For the first year ever, the National Pan-Hellenic Council and
Multicultural Greek Council joined the Interfraternity Council in
performing in the “Sing and Variety Show” yesterday
evening at Hill Auditorium, marking the end of a week during which
fraternities and sororities raised more than $45,000 for
charities.
The Variety Show is the culmination of Greek Week, which was
devoted to raising money for charities through a variety of
activities and competitions. There was a $10 cover charge for the
show, which involves fraternities and sororities pairing with each
other to perform a pop a capella song of their choice.
Neal Pancholi, co-president of Alpha Iota Omicron, which is part
of the Multicultural Greek Council, said that he was excited to
participate in the show.
“I definitely think it is a good experience. It is good to
integrate ourselves; we’ve always been separate between the
IFG and MGC. It is good to come together. We have a common goal
with different perspectives. I feel like we can learn from each
other,” Pancholi said.
Their participation raised between $45,000 and $50,000 for
charities, while last years’ events raised $38,000. Greek
Week Co-Director Laura Butler said the money is being split between
Coach Carr’s Cancer Fund and Camp Heartland, a camp for
children who have been infected with HIV and AIDS, with 10 percent
of proceeds going to the charity of the team that wins the
competition at show.
The Friars, an octet subgroup of the Men’s Glee Club, sang
during the intermission of the three-hour event. They poked fun at
the Greeks by singing their original composition “North Face
Girl” to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Uptown
Girl.”
Clad in brightly colored clothes, sororities and fraternities
paired to do renditions of their favorite pop songs and competed
for the charity prize. Now and then the auditorium erupted into
applause and chants as audience members cheered for friends
performing on stage.
Recent allegations of sexual assault at Sigma Alpha Epsilon
fraternity house, which have since been dropped, failed to dampen
the spirit of the event and the primarily Greek-system crowd was in
high spirits.
“It obviously hurts to see something negative. But the
focus is to bring everyone together and focus on the positive.
(Rape) is obviously something horrible,” Butler said.
Co-Director Charles Cooke said the stigma of the community made
it hard for him to raise money from local businesses in Ann Arbor
for Greek Week.
“But kids are not here to drink and party but help. When
the (Greek) system is so large, we’re trying to raise money
for charity and take away the stigma,” Cooke said.