The Greek Machine & Crucial Conversations

Day one is coming to a close, and I’m beyond excited for this weekend.  After settling into Pittsburg, I looked through all of the sessions and somehow NGLA manages to cover what seems to be everything under the sun. It was so delightful checking off 5-6 sessions that I would be interested in for each time block. It was even cooler to see what the other delegates checked off. Each person was able to align their selections in sessions with the area of BSU Greek Life they have the strongest impact on. There seemed to be multiple sessions catering to each position that we have on campus. It’s really cool to see such a diverse delegation. That opened my eyes to the gears of IFC, Panhellenic, and each individual organization that works together to fun our Greek Machine at BSU.

After divvying up the sessions, we all conjugated for a while before the opening speaker. MB was sharing some stories about expansion. When Alpha Sigma Tau expanded to campus, we were welcomed by the Panhellenic, and entire Greek community. I remember the first time I wore my letters shortly after receiving my bid. A sister of Gamma Phi Beta came up to me in ECC and told me that she was SO excited to have us on campus. This little comment made me feel welcomed and confident that we would succeed with our chapter.

MB explained that the way Panhellenic does expansion is very different than the way IFC does. Panhellenic votes to expand then asks for applications from organizations. For IFC, the chapter approaches them and IFC votes to let them on campus or not. Because of this, Panhellenic is naturally a much more welcoming environment since they invite the organization in the first place. MB spoke about how a certain member of IFC who came from Pikes chartering class (and past NGLA attendee) was really good at questioning IFC and the way it does things. This difference in views coming from a new Greek community member and the courage he had to push back on the status quo because “that’s just how it’s always been done” (something each organization is guilty of doing) drove significant development within IFC.

The night came full circle when James T Robilotta spoke about an instance during his time as an RA. Mr. Robilotta had a resident nicknamed D.a.d. (short for Drunk Ass Dave) whom he had to call the police on one night for being passed out from alcohol. Opposed to being proud that he saved D.a.d.’s life that night, he was instead disappointed in himself for not challenging Dave when he received the nickname D.a.d. in the first place. He wished he had pulled Dave aside and asked him if his excessive alcohol consumption was who he was, or who he thought he had to be to avoid being rejected. Mr. Robilotta challenged us to have these conversations with our Greek brothers and sisters and to challenge what we believe is the status quo.

These conversations are hard. The way our IFC friend did it was successful, and had Mr. Robilotta done so, he could have made a huge difference in Dave’s life. As a Greek Community it is our job to hold each other accountable, look out for each other, and strive for the betterment of our community. These tough conversations are crucial in making an impact, and today truly shed light on that.