Greek Life Allowed to Have Socials with COVID Guidelines in Place

Since the beginning of the academic year, many organizations in Greek Life as a whole have been wanting to hold social events in their organization houses as well as at different venues. After months of negotiating between the Center of Student Involvement and different Greek Organizations, these organizations have been allowed to request to have social events once again.

          Although fraternities and sororities alike have been given the opportunity to host events, there are still proper guidelines that have been put into place for them to follow. In December of 2020, the Center of Student Involvement partnered with campus leaders to draft these guidelines for UWG students that are interested in hosting social, educational, and diverse events.

          “During the academic year, fraternities and sororities maintained an interest in hosting social events,” said Director of Student Engagement and Leadership for UWG, Dr. Lakiesa Rawlinson. “To support their efforts, campus leadership drafted guidelines adhering to national, state and local guidelines to allow our organizations to engage the student community safely and responsibly.”

          Each organization that is interested in hosting an event on or off-campus, must follow certain guidelines that comply with the UWG institutional COVID-19 expectations as guided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health. The organizations interested in hosting an event must draft an event proposal that includes the following information: Name of event, a brief description of the event, venue address, COVID-19 guidelines, as well many other requirements. The organization must also submit a proposal to their national headquarters and chapter advisor for approval to acquire official documentation of the approved event. If all steps are followed, they must then submit an Event Reservation Form with supporting documentation to CSI for review and to approve the event.

The extended requirements to hold an on and off campus event has allowed for UWG to keep closer track of which students are attending what events, and who they come in contact with, should they come down with COVID-19 in the future. UWG has these requirements and guidelines in place in order for all students to remain safe, as well as provide guidelines for off-campus venues that might not have any.

          “Following guidelines from public health officials and the University System of Georgia, the Center for Student Involvement promoted and supported engagement opportunities for the UWG community amid COVID-19,” said Rawlinson. “Involvement in co-curricular activities helps students grow holistically and develop meaningful connections with others.

“With these goals in mind, we employed several strategies to assist our students in having social events – safely and responsibly – while adhering to national, state and local guidelines,” continued Rawlinson. “Some of these strategies included: requiring organizations to obtain support from national headquarters before hosting a social event; providing a copy of the event venue’s COVID-19 guidelines to ensure compliance; scheduling logistic meetings with groups to discuss safety protocols, and providing personal protection equipment and physical distancing signage to support these groups efforts.”

          As a result of these new requirements, Greek organizations are now able to have on and off-campus such as formals, 80’s in Aspen, semi-formals and parties. UWG is eager to give students the opportunity to have social events where they can grow as individuals and engage actively with their university campus.