The traditions of strolling and stepping united the multicultural Greek organization Diversified Greek Council with the “traditionally white” councils last night at DGC’s first ever stroll competition.
The event, which was emceed and organized by DGC’s director of public relations Ayo Adejunmobi, consisted of seven of the nine DGC Greek organizations divided into five teams performing strolls with individuals from the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Greek councils.
Lambda Sigma Upsilon, Mu Sigma Upsilon and Company
Pi Delta Psi and Company
Delta Epsilon Psi and Company
Lambda Theta Alpha and Company
Sigma Lambda Beta, Sigma Lambda Gamma and Company
Strolling is a type of dancing or stepping tradition practiced among the multicultural Greek organizations of DGC and historically black organizations of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. It is typically not a tradition performed by IFC and PAN Greeks.
DGC attempted to bridge a gap between the Greek councils by having DGC fraternities and sororities teach individuals from IFC and PAN how to stroll.
“We’re unified as a council, but not amongst councils,” said Christie Morales, president of DGC. “So, we thought this would be a great idea for just the other councils to get involved, to see [DGC’s] traditions and understand why we do the things that we do.”
Morales said that developing Greek unity and promoting DGC were the two foundations of the strolling show.
“Our main purpose is not to bring competition, but more unity amongst the Greek community as a whole,” Morales said
Delta Epsilon Psi of DGC ended up winning the competition along with members of the PAN sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi. According to a member of the Deltas, Nick Patel, the team practiced for about four nights and came up with a routine that included a couple wardrobe changes and tossing out candy to the audience.
“We got creative with it,” Patel said. “We worked with [Alpha Epsilon Phi] really well and we were in sync; I guess that’s probably why [we won]. It was a lot of hard work and all our hard work paid off in the end.”
The crowd, which was mostly made up of fraternity and sorority members, responded to all the performances with many cheers, whistles, applause, and Greek calls.
“It was really fun to see everybody having a good time,” said Aaron Distler, an advisor for DGC and IFC. “You can tell that they put their heart and soul into it.”
Though most ended up enjoying the experience, said Francisco Portillo, a USF student who participated with the Deltas, originally some people were hesitant to share their traditions with other organizations.
“Some organizations… they don’t really like the fact that you’re teaching another organization that didn’t earn your letters your traditions,” Portillo said. “Us and most other DGC organizations got over it. I know our organization we felt comfortable with it.”
On the other hand, during their performance the IFC and PAN participants were not allowed to throw up the Greek hand signs which are also a tradition among ethnic Greeks.
Portillo said the members of Alpha Epsilon Phi understood and accepted the fact that they were not able to do the Delta’s diamond-shaped hand sign.
“For [Deltas] we earn the right to do that sign,” Portillo said. “So, [Alpha Epsilon Phi] asked, ‘Hey, are we allowed to throw that sign up?’ We told them no. It’s a brotherhood thing. We earned it. Only we do it.”
Alpha Epsilon Phi members who participated said their organization’s rules don’t allow them to comment on their experience in the competition. Their president also declined to comment.
Adejunmobi, who also competed last night, said the event seemed to be the best way for the organizations to learn about one another.
“IFC and PAN they were very curious about what strolling was and so we taught them how to do it and as a result they had a good time,” Adejunmobi said.
Adejunmobi said that though he was happy with how the event turned out there were some challenges along the way. An error with the Visual Arts building room reservation had DGC booked for the 18th of next month instead of March.
The Caribbean Student Association had the room reserved instead from 6 to 11 p.m. last night. But, Adejunmobi was able to convince CSA to allow DGC to use the room anyway for the hour and a half competition.
The problems didn’t stop there…
“Some of the teams were losing people because people backed out at the last minute,” Adejunmobi said. “Even two of our organizations had to back out of it, but in the end it was good; good turn out.”
The behind the scene difficulties didn’t stop the event from having great attendance and a good amount of council members participating, said Distler. He said that unity among the councils has been a major effort in the Greek community this semester and the stroll competition did a great job of keeping that initiative going.
“I’m really happy with the turn out for this first year,” Distler said. “As long as you have a few people from the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council that can go back to their chapters and say what a great time they’ve had that is really going to be a wonderful first stepping stone to really turning this event and other events into a great thing for our campus.”
He said that unity among the Greeks can also change how other students on campus view sororities and fraternities.
“As long as we can be a strong Greek life then we could really reach out to all the other students around campus that may not see Greek life in such a positive way,” Distler said. “If they see that everyone’s working together and we really are learning from each other then they would be more willing and maybe come out and really see what being part of a fraternity or sorority is all about.”
