The Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) gave South Asian interest fraternity Sigma Beta Rho, National Multicultural Greek Council sorority Theta Nu Xi and Latino interest fraternity Lambda Upsilon Lambda the rights to begin building membership on campus in the coming semesters.
National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) chapter Sigma Gamma Rho has also successfully re-established its Pi Omicron colony on Emory’s campus after its members graduated, leaving the chapter vacant in 2007. Campus Life Assistant Director for Student Organizations Natasha Hopkins has been leading the African-American interest sorority’s return and will host campus events this spring, according to Doctor.
If each MGC chapter successfully assembles a founding class, according to MGC President and College senior Grace Xia, Sigma Beta Rho may recruit as early as next semester, while recruitment for Theta Nu Xi may begin in fall 2014 and for Lambda Upsilon Lambda in spring 2015, Xia said.
The decision to officially invite the MGC chapters to Emory’s campus came after each gave a presentation to potentially interested students and staff at various campus locations.
Viewers then filled out surveys on the presentations and submitted them to MGC executives, who voted on which chapters to include just after the final presentation on Oct. 29.
“We had a lot of helpful feedback, a lot of constructive criticism,” Xia said. “It was generally very positive – Emory is very ready to accept new chapters on campus.”
Lambda Theta Phi, one of the four chapters attempting to colonize, or build its founding class prior to recruitment, did not receive MGC’s affirmative vote.
According to Xia, MGC executives felt that there was only room for one additional Latino interest fraternity, while two – Lambda Upsilon Lambda and Lambda Theta Phi – applied to colonize at Emory and one – Lambda Theta Alpha – already existed within MGC.
Considering the College’s Latino population, assistant director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Arthur Doctor said the MGC expansion committee “felt that another Latino interest fraternity was not needed at Emory, because it’s such a small part of the community to begin with.”
As for Intersorority Council (ISC) and Interfraternity Council (IFC) rush this spring, Doctor said he thinks the new MGC chapters will not have much of an effect due to their smaller numbers and different schedules and methods of recruitment.
Xia, however, said she thinks the new chapters “will widen the pool of Greek Life without necessarily taking from the pools of other [ISC] sororities and [IFC] fraternities.”
Each of the three new chapters will provide information tables at Asbury Circle during upcoming Wonderful Wednesdays and will continue presenting to interested students throughout the next semester in attempts to assemble a founding class, according to Xia. While no such event dates have been set thus far, Xia said the groups would likely arrange the majority of their events over the winter break.
–By Lydia O’Neal
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
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