Members of the Greek community have one less thing to worry about this year: Greek Week. A week traditionally devoted to friendly competion among chapters on campus, Greek Week was a series of events that members could take part in. The chapter with the most attendence would “win.”
Even though it has been a tradition at Creighton, Eric Immel, assistant director of student activities and Greek affairs, said the decision to cancel Greek Week was made by leaders in the Greek community, and everyone is happy about it.
“It was a very intent decision,” Immel said. “It is not an easy thing, going against tradition, but progress is important.”
Arts & Sciences senior Michael Thomson, president of the Interfraternity Council, said that the decision was almost unanimous.
“The Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council and Greek presidents made the decision and were met with very little pushback from the chapters,” Thomson said.
Thomson said fall is a very busy time for both the Greek and non-Greek communities, due to a large number of different programs across campus. He said the Greek chapters have been spread too thin among the events in the past.
“I expect to see a greater Greek presence in campus events such as Homecoming as a result of the decision,” Thomson said.
Although there will be no Greek Week, there will still be Greek days throughout this semester Thomson said. Events such as the Pub Quiz and the Can Sculpture contest will still happen, just not as part of one big week.
Immel said fall is the right time to promote the Greek chapters and concentrate on introducing new people on campus to the organizations. Immel said the focus of the fall semester should be to positively promote the chapters and the philanthropies and set a good tone for the year.
“Fall is really about helping the chapters become more visible to new students and preparing for the spring,” Immel said.
He said he believes the decision to end Greek Week will aid their ability to do so.
Thomson said the IFC and Panhellenic Council will most likely incorporate some of Greek Week into the spring programming, and Immel said there will still be a Greek Unity Week in the spring.
“We want to make sure if we are going to have a week devoted to the Greek community, people have the time to devote to it,”
Immel said.