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Being Greek at MSU
To all new Spartans and families:
Greetings from the Department of Student Life! My name is Dr. Tony Lake and it is my pleasure to work with the 2,500 students who comprise the sorority and fraternity communities at Michigan State University. As a professional staff member at the University, it is my job to advise the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils, and to work closely with Mr. Rob Biddle and Mr. Ammar Mufleh who advise the National Pan-Hellenic Council (comprised of historically black sororities and fraternities) and the Independent Greek Council (other historically ethnic and multicultural sororities and fraternities), respectively.
Membership in one of the sororities and fraternities at MSU can offer fantastic opportunities for involvement with other students, leadership development, participation in exciting educational, competitive, and philanthropic events, and can also offer connections to University staff members, faculty, and administrators. But these communities are different than the “typical” student organization; they are unique experiences where organized time commitments within an individual organization and the entire Greek community are abundant.
An aspect of the Greek communities at MSU that many are not aware of is their separateness from the University itself. In our roles as advisors, Ammar, Rob, and I work with their student-led governing bodies -- the Councils -- but not necessarily with individual chapters. Many of these organizations have their own housing in East Lansing and all operate independently from the University as local “chapters” of larger national and even international organizations. These groups are highly selective and maintain their own membership selection processes. Additionally, each of the organizations and Councils has their own means for addressing concerns within and between the individual organizations.
These organizations were historically founded with some combination of social development, scholarship, service, and leadership opportunities as their goals; still today, many of our organizations actively work toward meeting these goals. For example, of those students who are members of a sorority or fraternity here at MSU and report their grades to our office, nearly 30% achieved high enough grades during the past academic year to earn a spot on their academic college’s Dean’s List having earned a 3.5 or higher grade point average and each semester more than 80 of these young women and men earn a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Discussions of service to the community in East Lansing and at MSU are not complete without acknowledging the Greek communities’ continual efforts as well. Each of the individual chapters contribute time and/or monies to local charities and the Greek community as a whole adds to that with annual events such as Safe Halloween and their collective fundraising efforts during Greek Week. This year, for example, Greek Week charities were given more than $200,000 with more than $190,000 raised during a single Relay for Life event benefiting the American Cancer Society! When one adds these accomplishments to the numerous leadership opportunities for students throughout the Greek community, the MSU campus, and the City of East Lansing, the organized efforts to educate members, and the lasting bonds that can develop as a part of membership, it is hard to find an experience more suited to develop college students into future professionals who are civically-minded, ethical leaders of our communities than becoming a part of the Greek community.
With all that said, I invite you to learn more about what it means to be Greek by browsing through this website, or by either visiting the Department of Student Life’s website (and looking through the Greek Affairs links), or by contacting one of us in the Department of Student Life for more information. We’re looking forward to an illustrious future at MSU, and we hope that it will include you checking out one of the many Greek chapters and what they have to offer!
Respectfully,
Dr. Tony Lake
Assistant Director of Student Life
101 Student Services Building
East Lansing, MI 48824-1113
(517) 355-8286 * lakew@msu.edu
www.studentlife.msu.edu
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Sororities
