Things always seem to be changing for the Fraternity Council at USC. This was evident on Monday evening when the Fraternity Council convened for their weekly meeting in Russell House.
Although Monday’s meeting was brief, it focused heavily on the council’s plans of "restructuring" and "disbanding" the entity itself. Fraternity Council President Will McCutchen, who presided over the meeting, said that the issue was discussed in-depth at a meeting last week on Friday, Oct. 30, and that ultimately it was proposed that the fraternity and sorority councils disband into four umbrella groups. Each of the umbrella groups would have their own respective delegates and would stand as their own Recognized Student Organizations (RSO).
The four potential umbrella RSOs, who are all currently governed by the Fraternity Council, would be the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC); the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC), and the Interfraternity Council (IFC).
Disbanding would ideally encourage more efficient collaboration between the groups and would avoid problems stemming from one big governing body, according to McCutchen.
“The big challenge we face is going to be speaking with university officials, explaining why this is a move that our groups want to make ... There needs to be very clear reasons behind why the system is not currently working, and how restructuring will fix that,” McCutchen said.
Vice President of Programming Harris Courson could not be reached for comment regarding the restructuring of the council.
Before discussing the restructuring of the council, McCutchen and the other members of the council board and council delegates started off the meeting with a discussion and a small recap of last week’s Greek events, including “Trick or Treat with the Greeks,” where fraternities and sororities gather in the Greek Village to distribute candy to children.
“Trick or Treat With the Greeks went really well ... We had really good participation by all the fraternities,” Courson said.
In addition to reviewing the week’s past events and the restructuring plans, the council discussed the fact that there will be a changing-of-the-guard among the fraternities as many will be electing new officers for 2016. The election process for fraternities will transition and phase out current presidents for their successors, who serve as delegates to the Fraternity Council.
The council also discussed their partnership with the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs for Carolinian Creed week, including “Diversity Dialogue,” which will be on Thursday, Nov. 5. OMSA and the Greeks will be discussing social justice issues as they relate to Greek life.
“We’ll be hosting [a Diversity Dialogue with OMSA] so that we can reach out to people who aren’t Greek and to get a better feel and collaborate,” Courson said.
The council also announced that Nov. 12 will be "Not So Thirsty Thursday," a benefit concert to raise awareness for public safety in Columbia to support fellow student Martha Childress.