by Aaron Butts
“This is our first ever IFMC event,” Dominique DeBiasio, president of SAI said. “And so we said, ‘How better than to kick it all off, than with our very own Greek info night?’”
In the past, Greek info nights were done mainly by the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) and Inter-Sorority Council (ISC), leaving art and music fraternities without a table at these events.
“Usually we are left to the wayside when it comes to planning other Greek life events,” DeBiasio said. “Since some of us cannot follow the rules of the IFC and ISC, we really thought that this unifying of our four organizations could really give us a voice on this campus.”
Although the council is just now starting to do and plan events, creating this council was not a new idea.
“This council came about two years ago with the class of 2012,” DeBiasio said. “It’s the best way to unify the four arts and music fraternities.”
What is unique about the IFMC compared to the IFC and ISC is that this council is comprised of a mixture of both men and women.
While there is only one co-ed social fraternity on campus, there are two in the IFMC (TBS and Phi Beta) while Phi Mu Alpha and SAI both sit on the same council despite being organizations whose membership is comprised of all males and females, respectively. Phi Mu Alpha President Albert Macre laid out the breakdown of the IFMC.
“TBS requires that you be in band, because they are a national band fraternity. SAI requires that you be a woman and have a passion for music. Phi Mu Alpha requires that you be a man and also have a passion for music. Phi Beta doesn’t require that you be in theatre, but that you love theatre and have an interest in it,” Macre said.
According to Macre, the diversity between each organization is what makes the IFMC so special.
“You get a bunch of people from a bunch of different experiences coming in and shooting off ideas, but we all still have that same core value of music and art,” Macre said.
“The shared involvement in music and the arts make us better able to communicate with each other. And you don’t have to be a music major to join any of these organizations, except for TBS.”
Another great thing about the IFMC is that there is not as much of the competition that may exist between social fraternities and sororities.
“If you’re already in a Greek organization, you can still join one of the IFMC organizations,” Phi Beta service chair Clare Nejedly said. Nejedly went on to say that members of Phi Beta come from all different organizations from both the social and arts fraternities, and that the IFMC adds a degree of cooperation between all campus Greek organizations.
“There are Phi Mu Alpha brothers in Phi Beta,” Negedly said. “And we don’t really do a lot together. But with the creation of the IFMC, now it creates a more professional and friendly relationship between our organizations so we can get to know each other.”
But this feeling of friendliness hasn’t always been present within the four organizations.
“We feel that there has been a disconnect between the four,” DeBiasio said, but she is hoping that this new cooperation will bring the groups together.
This idea of inter-fraternal cooperation echoed around the room at the IFMC Greek info night, as well as the idea of cooperation.
TBS president Amanda Aniolowski was brimming with excitement during the night’s event.
“Every person that I’ve encountered in each of these organizations is absolutely wonderful!” Aniolowski said.
This cooperation is spanning not just this Greek info night.
“By working together we can help each other in recruitment,” Aniolowski said. “And we can help sponsor other events and get the word out there easier. When we are working by ourselves it just makes everything harder to promote our organizations. For example, now, everyone is helping SAI with their Mary Kay fundraiser that they are having soon.”
“The IFMC was created to share resources for rushing, and information to get the word out there about our organizations,” Macre said.
“We work much better together than separately. It’s to keep the relationship good between the four fraternities, and to help with the rush process. Every single one of these groups is worthy of your time.”
Dominique DeBiasio explained that there was much more on the organizations horizon than just fundraisers and recruitment.
“We are hosting an IFMC semi-formal later this month for all current members and alumni, DeBiasio said. “We’re looking to participate in lip sync as one group, comprised of all four organizations, with more events throughout the year.”
abutts@capital.edu
