On April 11, 2025, I stumbled into a Greek Week event in the Paul Galvin Tower auditorium. Hosted between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., I joined Alpha Psi Lambda, Triangles, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Sigma Phi Epsilon for a rather unique and unfamiliar festival and competition. As the title suggests, I am a complete outsider to all things Greek life, so the information in this article comes from the little bit of information I personally possess, as well as a lot of help from members more familiar with it all.
Alpha Psi Lambda Initiation
The Alpha Psi Lambda initiation, advertised as a “Dia De Los Muertos” event, kicked off the evening, as a line of four new members took the stage in line formation. The stage itself was decorated festively in accordance with the Dia De Los Muertos theme, with the four girls themselves wearing regalia reminiscent of common ofrenda themes, most prominently a sugar skull mask. Alpha Psi Lambda is the largest co-ed Latine fraternity, with a focus on community and education, according to its website.
The initiation itself was a 30-minute exchange between a speaker (presumably a member of Alpha Psi Lambda) and the four line members. The speaker would ask a question or prompt the line, to which the line, who stood arm-to-arm, would answer synchronously in a manner which I can only really describe as bizarre. The line leader would stomp twice, all four would answer simultaneously with an obviously well-practiced pacing, and then the stage would fall silent before the next input from the speaker. The line acknowledged the various fraternities present before acknowledging themselves in a rather loud shout. In this same manner, they then acknowledge a variety of what I can only assume were important members relevant to the organization, before moving onto a recitation of the origin story of the fraternity, and a by-memory recitation of the Greek alphabet.
After this opening, two additional people took stage, hiding a member of the line one-by-one as they undid their Dia De Los Muertos regalia. After this was done, the line member would step forward and give a short sentence describing a “pledge parent” that has since passed away, hence the Dia De Los Muertos theme. Once all members had their regalia removed and given the chance to acknowledge a pledge parent, Alpha Psi Lambda kicked off the next part of the Greek Week event: the dance competition. Music played as the girls showed off a short but well-practiced choreography. The theme of their dance was in line with the Latine roots of the fraternity, and if I had guess as someone not at all familiar with dance, was inspired by tango and other Latine/Hispanic dancing traditions.
After Alpha Psi Lambda’s dance-off, the stage was cleared off, and a wheel was spun to select the next fraternity to compete. By chance, the next in line was Triangles. After a short setup, Triangles performed a longer story-based dance, set in a “Squid Games” setting. Backstage stood the familiar masked guards, while contestants sat front stage, dancing off and fighting each other to elimination. After a short section, the guards would eliminate one or two of the contestants. As the dance continued, a love story developed between two of the contestants, who made it to the semifinal competition. A slower, more romantic dance played out between the two, before the male contestant was eliminated, leaving the last standing female dancer mourning the loss of her new-found lover. In a humorous twist, the choreography ends with the guards taking front stage, dancing before lifting up the presumed patron of this dance-off Squid Games as prop money was tossed in the air and littered the stage.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, I had not planned to stay the full two hours, so I did not get to see the other fraternities perform. Again, I want to reiterate that I am a complete outsider to all things Greek life, so take my conclusion with a grain of “this person is a complete noob.” When I walked into the packed auditorium with girls on stage synchronously reciting a list of mantras in skull masks, I would be lying if I did not get a cult-like first impression. However, as I got a chance to watch the initiation develop, it became clear that this was much more symbolic than I realized. The acknowledgement of pledge parents that have since passed away in particular was very touching, and though I didn’t understand every bit of the interaction, I’m sure there was a lot more to it all than met the eye. The portion of the dance-off I did witness was also incredibly fun, with fun stories being told and a level of audience engagement from the other fraternities that you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere on this campus.