This weekend, students and alumni gathered to celebrate 150 years of Greek life at Emory. Celebrations included a breakfast conversation between students and alumni and an open house and parade on Eagle Row.
Anniversary Planning Committee Co-Chairs Ginger Hicks Smith (77C, 82G) and Daniel Shoy Jr. (95C) led a team of students and alumni in organizing the 150-year anniversary celebration.
The Wheel also spoke with Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Enku Gelaye, Interim Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Scott Rausch, Associate Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Nicole Jackson and Associate Vice President of Campus Life David Clark about the history and future of Greek life on campus.
Part of the anniversary celebration was aimed toward raising money for the Bill Fox Grant, according to Hicks. The grant, inspired by Emory’s first Dean of Campus Life Bill Fox (79G), aims to make Greek life more accessible for students with economic needs. Students can apply for the grant and receive four years of coverage for their chapter dues.
Emory’s Greek Life Legacy
Emory’s first national fraternity, Kappa Alpha Order, was established in 1869. Today, Greek life at Emory consists of the Interfraternity Council, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Emory Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council.
“It’s unique that we’ve had 150 years of legacy on this campus,” Gelaye said. “And that, in that legacy, we have been able to form new councils and bring in new chapters. … The sorority and fraternity experience will change with every entering class.”
Jackson identified diversity as one of the key aspects that makes Greek life at Emory unique, and Gelaye said recent years have seen some of the most important changes in the University’s 150-year Greek life legacy.
“The changing demographics — everything from race to gender identity to socioeconomic status — all of that has significantly transformed over the last 150 years,” Gelaye said. “And it will continue to transform to reflect the values of the students who are coming into college.”
Last year, University President Claire E. Sterk wrote an open letter acknowledging old yearbook photos of students participating in mock lynchings, wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods and posing with swastikas, among other things, many of whom were members of Greek life, the Wheel previously reported.
Greek life alumni engagement was central to the weekend’s activities. One event included the dedication of the Emory Student Center conference rooms and welcome desk by Alpha Phi Alpha (Alpha) fraternity.
Clark praised the dedication, saying “I find it powerful that they dedicated space in the total student center. They didn’t ask that [their] money be directed to something specific to the chapter.”
The Importance of Greek Life at Emory
Greek life alumni and Campus Life staff emphasized the importance of Greek life chapters as exemplifying themselves as value-based communities rather than basing themselves on specific interests or activities.
“Ultimately what it’s about is students coming to a college campus and needing to find community and finding the community that’s appropriate for them,” Gelaye said.
Hicks and Shoy both praised the ways that Greek life has influenced their post-collegiate lives. Hicks recalled the relationships between her sisters in Delta Delta Delta sorority, as well as the organizational and leadership skills she developed as a sister. Shoy views his involvement with Alpha as a springboard into his lifelong commitment to service.
The connections formed by Greek life were a common theme throughout the weekend. Clark cited the widespread community of Greek life alumni as an example.
“Wherever students can go in the world, if they run across a member of a lettered organization, there’s a shared experience there,” Clark said. “I think that larger umbrella is something that makes sororities and fraternities particularly unique on a college campus — that thread that connects people throughout the world.”
The Next 150 Years of Greek Life
Gelaye forecasted that the next 150 years for Emory Greek life would include further removal of socioeconomic barriers, improvements to health and safety, restructured membership intake and open communication between the many people involved.
“What’s really great is that we’re looking at these issues head on and looking at data to form some decisions, and also bringing in the voices of the undergraduates who have a very clear vision of what their organizations should look like around these issues,” Gelaye said.
Clark and Rausch emphasized the importance of evolution within Greek life communities.
“The things that happened 150 years ago, the things that happened 10 years ago, 25 years ago — they’re just not part of the lexicon of campus anymore,” Rausch said. “We’re not going to have these issues of hazing; we’re not going to have these issues of alcohol abuse. These are just not where we can be anymore, and we have to make the pivot and start to more forward.”
