The Greek Council will host a carnival and tailgate at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, on Prassel Lawn. The event is three hours before kickoff of the first game of the season for the Trinity football team.
“Greek Council is wanting to do some unity events this year,” said Briana McGlamory, coordinator of fraternity and sorority life. “We really want to bring the community together and bring people into events so they see the positive side of Greek Council and Greek life in general.”
In previous years, the Big Six organizations””Greek Council, Trinity Diversity Connection, Trinity University Volunteer Action Committee, Student Government Association, Student Programming Board and Student Ambassadors””have tried to co-host a carnival, but it has not been very successful, according to McGlamory.
“Last semester we saw that there was an opportunity to take over the Big Six carnival,” said John Pederson, Greek Council co-chair. “We are also trying to steer Greek council towards our four guiding principles””leadership, camaraderie, scholarship and philanthropy””and we have already expressed the other three but we felt like we were missing camaraderie.”
The camaraderie is not just among the Greek organizations, but also between the Greek and non-Greek populations as well.
“We want to have the big unity with our community as a whole,” said Angel Bottera, Greek Council co-chair. “This Greek carnival isn’t just for Greeks. It is put on by Greeks, but it’s for the community as a whole.”
This year, the Greek Council is the sole funder of the event. “I want to have high hopes,” McGlamory said. “I want to be supportive of the students and try to get them to take charge.”
“I think because it’s run by students and facilitated by students there will be a bigger turnout,” Bottera said. “I feel like the Big Six was a great idea . . . however, just advertisement and word of mouth among the Greek community has gotten the word out better.”
There are 10 to 12 booths overall. The 15 Greek organizations will each host a booth and some groups will pair up for the bigger stations.
These include a dunk tank, a pie-in-the-face event, water balloon toss, inflatables, snow cones, cotton candy, football toss, sumo wrestling, a balloon dart paint wall and trashcan pong.
There is also speculation of an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge station where students can partake in the challenge with the help of the Greeks, according to Pederson.
With the new tailgating policy now in place, this year students who are 21 and over can consume alcohol at the event. Alcohol will not be provided at the event but students are allowed to bring their own should they wish. TUPD, faculty and administrators will be present to help enforce the 21-and-over policy, according to Bottera.
“We want to see people out there being responsible with the new tailgating policy,” Pederson said. “It has never really been tested, but we’re hoping that this is a model for responsible alcohol consumption and not something that the Greek community abuses.”
Although the Greek Council is hosting the carnival and tailgate, it is not a recruitment event. It is an event for the student body to see what they can do to be social and how they can get involved on campus, according to McGlamory.
“Recruitment does not start until Oct. 12 so this is not a “˜come hang out with the XYZ fraternity as they host the X event,'” McGlamory said. “It is “˜this is Greek life and what you could be a part of.'”
The primary goal is not to get recognition of the individual fraternities and sororities, but to showcase Greek life as a whole.
“We want people to get acclimated and so right now it’s “˜Go Greek,'” McGlamory said. “That’s the mindset everyone should be in. Go Greek: Go check it out.”
