”he explained.
With numerous representatives from each fraternity and sororityon hand to speak with first-years, Oyedele went on to point out theintimacy of the event. “This is a chance for students to findout more on a one-on-one basis,” he said.
NPHC will next make its presence felt on campus Sept. 21-23,when they will hold a voter registration drive on the west bridgeof Hughes-Trigg from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. “It will be a goodopportunity for anyone not registered to ‘Rock theVote,'” Oyedele said.
Following the elections, the annual “step show” willbe put on in February.
Though gatherings such as last night’s will occur againthis semester, Oyedele noted that nobody is eligible to go throughrecruitment until they have at least 12 hours of classes undertheir belts; some groups require 24 hours. “Most of therecruitment is done in the spring,” he said.
Oyedele and Johnson represent just two of the organizations oncampus; with the two fraternities, the sororities Alpha KappaAlpha, Delta Sigma Theta and Zeta Phi Beta make up SMU’sNational Pan-Hellenic Council.
More information on the NPHC is available from Director of theDepartment of Multicultural Student Affairs Jennifer Jones (214)768-4580 or Greek Advisor Ryan Williams (214) 768-3633.
Audrey Schlichenmaier and Toby Knighton contributed to thisreport.
