Brown and White Vol. 128 no. 8

              The Brown and White
Vol. 128 No. 8
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
‘All the Lehigh News First’
Pledging a multicultural organi­zation is hard work, says Brenda Martinez, ’15, the president of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc. It takes determination, discipline and grit.
For the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council chapters at Lehigh, the recruitment process has already come to close. Sororities and fraternities participated in one-week and three-week long formal recruit­ment periods, respectively, during the last two months. However, for the five active chapters in Lehigh’s Multicultural Greek Council, recruit­ment is a process that goes on all year round.
These five MGC chapters serve to promote involvement in Greek life, coordinate the activities of its mem­ber chapters and enhance cultural awareness through the ideals, prin­ciples, history and traditions of its respective organizations.
Small in number, members of the MGC chapters value academics, lead­ership and community engagement and seek to dispel the notion that only certain creeds, ethnicities or nationalities can become members of these five organizations.
Scott Grant, ’16, a Multicultural Greek Council president and the pres­ident of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., said that people are often mis­taken in thinking that MGC organi­zations are only for the multicultural community but in reality, they are for the Lehigh community.
Martinez, ’15, agreed, saying that despite her organization’s name, it is a big misconception that only Latinos and Hispanics are eligible for mem­bership.
“Our sisters are Indian, Caucasian, African American, Asian—we’re from all over the world,” Martinez said. “To join, you just have to be the type of woman that values political activism, academics and community outreach.”
The five chapters of the Lehigh University MGC are Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity Inc., Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc., Mu Sigma Upsilon Latin Sorority Inc., and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.
The council consists of organiza­tions that were historically oriented, founded or based in a specific culture. Within the MGC, the Lehigh commu­nity has organizations from sever­al different national umbrellas, said Carter Gilbert, an assistant direc­tor for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
According to the Lehigh University Student Affairs website, this can include, but is not limited to,
The deadline for submitting nominations for the Student Life Leadership Awards — one of the oldest and largest celebrations for Lehigh students outside of the classroom — closed Sunday after several extensions.
The awards, which will be occur­ring for the 30th time at Lehigh on April 30, look to highlight and rec­ognize the commitment of Lehigh students to leadership, service and the community.
The nomination process is man­aged by Student Affairs. It is a campus-wide system in which any­one is allowed to nominate other students who embody Lehigh’s key values of excellence, integrity, equitable community, intellectual curiosity, collaboration and lead­ership.
There are different selection pro­cesses depending on the catego­ry of the award. For individual awards, there are two commit­tees who select the winners. The first is the university awards and prizes committee, which is made
By LEXI MARTINS
B&W Staff
By KELLY MUELLER
B&W Staff
Graphic by Samatha Tomaszewski/Made with Canva
Lehigh to host 30th Student Life Leadership Awards
Recruitment processes differ for Multicultural Greeks
See MGC Page 4
See LEADERSHIP Page 4
Michael Nester/B&W Staff
Lehigh students and families came early to prepare for the Student Life Leadership Awards on April 25, 2013. This year’s awards are currently being reviewed.
up of representatives from all of Lehigh’s colleges. This committee is usually responsible for select­ing the two highest awards. The second selection committee is the student life leadership committee, which chooses the other 12 leader­ship awards.
For clubs nominated for an award, it is up to the student body as a whole to vote for the club it believes should win. Clubs are nominated based on three separate categories: entertainment, educa­tion and diversity. When a club wins, it is awarded $500 toward its activities.
“We want to emphasize that learning happens everywhere at Lehigh, particularly when you get a chance to go out and perform experiential learning activities,” said Allison Gulati, the associate dean of students. “The goal is to recognize the influence it has on Lehigh and what students are able to build through their actions.”
The goal of the awards is not just to recognize the same “typical” winner, but it is also not necessar­