A Greek Life Committee was recently formed to promote the fraternities and sororities of Binghamton University by giving back to the local community and hosting events such as tonight’s “Dance Your Heart Out,” which aims to get the entire campus involved.
Last summer, Remy Beitscher, a junior member of Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and Student Association President Adam Amit discussed creating a Greek Life Committee. In September, Beitscher started looking for a diverse group of people from greek life to help plan events for the committee.
There are currently six members of the committee, including greek life members Remy Beitscher of Pi Lambda Phi, Danielle Romano of Alpha Phi sorority, Josh Kellner of Zeta Psi fraternity, Natalie Ben-Yakar of Alpha Zi Delta sorority and Enki Toto of Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity.
Amit is the sixth member of the group and said he is there as a resource and for guidance. According to Beitscher, Amit has worked closely with the group since day one and has been a “great resource in helping [the Greek Life Committee] in any way he could.”
Upon meeting, the committee worked and expanded on Beitscher’s ideas and created what is now “Dance Your Heart Out.”
“Dance Your Heart Out,” an on-campus dance party and the committee’s first event, is tied to its original goal of putting out one big event that all of greek life and every student at BU can enjoy.
“The most important purpose [of ‘Dance Your Heart Out’] is for greek life to put on a fun event on campus to give back to the community,” Beitscher said.
Originally, all the proceeds from the event were going to the Boys & Girls Club of Binghamton; however, the recent tragedy in Haiti heightened the importance of the event and the committee decided to split the proceeds between Haiti relief and the Boys & Girls Club.
Amit added that another important purpose of the event is to “show that greek life belongs here and is an important part and positive aspect of student life at Binghamton University.”
The event will be held Feb. 5 from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Mandela Room and the Tillman Lobby of the Old University Union. In order to appeal to fraternities and sororities, Beitscher said that there are group rates that start at $50 for a small group of less than 20 people and go up to $150 for a large group of 41 or more.
Students can also pay $5 a person at the door, but paying in advance saves each person of the group a few dollars.
“We want there to be a strong showing from greek life as well as those not involved with greek life to show people what we’re about,” Beitscher said. “We don’t feel like greek life has done anything official to give back to the campus in a long time and that’s what we’re trying to do with this event.”
“Dance Your Heart Out” will feature three different DJs and three student groups including International Flag Dancers, BU’s Dance Team and Masti. There will also be snacks, refreshments, raffles and giveaways throughout the night.
Beitscher said that the raffles for gift cards, donated by various restaurants and stores in the Binghamton area, will help raise money to pay for the minimal costs of the event such as food and music, since the committee is not chartered by the SA and therefore has no working budget.
“Once [the committee] breaks even, every dollar will be donated to the charities,” he said. “I think the philanthropies we are donating to will cause the event to have a very large turn out.”
According to Beitscher, due to the upcoming event, the committee seems to have gained popularity throughout greek life.
He is hopeful that the event will be a success and that the committee will be able to bring more big events to campus.
Amit echoed Beitscher’s hopes and added that everyone on the committee is excited for the event and the future of “Dance Your Heart Out.”
“We also hope this event will become an annual tradition and in 20 years we’ll come back to Binghamton and it will be the 20th anniversary of ‘Dance Your Heart Out,’” Beitscher said.