Greek Week is an inter-fraternity competition in Olympic events and philanthropy. During this event last semester, the Inter Fraternity Council (IFC) asked Greeks about what improvements could be made to Greek Week, which is to be in the Fall from now on. Here are some thoughts supported by a quorum of the fraternities on campus.
One problem noticed throughout the week was the indecisiveness in regard to location and timing of events, which were changed last minute because the locations were never reserved. Nothing started on time.
Points were to be kept objective, and reported to the participating teams throughout the competitions. IFC even went as far as promising online updates of scores. In practice, however, the IFC actually refused teams a glance at the scoreboard that justifies given rankings.
Selective judging was not only noticeable, but seemed blunt at times to most of the participating Greek organizations. Dodge ball for example, includes a rule that if a player crosses the line and steps upon the opponents’ side, it is a foul with penalty. Apparently these rules did not apply to Sigma Chi or Phi Delta Theta.
In a portion of the obstacle course, participants were to spin around a bat without the bat leaving the ground. This rule was broken many times, often to one competing participant but not to the other competing next to him. Other rules were also broken. The judges for this event included Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi.
The final event for this competition was a pageant portraying Greek gods and goddesses, quite an improvement over last year’s cross-dressing pageant. One important fact the judges’ panel missed, was looking up a few things in Greek Mythology. The winners of the event were judged by the shiniest and cheesiest costumes, and not by accuracy of characters portrayed. The audience was not fooled here. The most support went to two characters regardless of the judges’ decision.
IFC is an organization run mostly by Greeks. But the Judges’ panel was surprisingly also Greek students, consisting mainly of Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi members. Some decision-making staff members in IFC are also known to be dating members of said organizations. In our university and in the business world this is known as a conflict of interest.
It is notable that the above deviations from stated rules occurred mostly in favor of the mentioned two organizations. And to no one’s surprise, they were also the winners of Greek Week after a 15-minute long “deliberation of the judges” that overturned a possible different outcome, due to the pageant.
All in all, most of the fraternities on this campus are paying dues to the IFC, a fee for every member the fraternities recruit themselves, being fined for events they deem a waste of time due to their lack of quality and usefulness, only to participate in events organized by IFC where the rules of the game are bias and changed after it begins. The amount IFC organized events actually help campus life and the community is laughable, comparing to philanthropies done by individual fraternities themselves. The question rises; why do some fraternities waste their time with IFC events? “They will no more,” some answered. And the IFC is outnumbered in this game.