skip to Main Content

At the University of Oregon, our Greek-Letter organizations function as a values-based community that prioritizes Scholarship & Learning, Community Service & Philanthropy, Brotherhood & Sisterhood, Leadership Engagement, and Community Awareness.

When pursuing membership within one of our organizations, the process of recruitment is designed for potential new members to connect with women from all 11 of our chapters and learn more about how each one encompasses the Fraternity and Sorority Life values. It is important that a values-based recruitment guides a woman to a chapter that will help enhance their growth and development at the University of Oregon, even beyond joining a sorority. The Panhellenic Community strives to make each organization’s values and our community’s values the predominant focus during the membership recruitment process. We believe that sorority membership guides each individual towards becoming the best version of themselves and the recruitment process is only the first step. For more information on our values, please click through the values below.

Community Service & Philanthropy

As a member of the FSL Community, you serve an important role of participating in philanthropic endeavors that strive to raise several hundreds of thousands of dollars for the charitable organizations we are passionate about each year. One of the most satisfying aspects of Sorority life is the sense of satisfaction and pride which comes with involvement in Community Service & Philanthropy. As Greek organizations, we aspire to work alongside our sisters and brothers to create a cohesive, philanthropic community. Fundraising events of many kinds are organized each year by our chapters and often involve working together and/or competing against each other to contribute significantly to the communities both on a local and national level. Such projects help members develop qualities such as moral character, civic responsibility, personal development, and many more through the realization of the need to support those in need of a helping hand.

In addition to our philanthropic events, our Greek organizations are very involved in community service projects. Whether visiting residents of a local nursing home, painting public buildings, or reading to preschoolers, each member experiences a feeling of well-being and a sense of worth that comes from the simple expression of care for others. Below are the philanthropic priorities of each Panhellenic chapter:

Alpha Chi Omega

Domestic Violence Awareness and Alpha Chi Omega Foundation

Alpha Phi

Heart Health Awareness and Alpha Phi Foundation

Chi Omega

Make-A-Wish Foundation

Delta Delta Delta

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Tri Delta Foundation

Delta Gamma

Service For Sight and Delta Gamma Foundation

Delta Zeta

Starkey Hearing Foundation and Delta Zeta Foundation

Gamma Phi Beta

Girls on the Run and Building Strong Girls

Kappa Alpha Theta

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation

Kappa Delta

Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA) and Girl Scouts

Kappa Kappa Gamma

Early Childhood Cares and Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

Pi Beta Phi

Read>Lead>Achieve and Pi Beta Phi Foundation

Sigma Kappa

Maine Seacoast Mission and Sigma Kappa Foundation

Recently, the University of Oregon adopted the national Panhellenic philanthropy, Circle of Sisterhood. This non-profit organization was founded by sorority women on a mission to raise financial resources to help remove educational barriers for girls and women facing poverty and oppression in 24 countries on four continents. Circle of Sisterhood has been able to grant over $675,000 to organizations around the world and has funded 23 school builds in Malawi, Senegal, Haiti, Nepal and Nicaragua since its founding in 2010.

Here at the University of Oregon, we actively partake in a variety of different events to help raise money as well as awareness for Circle of Sisterhood through our educational efforts in Recruitment Orientation and Mentor Training.

Sisterhood

From Bid Day to graduation, the bonds of sisterhood have the potential to last a lifetime. The bonds and friendships made are based on the shared values of your organization and our community. Our sisterhoods provide some of the greatest support systems during the collegiate experience, as well as incredible networking opportunities and lifelong relationships beyond college. These relationships will provide you with support to be involved, challenged, and empowered throughout your time at Oregon. Your commitment to your chapter and sisters will uphold the expectations of accountability and promise to your values so you can reach your full leadership potential.

Activities

Philanthropies, socials, and sisterhood events provide opportunities for sisters to grow closer, but our campus traditions of sisterhood retreats really define the closeness of our bonds.  Many chapters hold sisterhood retreats at the Oregon coast, local hiking destinations, and other venues such as the trampoline park, ice skating rink, or the pumpkin patch. These retreats can be overnight or just for a few hours and encourage women to meet more sisters, share their experiences, and grow as a chapter.

Additionally, chapters hold events with other chapters to spread Panhellenic love and unity. Whether it’s a joint hike and brunch, a game of dodgeball, or campus-wide dinner swaps, our Panhellenic chapters celebrate one united sisterhood. We do this by supporting other chapter’s philanthropies, as well as our campus wide philanthropy: Circle of Sisterhood. The active Panhellenic community provides so many different opportunities to strengthen the bonds of sisterhood, and try something new here in Eugene!

“Big and Little” is a tradition that is seen across many university campuses. A “Big” sister’s job is to take a new member under her wing and help integrate the “Little” into the sorority. Although, to many Big sisters, this relationship means so much more than that. The bond between a Big and Little is very special and often times becomes a bond that is lifelong. This mentorship program has seen many successful relationships over the years and many women have stated that their college experience would not have been the same without meeting their Big sister. This old sorority tradition embodies the true meaning of sisterhood.

