Greeks Go Green-Print story

Hely Forrester

April 25, 2010

Jour 102

“Greeks Go Green”

News Story

The 1^st Green Cup was awarded Thursday, April 22 to the ladies of Alpha Omicron Pi and the men of Delta Psi. The Green Cup is a competition between on-campus fraternities and sororities to determine who is ‘greenest.’

The Green Cup competition is a partnership between the Students for a Green Campus, Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, and the Office of Sustainability. Fraternities and sororities who participated this spring submitted plans to make their Greek houses more sustainable.

“We were really interested in just seeing what each organization had planned and how they were going to execute them,” said Sarah Gehring, a member of Students for a Green Campus.

While only a few sororities and fraternities competed this spring, the competition in the upcoming fall semester will include every IFC and Panhellenic organization on campus.

“We are really excited about the fall competition,” said Gehring. “It will really be interesting to see what each sorority and fraternity turn in.”

In the fall, each organization will submit a portfolio containing plans for: recycling and waste reduction, energy and water conservation, at least one Eco project and a green committee or leader.

“Organizations should start putting their portfolios together now so they will be ready for the fall competition,” says Gehring.

Many sororities have already begun brainstorming ways to make their organizations more sustainable for next semester. Houses have been reducing their use of Styrofoam at meal times and started recycling more often.

“We are planning on switching to reusable plastic cups to use in the dining room to reduce our use of Styrofoam starting next semester,” says McKay Wommack, a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

The Students for a Green Campus believe that the Greek-wide involvement in the Green Cup will influence non-Greek students to come out and learn about sustainability.

“Since so many students look up to the leaders in the Greek system we feel that this will be a great influence on the entire campus,” says Gehring.

Students for a Green Campus will continue to spread the word about living green and involvement in the Green Cup Competition when the fall semester begins in August.