With 22 sororities and 50 fraternities, the Panhellenic Council and the Interfraternity Council are the largest greek councils on campus.
But Penn State is also home to both the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Both councils have member fraternities and sororities with a specific cultural focus.
“The MGC organizations were started to give all people an opportunity to join a greek organization,” said Atindra Garigipati, the president of the MGC.
These organizations can range from fewer than 10 people to more than 27, which is the number of members in the second largest fraternity in the MGC, Garigipati said.
The organizations in the council work on events and programming throughout the semester.
“We do a bunch of education and programming events on diversity, sexual harassment, budgeting and identity theft,” Garigipati said.
The council’s biggest event is the MGC Showcase where each organization performs, Garigipati said. The performances can include a step show or a video.
These events help the council organizations gain publicity — something that Garigipati said is lacking.
“As president, the MGC tries to help out organizations that do not get a lot of recognition,” Garigipati said. “They spend a lot of time and effort on events.”
As for other popular greek events such as Greek Week, the Holiday Lights Tour and Greek Sing, an invitation to participate in them is extended, but it is up to the organization on whether it wants to or not, Garigipati said.
Though Garigipati said he could see a possible event joining together all four councils happening, technically, that is what Greek Sing is because all four councils can participate.
In addition to the Multicultural Greek Council, the National Pan-Hellenic Council rounds out the four councils at Penn State.
The NPHC is a governing body that presides over five of the nine organizations that are active from the national governing body of the NPHC, Ezedube Eze said.
“All of our organizations are community service and academic based,” Eze (senior- health policy and administration) said. “We distinguish ourselves at the annual step show, but we do more community service and programming for students.”
The NPHC is often called the “Divine Nine,” referencing the nine black fraternities and sororities that are chosen to be part of the NPHC. Only five organizations are currently active on campus, but at one point, all nine were active on Penn State’s campus, Eze said.
“The reason we have that name is because we are the ones that are most notable and we have the biggest, meaning more members,” Eze said.
The NPHC did not appoint the nickname “Divine Nine” themselves, Eze said.
As president of MGC, Garigipati said he wants to try his best to get the MGC out and into the community.
“Hopefully, after progression, when a Penn State student, specifically a student who is greek, when you ask them how many councils there are, they will say four, not two,” Garigipati said.
