The Iowa State University Sorority and Fraternity Community (SFC) are working to build a strong reputation by focusing on philanthropy and community events.
Iowa State maintains this positive reputation of its SFC by focusing on its five core values: academics, civic engagement, friendship, leadership and social justice.
Members hold a higher average GPA of 3.19 as opposed to the all-university average of 3.11, according to the Sorority and Fraternity Engagement (SFE) website. In partnership with the Academic Success Center, SFC created the Greek Academic Achievement Plan (GAAP) to help chapters make effective academic policies, host successful programs and support individual academic improvement plans.
There are also several academic honor societies members can join for high academic achievement. Gamma Sigma Alpha, Order of Omega and Rho Lambda all provide members with the opportunity to work with other outstanding students and develop leadership skills. Each organization gives members access to scholarships that are unavailable to non-members.
The individual chapters on campus are also encouraged to participate in civic engagement through philanthropy. Each chapter has its own philanthropic organization that they host fundraising events each semester for, including the Special Olympics, Children’s Miracle Network and many more.
In the 2018-2019 school year, the SFC raised more than $560,000 and gave over 54,000 hours of service to local and national organizations.
The third core value of the SFC is friendship. Chapters foster this value by hosting various social events for its members to participate in throughout the year and encouraging members to build lasting relationships with fellow members. Socials can be held within a chapter or between several chapters to build relationships with other members of SFC.
Members have the opportunity to take on various leadership roles in the SFC as well. Each chapter has an executive team and several smaller committees so each member can have a role. Members can also run for positions on their governing council: the Collegiate Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council, the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Members are also encouraged to participate in clubs and activities outside of SFC, like student government, Dance Marathon and the Student Union Board. More inter-chapter clubs exist for SFC members to participate in, including Greeks Go Green, Greek Week Central and the Sorority and Fraternity Community Ambassadors.
The final core value of SFC is social justice. According to their webpage, SFC defines social justice as “the promotion of change through challenging inequalities and embracing diversity.” A main goal of SFC is to make all students feel welcome and safe on campus. This value is fostered through implementing chapter programs and partnering with various offices on campus to start conversations of diversity, inclusion and equality among SFC members.
