Loyola’s administration has decided to postpone Greek Week until fall semester.

“The postponement of these events were due to lack of interest by the majority of the Greek community, as well as the robust university calendar in the last few weeks of the semester,” Tom Kupferer, assistant director of co-curricular programs, said.

“Everyone had the opportunity to speak up about this decision,” Dominique Kasindi, psychology sophomore and newly elected Interfraternity Council president, said.

“All of the Greek leaders were consulted long before the decision was made, and we decided that it would be better to do it right in the fall (rather) than rush it now,” Kasindi said.

The World Peace Conference was rescheduled twice, landing on the same week as Greek Week.

“The first time it was postponed, Roger White, vice provost of academic programs, said they would really love to have Greek presence at Peace Week. So, we just postponed it for the week before spring break,” mass communication and political science junior Lauren Navarro, outgoing Pan-Hellenic president and The Maroon’s Life and Times editor, said.

“I knew that the following week would be available for (Greek Week) and it was simply a request to postpone the event,” White, vice provost and associate professor, said.

The first event, the Greek Barbecue Cookout, was held on March 30 as planned. 
“I had a lot of fun. It’s always great to see us all in one place having a good time, even if it’s for something as simple as good food,” Kasindi said.

On March 31, Greek week was pushed back due to weather.

“The forecast was for rain and thunderstorms,” Navarro said.

“I was (thinking) we have an outdoor event, Greek Olympics, and it’s in a quad that floods. So, I postponed it because the weather wasn’t suppose to get any better until Friday,” she said. 

Other issues figured in to postponing Greek Week.

“There were other things that we had to think about, such as you’re required to have security and give them a certain amount of time,” Abby Gordon, marketing junior and incoming Pan-Hellenic president, said. “If they were there and we canceled, then we would still have to pay.”

“We had intentions to do it the week we got back from Spring Break, but it’s crunch time and everyone is really busy,” Gordon said.

The Greek life presidents are deciding on a new date for Greek week.
“In the fall, we’re going to push it for the beginning, some time in September,” Gordon said.

“The presidents will discuss whether all Greek week events will be carried over from spring or start fresh,” she said.  “But, I think we’re going to do all the events again.”
Aside from the Greek Barbecue Cookout, three other events are scheduled for next semester — Greek Olympics, Airband and a benefit concert.

The One Cause Benefit concert is a new Greek Week event, raising money for Habitat for Humanity Musician Village. Two Loyola bands are scheduled to play — The Blue Party and Gritz.

“We all have our own philanthropies but to promote unity among the different chapters and the other Loyola kids, we picked Habitat for Humanity Musician Village to donate all our proceeds to,” Cait Smith, English sophomore and Greek Week committee member, said.

“All the proceeds are still going to go to them but much later and they were really excited to learn that Loyola was going to have an event in honor of them,” Smith said.
“We are going to try to change the charity every year – keep it fresh and make people more aware of different types of things,” she said.

According to Smith, many students have expressed mixed sentiments about the postponement.

“Overall, everyone was disappointed. A lot of people realized that it just wasn’t planned well, which is awful on some people’s part who have committed to it,” Smith said. 

“At the same time, there is a little bit of relief because everyone is crazy busy,” Smith said.

“I was (thinking) the entire Greek community is going to be so disappointed, especially the seniors because this was their last Greek week,” Navarro said.

“They look forward to hearing the Greek king and queen and Greek champions announced and seeing Airband especially,” she said.

With Greek week in the fall, Kasindi said that it will dramatically increase the amount of freshmen interest in Greek life.

“In addition to a fall Greek week being a great recruitment tool, it will also open up our spring schedule and budget for activities such as a Greek-wide community service project,” Kasindi said.

“My only regret is that we’ve missed out on an exciting week for this (semester),” he said.

Kieu Tran can be reached at [email protected].