Despite the fact that in less than a month, one fraternity’s charter was revoked and another was raided by police, there is news worth celebrating on fraternity row.
This past weekend in Atlanta, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) received two awards. IFC executive board members gathered from colleges all over the southeast for the annual Southeastern IFC Conference.
“I am very excited,” said Shawn Kacker, a junior and the president of UM’s IFC. “It highlights the positives of Greeks on campus in spite of the negative news we have heard lately.”
The IFC serves as a liaison between fraternities and the University of Miami administration.
The first honor UM received was the Academic Achievement and Scholarship award. This is awarded to the IFC that best exemplifies good merit and a high fraternity grade point average.
This past fall semester, the average GPA of students in a fraternity was higher than all other male students on campus. The average GPA of fraternity members was 3.282, while the men’s average GPA was 3.197.
Beta Theta Pi had the highest average GPA, at 3.373. Sigma Phi Epsilon was right behind, averaging a 3.370 GPA.
The second award was the highest honor given at the meeting. Miami received the 2009 Fraternal Excellence Award, which is given to the councils that exemplify excellence in multiple facets of fraternity life. It was the first time since 2004 that UM received the prestigious award.
“It means a lot,” said Brandon Gross, a former IFC president and the current president of Student Government. “It shows the great things fraternity life is doing. There will occasionally be individuals that will not live up to the values of their respective fraternities, but as a whole we are doing good things.”