Abolish NCSU IFC & Panhellenic, a new Instagram page focusing on sharing the personal experiences of NC State students with Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) organizations, specifically the InterFraternity Council (IFC) and the Panhellenic Association, seeks to address many of the systemic issues within various NC State fraternities and sororities.

One of the students running the account, talked about the reasons behind running the page without centralized figures.

“The focus on this movement shouldn’t be on the people organizing it,” the student said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to try to look at my experience and my sorority and say that specific experiences I’ve had are the sole reasons why I’m doing this.”

The Instagram page first debuted on July 20, following  the creation of similar accounts at other colleges and universities nationwide, including UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke. Since then, the account has gained 1,158 followers, sharing student experiences, resources and information opposing FSL organizations at NC State. 

“The bio of our Instagram page is where we have all of our resources,” the student said. “The Google form says to share your story, and if you’d like to remain anonymous, it gives the people the option to share the specific organization they were affiliated with, if they just rushed or were never affiliated, alongside the option to say their year and school.” 

The student said they created the account in response to the lack of accountability many predominantly-white fraternities and sororities held towards systemic issues, including displeasement towards witnessing and experiencing various accounts of interpersonal violence, sexism, homophobia and racism within FSL organizations. Two NC State fraternity members were caught using racial slurs in early June. One member was expelled from his chapter, while the other was suspended.

According to the student, the movement has also been in contact with similar abolition groups at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill via Instagram. 

“We have multiple group chats of a coalition of all of the [abolition] chapters in this country,” the student said. “We’ve had a couple of Zoom meetings, just so different people can hear what everyone is up to, and talking about doing more nationally, but the first step is kinda everyone setting up coalitions at their own universities and gaining support.”

The movement has also released a petition to move all recruitment events online in order to protect students from COVID-19 during a traditionally highly interactive process.

According to Brown Dobek, the University is in the process of fine-tuning the recruitment process for increased safety in response to COVID-19 so that students can still get involved with FSL organizations without putting their health at risk.

Specific restrictions put in place include a moratorium on social gatherings at chapter houses to keep the students who live in those spaces safe. 

“It’s also important that we’re not creating these hotspots where we’re gathering in ways that are unsafe and really impacting COVID-19 numbers,” Brown Dobek said.

Guidelines to living in Greek Village housing during the pandemic can be found on the NC State FSL website. 

According to the student, the movement plans to release a petition to abolish IFC and Panhel with the support of a larger coalition and other campus organizations, while also organizing town halls with administration to map out the abolition process at NC State. A projected date for when these town halls will take place has not been announced

Brown Dobek stated that the issues surrounding the IFC and the Panhellenic Association at NC State are symptoms of problems within the campus community at large.

“Behavior on a college campus is related to the context of that campus,” Brown Dobek said. “And then, when you look at the behavior of a fraternity and sorority community on a college campus, it is a microcosm of that greater campus culture.”

Currently, according to Brown Dobek, student concerns surrounding racism, sexual assault, drugs and other issues are being addressed within IFC and Panhellenic organizations. However, she said these issues may not be best addressed on a social media page

“Social media doesn’t really lend itself to a conversation and that opportunity for input and for further discussion and for dialogue,” Brown Dobek said. “So I think it can actually be, sometimes, counterproductive to take something as sensitive and complex as this and try to use something that’s really limited in scope.”

As students continue to come forward with concerns over IFC and Panhellenic organizations, Brown Dobek stressed cooperation between organizations on campus to address widespread problems.

“NC State owns how their history and their context is part of that problem and how the whole university needs to own being part of that solution,” Brown Dobek said. “We’re not immune from that. We’re not responsible for that. We do absolutely have a role and a response in that.”

For more information on the Abolish NCSU IFC & Panhellenic movement, visit their social media page and their resources list. 

Editor’s Note: Updated for spelling.