New edition to Greek Life; Greek Life and Leadership

We are pleased to share that Greek Life will now be home to a new Foundations Class (FOUN 102-04) meeting from 1-2:15 pm on Wednesdays. The class will be limited to 20 people.

The class will be discussing leadership in the context of Greek Life on a national, regional, and local level. You can expect papers, debates, discussion groups and more should you decide to take this class! It will be ideal for anyone who is a new chapter/community leader or someone who is aspiring to a role along that line.

If you have any questions, please contact greeklife@samford.edu.

Where we have been, and where we are going

Good morning,
In Fall of 2010 the student population at the time indicated an increased need for transparency and to tell "our story".  We have made progress in the transparency aspect, telling our story, and also goal setting/accomplishment which we need to share.

In January of 2011 our first Joint Council Leadership Retreat was held. At the retreat, there was some teambuilding, education as a lot of people were not familiar with histories of peer organizations, but with each other. At that retreat, we established a number of goals to aim for and that we, in fairness, are still continuing to aim for. However, a person would be hard pressed to say that progress is not being made.

Those goals are now available for you to see on the greeklife website at http://www.samford.edu/greeklife under "Resources and Links" and for our National friends it is under that section of our site as well. Again, as you read remember, great progress, but still a way to go.

The second piece I need to call your attention to is the 2011 Greek Life End of Year Report. This is a compilation made in large part, by the Greek students themselves. The final numbers are taken primarily from the Greek Awards packets as submitted by the chapters themselves. This piece is available in several spots throughout the website.

The third aspect is our social media campaign. Through a number of websites and efforts, particularly with Facebook and Twitter, we are reaching exceptionally high numbers that are equitable to large scale state institutions and well in comparison with our peers (specific institutions can be shared through the office).

All of these are efforts to tell our story and to progress in a manner that is congruent with our values as an institution and organizations and to have some fun in the process.

If you have any questions, by all means, please contact the Office of Greek Life at greeklife@samford.edu.

Some details about IFC recruitment...

Written by IFC Vice President-Recruitment Casey Ryan, some details for you about attire and what to expect for the remaining recruitment experience for IFC fraternities this weekend (9/15-9/18).

Important Things to Know About Fall Recruitment 2012

  

Saturday

Alumni night will begin at 7, and recruits will meet at 6:30 at Seibert Gym. Everyone will be attending the same house altogether. Wear a collared shirt and khakis for this night (business casual). You will be hearing for Chapter Alumni about their experience with their Fraternity.

After Alumni Night, you will return to Seibert where everyone will go to a computer lab and fill out a ranking sheet.

Sunday

Starting at noon, invitations for the houses are available for pickup at the Office of Greek Life. Open House night on Sunday will begin at 7pm. You will be able to attend any house’s event during that time as long as you were invited back. It is up to you how long you stay at each one. This night is also more casual, but wear something presentable. At 10:15, recruits will meet back in the same lab to do the same ranking process. This night’s events will depend on which chapter you attend.

Monday

Between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. on Monday, recruits can pick up their invitation/schedules in the Office of Greek Life for the last time. Brother’s Night In will begin at 7p.m. This is the last night of Formal Recruitment. Wear whatever you deem suitable. At 10:15, recruits will meet in the lab for the last time to do a final ranking. This night’s events will also depend on which chapter you attend.

Tuesday

You may pick up Bids from 7:30-9:00a.m. in UC 116. This is right next to the SGA Office. At 9:45 recruits who accepted a bid will meet in Harry’s for the Formal Bid Day and Walk Out Ceremonies

A history of what it means to "step"

Recently, the Samford University Greek community conducted a "first" if you will. Taking a cue from some of our area peers, it was the first time that NPHC, Panhellenic and IFC greeks "stepped" together. A wildly successful event for our campus, it is important though that everyone understand the history of "stepping" in addition to having fun and getting a full workout in the process :)

If you haven't seen the Samford Step Video, check this link:

Unified Step Routine

Jason Malone, member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc (Tau Iota) and one of the folks who pushed forward the idea of Samford doing this, took the time to write up a few paragraphs around the history of stepping and its significance, his words are shared below:

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Stepping has its beginnings in the early African American slave community as a means of

communication and keeping hold of traditional aspects of the denied culture. It served mainly

as a link back to African tribal dance, which in many areas was prohibited. Call-and-response

folk songs helped the slaves to survive culturally and to spread word about important matters,

such as the Underground Railroad. Several generations later, Black World War II veterans added

in a military march theme to the sounds, while Motown grooves and Hip-Hop energy added

more entertainment and increased the appeal of the art form. 

In the late 1960s, historically Black fraternities and sororities began embracing stepping at

college campuses. Most historians agree that Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, and then

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, were the first to start the stepping phenomenon which

has become wildly popular today. The contributions of Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, a member

of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, made stepping moves sourced directly from African

culture more common. It is the tribal, African feel of stepping that makes it powerful.

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Thanks Jason for sharing a bit of the history surrounding stepping and for allowing Samford Greeks to share in the tradition. 

Big couple of weeks on the award and event front....

The Samford Greek community has had a big last couple of weeks from an event and recognition standpoint. The good things that are going on are being recognized in more ways than one.

Delta Sigma Theta hosted their National 2nd Vice President, Chelsea Hayes, as the keynote speaker for their Founders' Day celebration.

Former Phi Mu National President Kathy Williams spoke to over 300 of the Panhellenic Sorority Women during National Ritual Celebration Week abou making ritual a part of their day to day lives.

Several awards have come the way of the Samford Greek community in recent weeks

Zeta Tau Alpha received several awards at their State Day, setting them up as a candidate for some of their overall awards.

Sigma Chi received awards for the improvements in their new member program and chapter president of the year for their district (region, etc). Congratulations on their new member program and to Clay Johnson for the "District" President of the year.

The Interfraternity Council received awards as well at the SEIFC conference during February. The council was recognized with the Gamma Sigma Alpha "Honor Roll" designation for Spring and Fall semesters 2011. What that means is that, regionally, the IFC community had one of the better community gpa's in the southeastern region for those two semesters.

Congratulations to everyone receiving awards and for hosting such prominent figures in the regional and national greek communities here at Samford.