New name, same aim: Cultural Greek Council seeks a space of its own

The university’s Cultural Greek Council may have returned from winter break with a new name, but the goals of the group, formerly known as the Multicultural Greek Council, are the same as before.

“The name changed to be more inclusive of the fact that we’re all culturally based organizations but we’re different in the way we got there with different histories,” said Gladys Castellon, 17, the former president of CGC.

The council, which is currently comprised of five culturally-based Greek organizations, returned to campus with a continued interest to increase their visibility within the Lehigh community. Whereas the majority of Lehigh’s fraternities and sororities have physical chapter houses on the Hill, CGC has begun looking to obtain a plot of land on campus that would be a physical representative of the council.

Kristen Mejia, 17, the current CGC president, said the council’s renewed interest in a plot is not new. Instead, the council has expressed a desire to gain a plot, or even an entire house for CGC alums, since 2011. For Mejia, a member of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc., the process has not been an easy one.

“You have to go through so many hoops to make change, but we’re excluding a lot of people while not making changes,” Mejia said.

Mejia said the ultimate goal was to have the opportunity to represent the respective organizations with pride. Members of CGC stressed the importance of visibility on campus, particularly when it came to where the plot would be located.

Castellon recently participated in an internship through the dean of students that focused on educating people at Lehigh about what plots are and why they exist. Her work with the internship led to a renewed interest in the development of a plot.

Castellon, the former president of Mu Sigma Upsilon Multicultural Sorority Inc., said she envisioned a garden area or a standing plaque saying when the organizations were founded accompanied by a bit of information about them.

“This would be showing a physical mark at Lehigh since we do so much work here that we love,” Castellon said.

However, the members of CGC have varying ideas of what the ideal plot would look like.

Scott Grant, 16, 17G, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., said he thought a bench with a pillar and plaque or a rock placed in front of Williams would be fitting.

Mejia said she would prefer rocks right next to the flagpole that could be repainted every year, but the CGC ultimately expressed an interest in pillars because that was the most doable idea.

“We compromised on pillars if it’ll be visible,” Mejia said. “We want people to know about it.”

The CGC adviser Malcolm McDaniel came to Lehigh in July 2016 and said the CGC immediately expressed an interest in a plot. McDaniel said the council wasn’t picky in the type of space they wanted and they would be appreciative with any form of representation.

“The council has been looking into different types of physical representation, but it doesn’t come easy,” McDaniel said.

This semester, the CGC met with President John Simon and spent a great deal of time talking about what a plot for the CGC would look like on campus.

“We don’t have an ideal location for the plot just because Lehigh has an image it needs to match,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel said he considers Lehigh’s “image” to be the overall aesthetic of the university. McDaniel said he wants to make sure the plot complements the university.

Grant echoed McDaniel’s sentiment. He said the main concern from the administration comes from altering the campus’ current aesthetic.

“The issue with the administration is that they need something sustainable,” Grant said. “You can have your name on something, but is it worth it if you’re here and then gone? They need to know it’s going to matter for a long time.”

After years of interest, the council has begun to see results. After its meeting with Simon, Mejia said there was a renewed interest in potentially placing pillars near Williams or in front of the University Center.

McDaniel said all recognized chapters within the CGC would be represented on the plot: Lambda Theta Alpha , Mu Sigma Upsilon, Sigma Gamma Rho, Kappa Alpha Psi and Lambda Sigma Upsilon as well as any new organizations.

Mejia said she hoped CGC would choose to not only include the current CGC organizations on campus. In addition to the active chapters at Lehigh, she said she would like to see the organizations that had formally existed at the university represented as well.

“Even if those organizations aren’t on campus, it’s important to represent them out of the work they did and to respect them,” Mejia said.

For Grant, a graduate student, the plot would offer a sense of permanence and validity to the organization that has defined his time at Lehigh.

“Lehigh needs to have an open representation of diversity on campus and one way to validate that is to have that physical representation,” Grant said. “Lehigh needs these things to survive.”