University administration will have the final say regarding new fraternity and sorority which are expected to join campus this time next year.
Earlier this month Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association voted to open expansion and extension, respectively, but have not announced which groups they hope to see come to campus.
“The university approves all student organizations, and Greek organizations are student organizations, so yeah, basically the university has the final say,” said Corey Lansing, the assistant dean of student involvement and advisor to Greek organizations. “But that is in coordination with IFC. It’s in coordination with, really, (Marquette Student Government), because MUSG approves all student organizations as well.”
Both Panhellenic Association and IFC are taking applications from interested organizations and will continue doing so until Jan. 10. Then IFC and Panhellenic councils will form committees to review applications from interested parties. Both Lansing and Kim Jeffrey, the graduate assistant for student involvement and Greek life, will sit on committees as non-voting members to select which new organizations will start at Marquette. After two organizations are chosen by the committees, the university will approve or deny the selections.
Lansing said it is unlikely the university would decide to stop the organizations chosen by the committees from establishing a colony on campus. He specified that if the university felt the Greek community were struggling or in trouble, it might stop expansion, but that scenario does not apply here.
The committees will look at several factors when considering applications. They will examine local alumni involvement, whether or not the group has an active national organization and how many expansions the national organization is going through at the time. The committees will also ask the interested organizations specifically about the connection they see with the mission of Marquette as a Catholic, Jesuit institution.
IFC’s interest in expansion began at the end of last semester when a group presented an interest in bringing a new fraternity to campus. That group is made up of Thomas Schick, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences; Jason Kurtyka, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences; and Matthew Walker, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Panhellenic Association took a different path toward extension. Instead of having an interest group come to them, it chose extension after an exploratory committee recommended growth at Marquette.
The move to expand campus Greek life may come as a surprise to some, since Catholic schools do not typically have highly active Greek populations. IFC President Eric Eichelberger, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, attributed Marquette’s increased interest in fraternities and sororities to the quality of the people actively participating in Greek organizations right now.
“Almost 80 percent of members are involved in another organization,” Eichelberger said. “Of that, 41 percent are leaders in those organizations, and that’s really our greatest recruitment tool.”
Lansing said he hopes the new fraternity and sorority will be able to provide a different option for those students who do not feel like they fit in with other Greek life groups on campus. The interest group would like to see more than that.
“We want the fraternity to be an active group on campus,” Schick said. “We will work toward bettering the Marquette and Greek communities through service and positive outreach.”
