Greek organizations active on campus, raise money for charities

Joining a fraternity and sorority is a quick way to meet new people at Pitt and to get… Joining a fraternity and sorority is a quick way to meet new people at Pitt and to get involved in raising money for some noteworthy causes.

New or returning students have the opportunity to plunge themselves into the Greek experience on campus almost immediately with the Meet the Greeks function on Aug. 31.

Interfraternity Council President and Zeta Beta Tau brother Dan Morrison said the Meet the Greeks function occurs every year and gives students the opportunity to survey Pitt’s Greek organizations, which all set up tables in the William Pitt Union.

Students who find an organization that they like, he said, can participate in Rush Week, in which “rushees” learn what their chosen fraternity or sorority is all about and meet the members.

The members also use this time to get to know the new students, and at the end of the week they can choose to offer a rushee a bid, which is an opportunity to pledge the organization, Morrison said.

He added that most of the rush events take place at restaurants, and the fraternity or sorority advertises for them with fliers on campus.

Morrison said he thinks new students should consider joining a Greek organization because of the social benefits that they receive, the networking opportunities and the philanthropic work that they do during Greek Week.

Joe Ebner is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha and also a Greek Week co-overall, which means he helps organize the many Greek Week events.

Ebner said Greek Week is not actually one week, but rather a series of events that occur throughout the entire school year.

The most popular event, he said, is the Dance Marathon, which is a day-long event in December in which participants dance around the clock to raise money for charity.

Ebner said the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association have a contract with the Hillman Cancer center to raise $500,000 over five years.

This academic year will be second of the contract, and all proceeds from this year’s Greek Week event will go to that charity, Ebner said. The Greek organizations stayed on schedule last year, raising more than $118,000 toward their goal.

The money is used to fund a lung and thoracic cancer research laboratory, and Ebner says the organizations’ goals extend beyond financial mile markers.

“Our mission is to not only raise money, but to raise awareness for that kind of cancer,” Ebner said.

Ebner said the Greeks were attempting to make this year’s Dance Marathon even more successful than last year’s by including non-Greek campus organizations like the Pitt Program Council.

Other Greek Events include the Campus Classic, a 3k/5k race that extends throughout the entire city, and Greek Sing, a competition that pairs sororities and a fraternities together to make a singing-and-dancing routine.

Ebner said this will be the second year they have held the race, and their goal this year is to get more community involvement to awareness and profits.

He said that Greek Sing succeeds in drawing many outsiders to the University and is “really big with the sororities.”