Walking into Sigma Kappa’s Sig Kap and Cheese, or heading to Café Mexicali to support the UNC Student Public Relations Network club there will always be someone with Greek letters on their chest or hat.
The Greek life community at the University of Northern Colorado is unlike any other.
Many universities pride themselves on the community and safe space that Greek life and its members create on campus, and UNC is no exception.
With Greek life being prominent in many areas throughout campus, and members continuing to be involved throughout other areas of campus, the Greek life community is strong in itself as well as with other campus members.
From the Multicultural sororities and fraternities, to the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils and even the business fraternities on the UNC campus, students in Greek life are connected and involved in many ways.
Many students involved in Greek life at UNC have said for years that the UNC Greek community is truly stronger than stereotypes and outsiders would think.
Going through recruitment for Greek life, all throughout the country, can be a timely and exhausting process for everyone involved.
Each fall, and for many the spring as well, each Greek chapter plans and executes their own recruitment process to find their new members who will fit in and help diversify and create a stronger chapter, in and out.
Through these recruitment processes each chapter shares what they love about their own chapter, but at UNC there is one other aspect shared with anyone who chooses to go through the recruitment process.
Payton Rodgers didn’t know that joining one sorority would mean joining a community of hundreds of members from each Greek chapter, from the members in Lambda Theta Nu that attend Alpha Phi’s philanthropy events to the fundraising nights at Café Mexicali for SPRN.
“UNC has a Greek life unmatched from others, there are so many different people and different chapters that make up this community and there is no way we could all be anything but a family,” Rogers said. “Everyone is each chapter supports every other chapter and their members in a way I never expected when I joined Sigma Kappa. I didn’t just join my sorority but I joined an entire Greek community,” Rodger said.
Movies and other mediums help promote stereotypical ideas about Greek life. Things such as judgment and competitiveness between both the chapters in Greek life and against anyone not involved in Greek life on campus are prevalent in the media, but they are simply not true, according to Caleb Cornell, a junior member of Kappa Phi.
“I remember each day of recruitment from over two years ago,” Cornell said. One person I talked to told me about our philanthropy, another would tell me about brotherhood, and another would say how much he loved our chapter house, but every single guy I talked to told me about our Greek life community.”
Cornell said he was told of the strong relationships many fraternity members make with each other throughout their time in Greek life, and especially with men from other fraternities.
“I have been in Pi Kappa Phi for almost three years and I have made amazing friends from my brothers, and guys in different fraternities and men from across campus, and every member of sorority life and throughout every chapter has my respect and support, just like my own chapters members,’ Cornell said.
Most stereotypes would say that each fraternity on a campus has it out for the others. Constant competition and judgment between all the chapters is supposedly rampant, and that is said to also impact anyone not involved in Greek life as well. UNC has fought these stereotypes, and created a strong community.
Rebecca Ingraham is the Program Coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life. Her position is to advise Greek life and help create a strong environment for students on campus, and help Greek life create relationships with other organizations.
They strive to unite members in relationships throughout each chapter, all of Greek life, and the entire UNC community.
Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Northern Colorado exists to foster growth and development among students while forming lifelong bonds through academic, personal, social, and service-based programming.
Suzie Benoit, a senior who joined Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity, at the end of her freshman year, just a few months after being initiated into Sigma Kappa, didn’t expect the relationships between each of the chapters to be important or even a something to worry about. She shared about her relationships in both her sorority and business fraternity.
“Since then I have learned so much about the connection between each chapter and how all of Greek life at UNC is connected and so supportive of everyone else,” Benoit said.
