To a casual observer walking through Audubon Hall on a Thursday night, the evening class in Room 104 might look like a room full of Greek students.
This person would see women wearing bright blue or red “Grub” T-shirts and flip-flops with embroidered sorority letters and sitting in the wooden desks scattered throughout the classroom. Men in front-tucked Polo shirts look between the ripped edges of their LSU baseball caps toward the lecturer behind the podium.
A casual observer would be correct in assessing this group of students as Greeks because the majority of them belong to a fraternity or sorority.
This class is EDUC 2000, “Greek Leadership.”
Just before class began Sept. 11, class member Mary Katherine Burns said it is the best class a student can sign up for.
Burns, a political science junior and Kappa Alpha Theta member, said she decided to take the class because she is a leader in her sorority and because she thought it would be a fun class.
“I’m learning a lot about being a good leader and what kind of leader I am,” Burns said.
Burns said she is learning about being a good leader through better communicating with the other women in her sorority.
Victor Felts, associate dean of Greek Affairs and the instructor for the class, said communicating through good leadership is one of the goals he tries to teach.
“The chairs are always in a circle so everyone will get to know each other,” Felts said. “When they become officers in their fraternities and sororities they will have already met each other.”
Felts said the class is designed specifically for students in fraternities and sororities. Non-Greek students could enroll in the class, but Felts said students earn some class points by participating in activities within their own Greek organization.
“It would be extremely difficult if you’re not in a fraternity or sorority because a lot of the class revolves around actual membership,” he said. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to write a reaction paper.”
At least one student in the class is not a member of a Greek organization. Keith Hoffman, a marketing junior, is a former member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Hoffman thinks the class still holds benefits for him although he is no longer an active fraternity member.
“Honestly, in the business world you have to be a good leader,” Hoffman said. “Greek organizations are some of the best organizations on campus as far as developing leadership.”
Felts said the textbook he uses teaches principles that include modeling good leadership techniques and inspiring others to use the same techniques. He said these principals can appeal to all students, not just Greeks.
“Every person has the qualities, but it’s a matter of how you practice it,” he said.
Felts said classwork is not difficult but participation in group projects and conversations is critical.
“Most students do well because conversations are about things they are interested in,” he said.
Sara Cheramie, a biochemistry freshman who is not in a sorority, was unfamiliar with and uninterested in the Greek Leadership class.
“Like most things, if you don’t have a background, the tradition doesn’t mean anything to you,” she said.
Cheramie said there was one advantage she could think of if she were to get involved in the Greek system and take the class.
“You would get to meet a lot of people without having to seem awkward, like in class when yo go up to meet people,” she said.