Author: Emily Phillips
The Occidental Greek Council hosted this year’s annual Greek Week on campus from Nov. 8 to Nov. 13, showcasing the spirit, community involvement and creativity of Oxy’s eight Greek organizations. With four sororities and four fraternities, including co-ed Zeta Tau Zeta, each consisting of no more than 50 members, Greek life at Occidental involves around 13 percent of the student body.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) Social co-Chair Alex Nourafshan (junior) said that Greek Week served as a rare opportunity for “the Greek community to come together for friendly competition, as well as a forum for all Greeks to work cooperatively on positive programs.” In past years, Greek Week also served as a recruiting tool, although the focus of the week currently remains on collaboration and community building within Greek organizations.
“We have tried to get the Occidental community involved to improve our numbers come Rush time, but generally Greek Week is very separate from recruitment,” Greek Council Vice President of Social Affairs and Theta Piper Rastello (senior) said.
Rastello was the organizer behind this year’s Greek Week, managing and running each event, as well as tallying scores. “My hope was to make it fun for everyone, have a high attendance rate, foster healthy competitive spirit among organizations and promote a feeling of pride for our Greek system,” she said.
Besides favorite activities from previous years, Rastello also planned new events to diversify the week.
On Sunday, Nov. 8, Greek life kicked off with “powderpuff” football, a new event held on the soccer fields. Sororities Delta Omicron Tau and Kappa Alpha Theta joined forces to take on sorority Alpha Lambda Phi Alpha and the women of fraternity Zeta Tau Zeta in touch football. At halftime, fraternities Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the men of Zeta Tau Zeta competed in a cheer competition, in which the cheer squads were judged on their creativity, organization and enthusiasm.
“Powderpuff football was a big success this year, and I hope that members of Greek life at Oxy look forward to it next year,” Rastello said.
On Monday Greek organizations collected as many cans as possible for the Greeks Go Green sustainable can competition, using them to build free-standing structures forming their Greek letters. The cans were then recycled for money, which was donated at the week’s final event, Up ’til Dawn. Tuesday’s events included egg and balloon tosses, a five-legged race and a tug-o-war, among other competitions through which the Greeks battled for the gold in the Greek Olympics.
On Thursday the Greeks participated in Greek Idol/Airband, which was the most popular event of the week among Greek members. Each organization picked a song and performed a choreographed dance in the Cooler, much to the entertainment of the crowd. Phi Psi won the competition with its rendition of “Men in Tights,” while the men of SAE earned second place by just one point with their performance, which entailed four members dancing to a mash-up of songs including “I’m on a Boat” and “L.O.V.E.”
In past years, Greek Week was highly competitive, as organizations fought with one another to win the title of “best” Greek organization on campus. However, Rastello returned the focus of Greek Week to creating partnerships within organizations by finishing the week off with a Thursday night barbeque and the Friday night Up ’til Dawn event in the Cooler, which raised funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. After the week of fun, SAE earned the title of Greek Week 2009 Champions.
Some members of Greek life expressed that a major obstacle to Greek recruitment is the stereotype that sororities and fraternities solely serve as a forum for parties and alcohol consumption.
“Hollywood does a huge injustice to us by highlighting the negative stereotypes associated with frats. Yes, partying together is fun, but that isn’t the only reason for pledging yourself to a fraternity or sorority,” Phi Psi President Anders Eliason (senior) said.
As a result, Greek Week provides an opportunity to advertise the lesser known activities of Greek organizations, which include philanthropic, scholastic and athletic achievements in the Oxy and surrounding communities.
Greek Council Vice President of Men’s Recruitment Ben Kaufman (junior) believes that it is important to have Greek Week so that the rest of the Oxy community is aware of these qualities of Greek life. “I feel much of the Oxy community, both students on campus and local residents of Eagle Rock, are unaware of the plethora of opportunities provided by Greek Organizations,” he said.
By sponsoring annual philanthropic events like SAE’s Haunted House, Theta’s Dodgeball Tournament and Zeta’s Inner Tube Water Polo, Greek organizations contribute to the Downtown Los Angeles Women’s Shelter, the Boys & Girls Club, local food banks, breast cancer research, New Orleans relief and other local or national humanitarian efforts. Many Greeks are also involved in other extra-curricular activities, holding elected positions on Honor Board or ASOC, or participating on Oxy’s athletic teams or in theater productions.
“Joining Alpha helped me to feel more involved within the Oxy community,” Jane Klann (sophomore) said. “I definitely had my doubts during the pledging process, but ultimately I pledged because of the people that I met through Alpha.”
According to Delta Omicron Tau President Katie Tseng (senior), Greek membership drastically improved her experience at Oxy. “Greek life has actually kept me from transferring colleges,” she said. “Before I joined Greek life I had put in applications to go elsewhere, however, after being a part of Greek life I became in love with Oxy.”
Many Greek members expressed that Oxy Greek life is unique because of the small size of the school and the opportunity to know each member of your organization on a very personal level.
“I think that Greek life is overlooked on such a small campus, but it really is an incredible thing to be a part of,” Theta and Greek Council member Sarah Frantz (junior) said.
SAE member Matt Bourne (senior) shared her sentiment about Greek life. “It has given me a home . . . there is a group of people that looks after you like family,” he said.
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