Center for Fraternity & Sorority Life News

Acacia fraternity members are heading to Indiana to provide aid to those affected by a series of tornadoes

Several members of Oregon State University’s Acacia fraternity won’t be taking a road trip toward a warm beach or a ski resort during spring break, but rather to southern Indiana. They plan to drive U-Haul trucks filled with donated items 2,330 miles to tornado-ravaged Henryville, Ind., and spend a week contributing labor to the town’s cleanup effort.

“Our motto is ‘human service.’ It’s ingrained in our minds to help out when something like this happens,” said Joel Zeni, a forest and civil engineering major and coordinator of Acacia’s donation drive.

Parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama and Georgia were ravaged by a series of tornadoes and strong storms March 2 and 3. Several rural towns, such as Henryville, were hit hardest. At least 41 people are confirmed dead due to the storms’ damage.

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Shortly before the start of winter break, campus was crippled by a tragic death that struck the entire Oregon State University student body.

Fred Thompson, a freshman defensive tackle for OSU’s football team, collapsed at Dixon Recreation Center while playing a pickup game of basketball. Upon being rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital, he was pronounced dead. Theoccurance sparked campus-wide grieving and left many wondering how to continue his legacy.

Members of the Greek community bonded together to organize and plan a concert by rap artist Too $hort.

The fraternity Theta Chi, as well as sororities Alpha Phi, Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Kappa Gamma are responsible for putting on the show.

With help from Cora Wilcots, Thompson’s mother, concert proceeds will go directly to his family to help to start the Fred Thompson Five-Star Youth Center in his hometown of Richmond, Calif.

Matt Makarowsky, head director of the concert said, “We’d like to give 100 percent of the proceeds from the benefit concert to the youth center. As of right now, 1,700 people say they are attending, which would turn out to be about an $11,000 profit to go straight to starting the foundation.”

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Every year, nearly all Greek chapters at Oregon State University hold their own respective philanthropies, each aiming to raise money to help counter a major issue in today’s society.

Out of all the Greek houses on campus, the most successful to date has been the Kappa Delta sorority, with their well-known “Mock Rock” event. Last year, the house raised $31,947 toward prevention of child abuse, with this year’s goal aiming toward more than $35,000.

Mock Rock is a weeklong event that aims at participation from all members of the OSU Greek life chapters. There are different events, spread out throughout the week in the middle of the Memorial Union quad, with a point system to determine which Greek house can accumulate the most points; the house with the most points overall at the end of the week claims the win. Read the rest of this entry »

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Greek Life has been a significant fixture in the lives of college students across the nation. Recently, Greek life at Oregon State University has reached a significant peak, with 2,806 total students representing Greek chapters within the Unified Greek Council, Inter-fraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council. This represents approximately 13.6 percent of the total population at OSU. Read the rest of this entry »

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[Daily Barometer] This year Beavers will pack up their tailgating gear and make the drive to Eugene for the Civil War game. However, a few Oregon State University supporters will be making the 44-mile trek from Corvallis to Eugene on foot. The Oregon Cure Relay was founded in 2009 by Bradley Barringerand the Kappa Omicron Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. The relay from the away stadium to the home stadium is a fundraising event for theLiveSTRONG foundation as well as a great way to support OSU on the biggest game day of the year.

“Not only do we show our support for the Beavers wearing orange and black, we also wear yellow LiveSTRONG shirts carrying the name of our sponsors who have donated resources to the run.  One-hundred percent of proceeds are directly donated to LiveSTRONGthrough their Grassroots Fundraising program,” said participant Justin Langley. Last year’s event raised nearly $4,000 in donations and the men of Phi Gamma Delta hope to double that number this year. Read the rest of this entry »

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[The Daily Barometer] Sororities planning philanthropy events to benefit literacy, children’s hospital. Presidents of Delta Delta Delta, Delta Phi Omega explain community outreach projects

Oregon State Univeristy Greek houses are making efforts to give back to the community. The Daily Barometer’s Tony Santilli sat down with two chapter presidents, Kristin O’Leary of Delta Delta Delta and Martha Ngo of Delta Phi Omega, to speak with them about their philanthropic plans.

Delta Delta Delta is having a pancake breakfast fundraiser this Sunday in the Memorial Union ballroom from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Admission and all-you-can-eat breakfast will cost $7, and the funds will go to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Read the rest of this entry »

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[KVAL] CORVALLIS, Ore. — After two years without a home to call their own, Phi Kapp Psi held the grand opening of the first new house on Greek row at Oregon State University since 1960.

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[The Daily Barometer] Sept. 20, the Greek community came out in an energetic show of unity, the culminating event to the community’s multi-weeklong “G Campaign” to secretly promote the ideals of Greek Life without invoking negative stereotypes.

“The G Campaign is designed to show the Oregon State (University) community, and specifically incoming students, the great things that our Greek system does,” said Nick Hart, the Inter-Fraternity Council Vice-President of Recruitment Marketing, when describing the purpose and goals of the campaign. “More of a long-term goal of the G Campaign is to increase relations between the University and Greek Life, and how outsiders view our organization.”

In order to accomplish its desired goals, the G Campaign took on a multi-faceted approach to promoting Greek Life through a mixture of community outreach, collaboration with the university, event organizing and the ambiguous use of the letter “G.” Read the rest of this entry »

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[The Daily Barometer] Sorority and fraternity members at Oregon State University gathered to witness a staged disaster Sept. 21, in order to promote fire safety and attentiveness.

Corvallis Fire Department Fire Prevention Officer, Jim Patton, gave a live example of a burning room to demonstrate not only how fast a fire can spread, but also how easily they start.

“The ultimate goal of this seminar is to increase awareness, and educate the importance of fire prevention measures,” Patton said. “The live burning gives quite a wake-up call.”

The two rooms, furnished by donated materials from Goodwill, were burned in a donated trailer. The left room was equipped with a proper sprinkler and fire alarm, while the right room had neither.

The smoke alarm activated after only a second, and 25 seconds later the alarm activated the sprinklers. In less than five minutes the right room became completely engulfed in flames and reached a temperature of 1,200 degrees⁰Farenheit. Read the rest of this entry »

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