Students with dreams of displaying their vocal or musical stylings for an audience may soon get their chance.

A WKU Idol competition is being planned to offer a venue for such talent. The event is being sponsored by the Western chapter of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

The contest will be held on March 29 if NPHC can get enough interest.

Bowling Green junior Shante Hatchett, a member of NPHC, said they thought the show would be a good way to have ...   more »

Frederick and Sheila Varnado use their military experience, desire to serve and relationship with each other to give of themselves to the Hattiesburg community.

"As a married couple we share that interest of wanting to do community service work," Sheila Varnado said. "He supports me and I support him in activities we get involved in. Collectively, we can do a much better job."

The Varnados are involved in several ways. They are both members of the Mississippi Panhellenic Council, the Military Officers Association of America and True Light Missionary Baptist Church.

Frederick Varnado is the community service chairman for the Lion's Club and community program chair for the Alcorn State University Alumni Chapter. He also is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Sheila Varnado is on the executive board of the United Way of Southeast Mississippi, the Spirit of Women board and a former member of the Hattiesburg American Editorial Board. She also is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.  more >>

Member organizations of the Black Fraternal Council unanimously voted last night to join the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc., the umbrella organization for the nine historically black Greek letter fraternities and sororities.

"Because of the increased accountability that we have to go through with the NPHC, it will create more of a stable structure," BFC co-Chair Brandon Green said. "The hope is that it will bring us together socially, on a more personal level, as well as with the University. Hopefully it will make us more visible in the University community as well as the Charlottesville community."

David Bynes, assistant dean of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said joining the NPHC will increase support and resources for the BFC member organizations.   more >>

A University of Toledo student is suing the school and the president of a sorority for injuries she said were caused in a hazing incident last year.

Jonetta Reed filed the lawsuit last week in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. She said she was paddled on the buttocks and thighs and subjected to other incidents as part of the initiation into the Xi Beta Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.

Angelia M. Brown, who is president of the chapter, and Lydia C. Thomas are accused of paddling Ms. Reed. They were named as defendants in the complaint, which was assigned to Judge Charles Wittenberg. She is seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages.  more >>

College chapters of sororities and fraternities, typically pledged by the single and child-free, are attracting new members with families or full-fledged careers. It's not unusual for academic or profession-based organizations to attract adults, but it has been far less common for older students to join the more socially oriented Greek-lettered organizations.

"It definitely has changed," said Jacquelyn Thweatt-Pippion, president of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Chicago alumnae chapter, which sponsors several collegiate chapters in the state. "A lot of our undergrads now do have families. They work extra hard because they have to work a job, or with their children. That's a second job."  more >>

The quote, “Make way for the nigger,” unveiled on Jan. 19, has sparked irreconcilable controversy amongst students and faculty at the University of Georgia.

The controversy comes at a time when the university struggles to increase black student enrollment that has decreased since last year.

The conflict surrounds a display built in Myers residence hall that is dedicated to the first black woman to desegregate the University of Georgia, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, that says, “Make way for the nigger,” close to one of her pictures.   more >>

The National Pan-Hellenic Council is hosting "Unity Week" this week to unite the seven historically black fraternities and sororities it governs.

Arica Herron, a junior psychology major and president of ISU's chapter of the NPHC, said the NPHC, as a national organization, has been around since 1930. It governs nine historically black fraternities and sororities, of which ISU has seven.

Herron said each black organization has a week dedicated to them, and the NPHC is no different. Herron said the NPHC has had a week "as long as I can remember," but it is not always called "Unity Week."   more >>