Greeks launch joint community serivce program

The University's three fraternity umbrella groups announced yesterday a joint community service project that is modeled after Residential Living's "Into the Streets" program and will possibly work in conjunction with "Habitat for Humanity." The program -- the first of its kind between the three organizations -- is tentatively scheduled to take place on Nationwide Community Service Day on April 8, according to BiCultural InterGreek Council President Trista Bridges, a College junior. Bridges added that cleaning up area public schools may be on the agenda. At a round table meeting Monday night, Greek members built upon joint project ideas developed at a leadership retreat in Elmer, New Jersey three weeks ago. "It's been a long time since there's been mixing between the Big-C, Panhel, and IFC," InterFraternity Council President and College junior David Treat said after the weekend. And at Monday night's meeting, the plans were solidified. "The fundamental principal is to get us out in the community, [and] add something back into the community," he said this week. One of the primary advantages of joint projects for the Big-C -- a group much smaller than the IFC and Panhel -- is in the sheer numbers. "A lot of times we have good ideas, we just don't have a lot of manpower," Bridges said. IFC leaders said they hope the retreat and community service project will lead to more group involvement in the future. "We're going to try to do a lot more social events together," said IFC Judicial Manager Josh Gottheimer, a College sophomore. The overnight retreat, sponsored by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, provided an opportunity for leaders within the three organizations to discuss fraternity issues and plan for common events. "I thought it was a good opportunity to meet a lot of new people, especially amongst two umbrella organizations," Bridges said. Members said since it is often difficult to get together as a group on campus, the off-campus location was ideal. "A lot of what was achieved was better understanding about the different groups," Treat said.

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