BIG-C changes name for latinos

The umbrella organization for black and Hispanic fraternities and sororities has changed its name to the Bicultural InterGreek Council in order to more accurately reflect its membership. Formerly the Black InterGreek Council, the organization will still be referred to as the BIG-C. The name was changed in a unanimous vote at a BIG-C meeting Tuesday night. "We figured it was about time we addressed the issue that we have latino fraternities and sororities on campus," said BIG-C President Marissa Sifontes. The National Panhellenic Conference is the organization that oversees black fraternity and sorority affairs. To avoid confusion with the Panhellenic Council -- the campus sorority umbrella organization -- the chapters adopted the name BIG-C. The Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity and the Sigma Lambda Upsilon sorority, the University's two Hispanic Greek groups, have been members of the BIG-C for the past three years. LUL President Eric Paulino, a College junior, said Hispanic fraternities and sororities are working on creating their own umbrella group, but while they are part of the BIG-C, members felt a new name would be more representative. "It's something that has been of concern for the last few years," he said. "We brought it up at the beginning of this semester and they [BIG-C] were very responsive." Wharton sophomore and LUL member Carlos Mercado said he was "definitely pleased" that the change was made, and was glad there were no disputes or arguments over the issue. BIG-C members didn't want to change the acronym, so they decided to replace "black" with "bicultural."

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