Despite Blue Devils United and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life being unable to plan Greek Ally Week this year, some students have taken it upon themselves to host the event.
Greek Ally Week—which was started in 2014—works to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ issues and support LGBTQ+ members in Greek life. In the past, it has featured panel discussions with members of the Panhellenic Association, the Interfraternity Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
David Pittman, interim director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, wrote last Monday that the event would not be hosted this year, in part due transitions that his office is undergoing. BDU also apologized for not allocating resources to the event this year, citing resource constraints as well as a lack of coordination between various groups.
"The events and programming subcommittee of Blue Devils United has regrettably been unable to allocate time and resources to collaborate in the organization of this year’s Greek Ally Week," a BDU statement read. "With the rotation of our executive board and various illnesses, some major events were unable to come to fruition in both Fall and Spring semesters. As Greek Ally Week is a collaboration with affinity, identity and Greek groups, we apologize on our behalf for the neglect of interaction between all of the governing bodies."
However, a student initiative has pulled together a last-minute version of the event, explained senior Abigail Lawrence.
Lawrence was upset the week was not going to happen, as it had been an important experience to her in prior years. She and her friend began discussing how to plan discussion groups among Greek LGBTQ+ members and allies. At the same time, she said other students had similar ideas, so in the end they joined forces.
Senior Austin Peer, a photographer for The Chronicle, explained that planning for Greek Ally Week had been in the talks for some time, but last week he and a group of six or eight students talked about the most feasible plan given the little time left in the semester.
"The motivation was the Chronicle article—people had been thinking about it, but that was sort of what mobilized people," Peer said.
This year's Greek Ally Week will look slightly different from last year's, however.
Some events from last year—such as Ally 101—will not be happening because they take longer to coordinate, Lawrence said.
Peer noted that feedback from past events demonstrated that many participants found the stories shared in the panel discussion powerful, which is why the events this year will center around panel discussions.
According to the week’s Facebook page, there will be a panel discussion Tuesday with LGBTQ+ members of the Greek community. This event is open to the public but requires registration. On Friday, there will be free t-shirts and Locopops on the Bryan Center Plaza for those who attended any of the events.
The remainder of the events are private. For example, there is a private discussion for GBTQ+ fraternity members and members of other all-male living groups Wednesday. Thursday’s events include a private conversation space for non-binary members of Greek life as well as a private discussion for LBTQ+ sorority members.
Junior Melodie Bonanno, one of next year’s BDU presidents, wrote in an email that BDU is delighted that this form of Greek Ally Week is happening.
“Ensuring that LGBTQIA+ students feel safe and welcomed in their interactions with the Greek community is incredibly important to us, and we are always grateful to be reminded that it is such a priority for the involved Greek organizations as well,” she wrote.
BDU is aware this version of Greek Ally Week is not a perfect replacement for the regular version, Bonanno wrote, but that the effort can be built upon next year.
“[We] hope that the involved organizations will commit to working much closer with us on this project next year to ensure maximum output from this event,” she wrote.
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