By Cal State Long Beach’s second Greek Cup is right around the corner, arriving with a few tweaks designed to include cultural fraternities and sororities in this year’s competition.
Last year, cultural fraternities and sororities felt out of the running for the Greek Cup.
“I talked about it with our executive board and asked if they knew if we actually competed,” said Terrence Sanvictores, vice president of Cultural Greek Council and member of Zeta Epsilon Tau. “We didn’t know if we were a part of it.”
The director of marketing for CSULB athletics Sei Furutani, however, said the Greek Cup has always been open to any fraternity or sorority organization, cultural included. This year, adjustments will be made to the competition’s point and sign-in system to accommodate the cultural fraternities and sororities.
To also help boost attendance even more, the athletics department has added a fall prize, a catered dinner at Legends on Second Street.
The grand prize at the end of the year will include, as in the past, a trophy and a banner with the winner’s name. The banner will be hung in the Walter Pyramid for the following academic year.
As for the point system, Furutani describes it as being in a little “influx” at the moment.
“We are trying to find this middle ground so that the competition is fair to everybody,” Furutani said.
Just as in last year’s competition, a fraternity or sorority will earn one point for each member in attendance at a sporting event. This year, though, additional bonus points will be allocated for the percentage of the group that comes out, Furutani said. This means that if an organization has five members and all five show up to an event, the 100 percent attendance will be worth a total of 100 bonus points.
Furutani said the percentage-based points should make the competition fair for both large and small Greek organizations, making the ones with fewer members still able to compete.
Another step toward fairness will be a transition from sign-in sheets to scanners at the Pyramid and other home events so students can scan their student IDs, Furutani said. He is hoping this improvement will provide an accurate count of the number of members present from each Greek chapter.
Sanvictores said there is more of an incentive for cultural Greek organizations to participate this year knowing that the competition should be fairer.
“We definitely like being included,” Sanvictores said. “It’s good to know that they’re reaching a hand out to us.”
Brandon Ratner, senator-at-large and member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, said the inclusion of the cultural fraternities and sororities would strengthen unity in the Greek system.
“I think, especially with the addition of the cultural [organizations], it is going create a bigger pool of competition,” Ratner said. “It will have a positive impact because they are ultimately supporting athletics.”
The fraternity or sorority with the most points at the end of year will also receive 50 points toward its score for Greek Week, a week-long event in which teams of fraternities and sororities compete to raise the most money for charity.
All of the proceeds from Greek Week will go to Camp One Heartland, a camp for children affected by AIDS.
“From what I’ve heard, the Greeks are really competitive,” Furutani said. He also said he hopes the involvement of the cultural Greek organizations will increase the level of competition and that he is looking forward to the Greek Cup this year.
The Greek Cup is scheduled to kick off with the women’s volleyball match against Hawaii at 8 p.m. on Oct. 4 in the Walter Pyramid.