 

Academic Achievement

Our Panhellenic community prides itself on holding all our members to a high academic standard. As a University of Oregon student and member of a Greek-letter organization, it is expected of you to strive attach academic achievement and personal development. While each chapter has a unique scholarship program, all our members push their sisters to better themselves and strive for their personal best. Our chapters use many different resources, such as proctored study hours, incentive programs, and scholarship dinners, to help their members reach their academic goals. Panhellenic Council assists in these efforts by offering guest speakers, workshops, community wide study tables, scholarships, and assistance to any chapter’s scholarship chair.

Scholarships

Every year, at our Greek Excellence Awards, we present chapter awards highlighting exceptional Scholarship & Learning as well as multiple scholarships to outstanding women in our community. While the scholarships vary by year, there are always many opportunities for our members to receive financial rewards for their hard work and academic success. Additionally, this coming year, we will begin awarding a Panhellenic-wide scholarship available to all active members.

For more information on all scholarships, please contact [email protected].

 

Community Awareness

Every community of people, no matter if they are comprised of Greek-letter organizations or not, encounters issues that can negatively affect it. Our community is dedicated to identifying the issues relevant to us and addressing them accordingly. However, being a member of our community is more than an individual experience. Members of the community work together to address these issues through prevention and education efforts specifically tailored to the FSL community and connecting members to campus resources. Working towards solving the issues relevant to our community shows our dedication taking care of one another and our legacy as a community.

The Panhellenic Council works with chapter leadership at our weekly council meetings to address these issues through open discussion. Present are FSL advisors, Pahellenic Council officers, and chapter leadership. We facilitate these discussions and work together to develop solutions to community-wide issues that have a negative effect on chapter operations and hinder the fulfillment of our community purpose: to create a unified community of women who strive to better themselves and their university community.

Leadership Engagement

The University of Oregon’s Panhellenic community is a group of diverse women that are united in their respective pursuits of leadership and community involvement both within their respected chapter and the entire FSL community. Through the Panhellenic community, every student has ample opportunity to foster relationships and refine skills that not only directly impact our community tremendously, but also translate into the professional world. Our community opens an infinite amount of doors by both inspiring and empowering women to be the best version of themselves and to share that within the Panhellenic community and the University-at-large. Listed below are a few examples of the opportunities provided by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life that members have to grow as a leader and to develop professional engagement in our community:

Greek Leadership Academy

The Greek Leadership Academy is a weekend retreat that invites leaders from the entire community, including Interfraternal Council and Panhellenic Council members, Fraternity and Sorority Life staff, and chapter presidents or other chapter leaders, to come together and engage in meaningful conversations surrounding our community. Through activities ranging from bonding to facilitate group discussions about issues facing our membership, this retreat allows for an open dialogue to exist between the entire community at the start of each year. Greek Leadership Academy creates a network of passionate leaders through relationship building with each other and advisors, and setting shared goals and ways to achieve such goals to set the tone for our community and sets the bar high for what we strive to accomplish.

Panhellenic Council and Panhellenic Judicial Board

The Panhellenic Council at the University of Oregon is the coordinating body of 12 National Panhellenic Conference sororities here on campus. The council is composed of 10 current sorority executive board members who disaffiliate from their chapters during the recruitment process in order to provide an unbiased opinion and support for all. Panhellenic strives to strengthen the Greek community and promotes our FSL values of Scholarship & Learning, Community Service & Philanthropy, Brotherhood & Sisterhood, Leadership Engagement, and Community Awareness. The Panhellenic Council provides programs throughout the year to address current issues affecting college women, promote diversity and positive change within the Greek community, and celebrates the contributions each member makes to their organization and to our entire community.

The Panhellenic Judicial Board, comprised of members from all chapters in our community, is responsible for upholding the bylaws and rules of the Panhellenic community. This board allows women from the entire community to be involved in disciplinary procedures by adjudicating cases that are specific to our chapters and our bylaws. This board plays a crucial role in the formal recruitment procedure as it handles any infractions that occur, and serves to assist the Vice President of Recruitment and Recruitment Counselors in ensuring a fair and equal recruitment process.

FSL Task Force for Sexual Violence Prevention and Unified Greek Conduct Board

The FSL Sexual Violence Prevention (SVP) Board is a peer governing board composed of one to two members from every chapter represented on our campus. During these meetings, this leadership board works with the FSL community to motivate and educate their peers and the University to prevent sexual violence. Additionally, this board hosts multiple events throughout the year to raise awareness such as Sexy Sundaes, health communication tabling, and self-defense workshops

The Unified Greek Conduct Board (UGCB) is a peer governing board comprised of FSL members from every Council: PHC, IFC, MGC, and NPHC. Working side by side with the University’s Office of Student Conduct, this board emphasizes the role of peer accountability and aids in maintaining a collaborative partnership with University administration.

Emerging Leaders Retreat

The Emerging Leaders Retreat is a program designed specifically for younger, recently welcomed members of the University of Oregon Fraternity and Sorority Community to learn more about the history of Greek organizations, discover their personal values, and engage in activities that focus on leadership development. The goal of the retreat is to start a conversation amongst younger membership that will develop thoughtful leadership and critical thinking in future leaders. Throughout this weekend, members of our community are challenged to think critically about the issues the Greek community is currently facing and what actions are needed to be taken in order to establish a future opportunities of leadership and personal development. Many members who have attended this weekend have gone on to hold leadership positions within their chapter, on PHC/IFC councils, and in various student organizations on campus.

Back To Top