UIUC TO NIU

              Being greek at Northern Illinois University is far more than I ever expected. I became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During my time there as a member I was very active and enjoyed doing a host of things such as awareness events, community service, BBQs, etc. I really enjoyed being there and being an elite member within the black community itself. Many people were active, but many failed to lead and be the ones who showed underclassmen the way to be. I instilled in many of my mentees a hard work ethic (work hard played hard). I was keeper of records and seal for my chapter. I was in charge of recording minutes for the chapter meetings, filing all paperwork of the chapter, and keeper of information pertaining to chapter functionality.
               It wasn't until I came to NIU that I realized how good I had it at UIUC. The Greek environment was great and a leading cause of forming great leaders. When I first came to NIU in spring 2014 many people on campus looked at me weird when I wore my letters as if they had seen a ghost. I was told the fraternity lacked membership on campus and it had been awhile since members were active on campus. I made it my obligation to make sure students knew who we were on campus by supporting the events of many organizations on campus. Suddenly Greeks and students began to realize we were making our return to campus. Last year with my 3.7 GPA in the spring I helped the chapter become back fully active. Since then we have been planning our great return of activities on campus. We attempted to host a concert this past week, but due to SILD we weren't able to host our event. They have policies and procedures that don't make any sense. I have never in my experience being greek felt like I do now. I have to jump through loop holes and have everything perfect in order to host events on the campus. Everything that we as black Greek letter organizations  try to do on campus is rejected or a problem for campus and is a safety concern. I feel like I'm in prison because I'm not able to do things I joined the organization to do on campus simply because they don't want us to and that is not fair.

http://www.niu.edu/studentinvolvement/Forms%20and%20Policies/Forms%20and%20Policies/Off-Campus%20Social%20Events%20Policy%2012.5.14.pdf
http://pipsichapter.org/