By ANIKA SETHY
Hundreds of students gathered in Bartels Hall Friday to participate in the Cornell Interfraternity Council’s Go Greek! Dodgeball Tournament as a part of a new effort to create alcohol-free events for freshmen to meet members of the Greek community.
Prior to this event, freshmen were prohibited from having formal contact with fraternity members during the first quarter of the school year, according Spencer Nord ’16, vice president of university and community relations for the IFC.
“After constructive discussions with administrators and other campus organizations, fraternity men will be able to have contact with freshmen by means of various late night programming events hosted by the IFC and chapters themselves,” Nord said.
The dodgeball tournament is the first of the IFC’s late-night programming events, according to Cameron Pritchett ’15, president of the IFC.
“Our goal has been to plan and execute events that are appealing to freshmen,” Pritchett said. “It has to be something a person would give up a Friday night out to attend … we were able to place three freshmen with three fraternity or sorority members, and they competed together.”
Pritchett said the IFC was “ecstatic” to pass one of the first policy revisions to the quarter system, adding that this is the first time in several years that fraternities can interact with freshmen men early in the semester.
“The events have to be hosted at campus facilities, cannot involve alcohol and must be preapproved,” Pritchett said. “This is a huge responsibility that the Greek system has been entrusted with.”
Allegra Holland ’16, a sorority member who attended the dodgeball tournament, said the event’s attendees mainly consisted of fraternity members and male freshmen.
“There were a bunch of fraternity [brothers], mostly,” she said. “They joined with freshmen and seemed to be getting along well.”
Holland added some freshmen girls at the tournament were under the misconception that the event was created to recruit potential new members for the spring semester.
“I talked to four freshmen girls who were on my team,” Holland said. “One girl was curious about what living in the house is like, and another thought [my friend] and I had been sent as recruiters to scout for girls.”
According to Pritchett, the event turned out to be a success, with hundreds of students in attendance.
“We had hundreds of students attend — both from fraternities and sororities and freshmen themselves,” he said. “The tournament continued all the way to the Bartels building closing time, so demand for these types of events is clearly apparent.”
Pritchett added that the IFC was initially unsure what to expect in terms of the even’ts turnout.
“With the [high] attendance at dodgeball, it is clear the Greek system should continue to be utilized as a vehicle for safe and attractive programming,” he said.