The University of Arizona United Sorority and Fraternity Council, Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council will begin returning to in-person events in the fall.
Due to the return of in-person events after a year of being online, fraternity and sorority organizations plan on being more involved in the community and having more in-person events with philanthropy. USFC will be holding the first-ever USFC week as well, a recruitment week where they host events and activities for interested members.
According to Jocelyn Garcia, USFC President, USFC Week will be held Monday through Friday the week of Aug. 30. On Monday, they will host a virtual informational session for interested members. Tuesday through Thursday, each of the 18 organizations will host their own event for interested members, which may be virtual or in person. On Friday, they will host a council-wide social, which will be open to all interested members.
“We decided to organize USFC Week because the pandemic restricted the visibility of our organizations and our typical in-person recruitment style. We want to represent our multicultural and identity-based organizations with pride in the Greek life and campus communities,” Garcia told the Daily Wildcat via email.
USFC’s goal with USFC week is to strengthen their council through recruitment and collaboration. They also hope that by working together their council will build a lasting, inclusive community.
USFC, IFC and Panhellenic have been operating virtually since March 2020. They are excited to return to in-person activities and plan on following the university’s guidance to ensure a safe return to in-person events.
According to Molly Krantz, Panhellenic President, the Panhellenic recruitment process will have some in-person events. The Panhellenic recruitment process will begin on Sunday, Aug. 22, and go until Monday, Sept. 6.
Open houses will be held Monday through Wednesday, where interested members will watch informational videos on all of the sororities. On Saturday and Sunday, they will have interested members virtually visit up to nine Panhellenic organizations. Over the following three weekends, they will have philanthropy, sisterhood and preference events. On the last day, “bid day,” interested members will receive a bid, which is a formal invitation to the sorority or fraternity and attend celebrations with their chapter in-person. Preference day and bid day will both be in-person.
IFC’s recruitment will begin Sunday, Aug. 22, with an orientation through Zoom. Tuesday through Thursday will be their open house and Saturday and Sunday they will have interested members visit up to 12 fraternities. The following Friday through Monday they will have presentations, more visits with fraternities and preference. On Tuesday, Sept. 7, they will host their bid day.
IFC will be focusing on risk management and making sure that any social event is registered and is respected by the whole community.
“One aspect of risk management that my team has been working on is reaching out to community members and letting them know about social events we will have to create a middle ground and make sure our social events are safe,” IFC President Jacob Benabou said.
IFC will also be holding a week dedicated to toxic masculinity and healthy manhood in the middle of October. In addition, they will be hosting events like their annual tug-of-war, community service day and host a mental health awareness talk.
“After a year of being online, I hope that Greek life will be able to safely connect again. We are all excited to get back to work and uphold the four pillars of Greek life: scholarship, service, leadership, and friendship,” Garcia said via email.
To join a sorority or fraternity visit: greek.arizona.edu/fsp/how-join.
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