Greek Life and NISG

As a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the subject of Greek Life is something that is very near and dear to me.  I was glad to see that both Kyle and Brendan and Jordan and KaLeigh had sections in their platforms regarding Greek Life. At first, I was a little worried that they just included a plank on the subject to try to win votes from the Greeks on campus, since none of the candidates are actually Greek themselves. After reading through their platforms, I quickly realized that even though they are not Greek themselves, both tickets see the benefits of having Greek Life on campus and have a fairly good understanding of the state of Greek Life at UNI.

Kyle and Brendan’s platform touches on the importance of having a strong Greek community on campus and how it benefits the university. Their main goal with Greek Life is to increase collaboration and communication between the Greek community and NISG. To accomplish this they plan to continue the use of a Director of Greek Affairs - Fraternities and Director of Greek Affairs -Sororities.

Jordan and KaLeigh’s platform goes more in depth about the challenges facing the Greek community and their plans on overcoming these challenges. They also plan to continue the use of the Director of Greek Affairs position, but they want to make a change to the way this Director is selected. They would like to include Greek leaders in the selection process so that the most effective person for the job can be chosen.

During Monday’s debate, an excellent question was asked: “What is the outlook on Greek Life on Campus?” Kyle was the first to answer on this question. He pointed out that the Greek community at UNI is different than the Greek communities at the other state universities. Our Greek community is “small but mighty.” He then continued to point out the many ways Greek Life benefits campus and said that he wants to have better collaboration between NISG and the Greek community since Greeks are so involved on campus. It was clear that he had taken time to consider the position the Greek community is in and had thought about how to create a more mutually beneficial relationship between the Greek community and NISG. Trevor was the next person to answer the question. Now, even though Trevor and Beth did not include a Greek Life plank in their platform, it does not necessarily mean that it is something they haven’t thought about. During the debate they pointed out that they have a shorter platform than the other tickets because they only wanted to include items they believed they could actually accomplish if elected. Since it was not included in their platform, I was excited to hear their thoughts on Greek Life, but when Trevor answered the question, I could tell that it was something they hadn’t put much thought into. Trevor just said “Greek Life is great” and then proceeded to talk about how they support all student organizations that want to accomplish something. For me, this answer was a bit of a letdown. KaLeigh was the last candidate to get to address the question. For someone who isn’t Greek, she had a really good idea of what is going on in the Greek community. She pointed out how Greeks set a great example on campus through their involvement. Their ticket realizes that one of the biggest problems for the Greek community is their perceived isolation from the rest of the student body. They plan to help correct this issue by having NISG work with the Greek community more to support Greek goals and initiatives. 

I also believe that a closer relationship between NISG and the Greek community would benefit both parties. Regardless of who wins the election, I hope that the relationship between NISG and Greeks grows over the next year. I thoroughly encourage all Greeks to read the Greek Life sections of the tickets’ platforms and ask the candidates questions about their views on Greek Life in order to make an informed decision on election day.