GRACE MCDONALD
mcdonaldge@lopers.unk.edu
Due to COVID-19, organizations have ceased from meeting and activities have been halted at UNK. As a result, the restrictions have caused Fraternity and Sorority Life participation to decrease.
The FSL chapters are adapting as many members go their separate ways.
“With everyone going home, it’s definitely been kind of a shift because Greek Life is centered around those relationships that you build and being in contact with your brothers and sisters all the time,” said Panhellenic President Emma Thede. “It hurts our hearts, and it’s hard to leave your sisters for a while. In the end, we know that it’ll be good for us, but right now, everyone is just trying to process in their own ways.”
The Greek chapters cancelled philanthropy events, weekly meetings, formals, and sisterhood and brotherhood events to lower the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Specific events include a chili and cinnamon roll feed, a taco feed, a March Madness bracket tournament, and a 5K run. They have even cancelled their big, end-of-the-year banquet to celebrate the funds raised and relationships built. Greek housing is still open, but the number of residents is slowly decreasing.
Despite the changes, summer recruitment will commence as planned.
“As of right now, nothing is changing. We’re still planning on a regular recruitment week,” said Bailey Reigle, the vice-president of external recruitment on the Panhellenic Council. “The National Panhellenic council is working on a plan in case that were to happen. We are operating according to UNK’s guidelines, but if any changes need to happen, we’ll have to talk to our headquarters and UNK about what to do next.”
The recruitment process for FSL at UNK has happened primarily online for years. Reigle said that the Facebook page for the class of 2024 will be accessed frequently to reach out to incoming freshmen who are interested. The interest form is also available on UNK’s website for people to fill out and share their contact information with the chapters.
The fraternities are also planning to keep their hopes up for recruitment.
“We are planning to proceed with informal recruitment where we meet with guys at New Student Enrollment days and hang out with them later to share our values and what we want them to get out of the experience,” said Trevor Daubert, the interfraternity council president. “But the hard part is what we’ll do if NSE goes online. Probably the best solution would be for us to reach out to people using the contact information of the incoming freshman.”
A plan is in place for both sororities and fraternities to recruit using the Internet, but the FSL community is still missing out on the physical aspects of socializing.
“A lot of them are using Zoom conferencing,” said Kelsey Hassenstab, the interim assistant director of FSL. “I’ve heard that chapters are doing fun events on different platforms like Bingo and Trivia. They don’t have a ton of business to attend to, so we encourage them to check in on each other and make sure that everybody is safe.”
Even though spirits are low, the FSL community at UNK is continuing to practice fellowship and keep the safety of their members in mind.
“Our last meeting for Sigma Phi Epsilon was on Sunday and it’s unfortunate,” Daubert said. “But it’s all about perspective, and some things are bigger than being at meetings and being with your friends.”
