Students from five fraternities and sororities are working to create a National PanHellenic Council (NPHC) at SRU to obtain the same rights as other groups on campus.
The NPHC is an organization of nine historically African-American international Greek fraternities and sororities. Of the nine, five are currently represented on campus: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Nahja Kittrell-Watson, member of Zeta Phi Beta and senior criminology major, is the prospective president of NPHC and said the council would unify the five groups. Kittrell-Watson and other groups on campus, including graduate assistants for Greek life Olivia Langston and Natalie Polana, are working together to set up the council.
“As of now, we’re identified as individual organizations and are the only ones that are predominately African American that do not have a council,” Kittrell-Watson said.
Watson said that SRU had a NPHC in the past but eventually it stopped. Watson tried to bring it back in fall 2014 but was told that it couldn’t be done due to lack of funding and other obstacles.
“Nobody was giving specific details on why not,” Kittrell-Watson said. “We were still kind of getting pushed back.”
