Greeks celebrate Nikias

The third annual Greek Gala will celebrate President C.L. Max Nikias and his first year in office tonight at Town and Gown.

More than 300 USC Greeks, alumni, administration and staff will come together for the black-tie optional affair that will welcome Nikias, Panhellenic Council President Laura Redfern said.

“It’s such a historic time for USC and we just really want to welcome him in and start to facilitate a great relationship between the Greek community and the new administration,” Redfern said.

Beth Saul, assistant dean for Student Affairs and Director for Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development, said she believes the gala will help cultivate an important relationship between the USC Greek community and the new administration.

“The Greeks have had a longstanding partnership with the university senior administration and we want to get our partnership with Dr. Nikias and his administration off to a positive start,” Saul said.

Since the gala is typically an event catered to Greek members, a 10-minute video will be shown during the evening that emphasizes different aspects of Greek life such as philanthropy, scholarship and athletics.

“We really want to show Dr. Nikias just how capable the Greek community is and to show the administration that we really are grateful for his vision for USC,” Redfern said.

Redfern said she believes that the gala is the perfect occasion to demonstrate the strengths of the Greek community despite the negative attention Greek life received earlier in the semester.

“This is a chance for us to really show the university and the administration that we are a very sophisticated and responsible group of people who really love our school,” Redfern said. “We really are capable of great things even though we didn’t display our best behavior at the beginning of the semester.”

Last semester’s Greek Gala, hosted in April, raised $20,000 for the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. Although this year’s event is not a fundraiser, guests can choose to donate money to the newly established Greek Life Endowment, a fund that was created in order to reserve money for Greek activities that were normally considered outside of the budget, Redfern said.

Redfern said the guests are in for an “extremely special surprise” following Nikias’ speech.

“The Greek Gala is a tremendous way to punctuate a great Greek Week, and an awesome opportunity for the Greek community as a whole to welcome President Nikias with one united voice,” said Jake Magerman, president of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.