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Greek Organizations

5 things you don’t know about USF sororities and fraternities

Posted by Julianne Goins ⋅ March 2, 2012 ⋅ Leave a Comment

Filed Under Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, USF fraternities, USF sororities

Those associated with Greek life will often tell you it is really nothing like what is portrayed in “Animal House” or “The House Bunny,” so DB decided to take a look at what Greek life is actually like in this list, top 5 things you might not know about USF’s Greeks.

1. USF’s Greek system has four governing bodies, not just one overruling hierarchy. Two of the governing bodies, the Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity Council (IFC), oversee the traditionally recognized sororities and fraternities. The third division, called the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), governs the African American sororities and fraternities. The fourth, the Unified Greek Council, oversees all of the culturally-based fraternities.

2. There are 42 Greek chapters on campus and nearly 2,000 members in the Greek community, which represents less than 5 percent of the entire student population. Despite that, they still wield strong power on campus. All five previous student body presidents were members of Greek organizations on campus and the next one will be, too.

USF Greek Village. Photo Credit: Julianne Goins

3. USF has only had on-campus fraternity and sorority housing since 2003. Greek Village houses a mere 14 of the 42 Greek chapters.

4. USF on-campus Greek housing is extremely modest compared to other college campuses with older, more traditional housing. Each of the 7 large buildings in Greek Village is actually divided in half in order to house two different fraternities or sororities under the same roof.

5. While the process of joining fraternities and sororities is often thought of as a popularity contest, according to Viannca Williams, Student Programs Coordinator for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, applicants are selected more because of the values they portray. Some of these values include leadership, athleticism, social responsibility, honesty, integrity and the ability to become “a true gentleman.”

About Julianne Goins

Julianne is a senior at the University of South Florida majoring in mass communications (magazine journalism) and international studies. She specializes in social media, travel writing, professional writing and strategic communications.

View all posts by Julianne Goins »