The Minority Greek Council, the latest addition to the university's Greek service groups, was formally founded Nov. 14.

In the name of "historically black Greek service organizations," the group was formed on the recognized need for and absence of "awareness, coordination and cooperation in activities of inter-collegiate Greek letter fraternities and sororities," according to the organization's mission statement.

The mission statement of the council also asserts that "there are certain areas of action and programming that can at best be carried out by the joint efforts" of Greek service organizations and that these "needs can be realized by formal organizations" of the same kind as the council.

"I've pushed for the MGC for two years now and finally got it," said Tricia Richerson, assistant director of Greek affairs. "The goal of the organization is to provide more leadership opportunity for those in their membership," she said.

At a formal induction ceremony hosted in the Magnolia Room, members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity were inducted into the Council, as well as the members of the MGC executive Board.

Under the leadership of Richerson, representatives from various Greek minority groups on campus with the goal to form a "council that would strive to educate the campus about our activities and create another agent of collaboration with other Greek organizations on campus," senior Dionne Tunstall, MGC Executive Board member for Service, said.

"Basically, our purpose is to promote cooperation and collaboration with all Greek letter organizations for the greater good of the campus environment," said Tunstall. "Also, it is important to educate other sororities and fraternities about the activities/purpose of minority Greek organizations in order to a foster better understanding of our goals."

The formation of the Council comes during a trend that has been affecting universities nationwide. According to senior Paul Singleton, a council executive board member for public relations and awareness, the formation of the MGC was an attempt to "catch up" to what these other universities had accomplished.

"We were following a national trend that universities like Wake Forest have responded to, those which have black fraternities across the country. We're just trying to catch up and get on track," Singleton said.

Aside from getting back "on track" in relation to other universities across the country, the MGC's official function is to combine the efforts of all minority Greek organizations on campus. According to Tunstall, one of the benefits and main goals of the MGC is to start regular events that will include other Greek organizations on campus to better the campus atmosphere.

"I think the future goals of MGC are to establish annual events that would be with the help of Interfraternity, Panhellenic Council and other groups on campus that may want to participate," Tunstall said. "I believe we want to strive to be recognized on campus as an active, solid council that the university can count on to produce quality events for everyone to enjoy," she said.

Additionally, the MGC creates a previously non-existing forum for the beliefs and ideas of these minority Greek organizations, as well as solidifying the beliefs of the University's other Greek organizations.

"I believe the Minority Greek Council is an excellent addition to the Greek councils on campus," said senior Kate Niemiec, president of the Panhellenic Council. "It not only gives them their own forum for discussion in their own National PanHellenic Council affiliations, but having their own council also helps the rest of the Greek community to understand their organizations and beliefs," she said.

The MGC hopes to jumpstart its presence among minority organizations on campus with events for the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.