A five-day series of athletic and service events for fraternities and sororities began Sunday and will run through Friday. “Greek Week” aims to unify Northwestern’s Greek community.

Featured events this year include a basketball tournament, Greek god and goddess competition, stroll competition, top chef competition and a day devoted to community service. Fraternity and sorority chapters are paired for athletic and non-athletic competitions.

The event is coordinated by one student chair from each of the four councils on campus: Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Panhellenic Association. These four students plan events, design the schedule, work out details and logistics and publicize the week.

“They do a great job marketing the event to fraternity and sorority members and getting everyone excited for the week,” said Margaret Heffernan, assistant director for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. “As staff members, we help advise them on the process, but it is really a student-run initiative.”

All 42 chapters on campus are invited to participate, and this year there are 12 teams in total that represent the four Greek councils. Generally, the four councils function as four separate entities, but Greek Week brings the entire community together.

“There’s a tendency for different councils to focus only on their own chapters,” said Rachel Garrison, Greek Week chair for the Panhellenic Association. “It’s not a problem, we’re just trying to make the whole community stronger.”

– [email protected], contributing writer