If you have noticed a heightened sense of competition amongst the student body over the last few days, it is probably because ‘Greek Week” began on Monday.
Actually, Greek Week is a bit of a misnomer, since the inter-fraternity and inter-sorority competitions extend for two weeks, but “Greek Fortnight” doesn’t exactly rhyme, and “Greek Two Weeks” isn’t all that catchy of a name, so we stick with Greek Week.
For those of you who don’t know what Greek Week is, it is an organized competition between the various fraternities and sororities – the fraternities only compete against other fraternities while the sororities only compete against other sororities.
The events are conducted in the same spirit as those high-intensity color wars that probably punctuated the summers you might have spent at sleep-away camp by the shores of that puddle that the camp directors tried to pass off as a lake.
Though without the bug juice and dining hall food fights, Greek Week pits the Greek organizations against each other in single-elimination tournaments in football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and floor hockey, as well as in the typical fraternity house games of foosball and pool. Seedings for the tournaments are given based on last year’s Greek Week results.
One of the highlights of each Greek Week is the tap relay, a 400 meter relay race around the track in Fauver Stadium that ironically uses a keg tap instead of a baton. The race usually draws quite a crowd and this year it will be at 8:45 p.m. this Friday.
So that not everything in Greek Week is an athletic competition, there is a talent show held as well. Greek Week culminates in two popular events, the keg toss and the tug-of-war, held on the Fraternatity Quad, followed by a large all-Greek barbeque.
Perhaps after reading about Greek Week you are wondering why it is that we students would take a couple hours out of our busy schedules each day for two weeks to devote toward participation in what could be seen as trivial games. I would be lying to you if I did not say that the primary reasons are “because we can” and “because it’s fun.”
No other event is capable of bringing together and equally tearing apart the Greek community in the same way. For the Greek groups, it serves as an excellent opportunity to blow off some of the steam that sometimes builds up between groups during the year. Greek Week often serves as a rallying point for the members of the chapters and serves to bring the chapter back together in spirit.
A few years ago, Greek Week included a Greek Banquet where the results of the DeKiewet Cup, a competition between the fraternities and sororities for best chapter, were announced as well as a Greek philanthropy event in conjunction with the week. Those events were since moved to the fall so that there was a large Greek event in the fall semester.
If you are walking around campus this week and you see a crowd has developed in Fauver Stadium, the GLC fields or in the field house, stop by and see what all the fuss is about. If you are a member of a Greek organization, you ought be out there supporting your group and letting the rest of campus know that they are missing out on something that is a lot of fun.
Chesney can be reached at gchesney@campustimes.org.
