Lizzy Donker
Executive Editor
Sewanee’s MLK day of service was not without its challenges this year, not only because of inclement weather but also due to scheduling conflicts with students’ Shake Day for new Greek members.
MLK Day on the Mountain was filled with snow, so the day of service had to be postponed until the snow was cleared. When administrators chose a new day, some students and community members were shocked that it fell on Shake Day, and some say the shift has raised concerns about communications between student organizations and administrators.
Shake Day is the day when students pledging fraternities and sororities receive bids and choose their houses. The fun-filled day falls in February for first-year students and is vital to the Greek community. The Greek community also considers it valuable to be of service to the Sewanee and Monteagle communities Consequently, when one of the University’s most important days of service came into direct conflict with their Shake Day, some organizations on and off campus were confused and frustrated.
Photo courtesy of Sewanee Greek Life
On February 3, Sewanee hosted its second annual MLK day of service with the ambitious goal of building over 200 beds for children in need. The event was co-led by Sewanee’s Office of Civic Engagement and Office of Inclusive Excellence. The offices partnered with the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national organization that works to build beds for kids in local communities who otherwise don’t have a bed to sleep in. Before Sewanee’s event, the organization’s area chapter had a waiting list of 275 children in need of beds. The 200 beds built on campus on Feb. 3 set a Tennessee state record for the national bed-building nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
The Purple spoke with Dr. Rachel Fredericks, the Director of Inclusive Excellence with the Office of Inclusive Excellence, and Lauren Goodpaster, the director of outreach and service away programs with the Office of Civic Engagement. The two spoke on how the decision was made to move the event to Shake Day.
They explained that when the initial snow and ice occurred on the original day of service, they had no choice but to cancel the event to prioritize the safety of everyone involved, including those transporting equipment up the mountain from South Pittsburgh. When rescheduling the event, both offices worked with the Fowler Center and athletic department, as they were the ones hosting the event. Goodpaster explained that the decision was based on the athletic schedule and events such as indoor track meets and swim meets.
“That decision needed to be made in a very intentional but difficult way because we knew that there would be some conflict for sure with the Shake Day experience,” said Fredericks.
She emphasized that the two offices communicated with students and Greek life about the decision. “Lauren had several meetings with Greek life leaders the same day that it was canceled, which was the Saturday before the initial MLK day. I had a meeting with about 6 Greek leaders to talk about how we could make it work.”
The head of Sewanee’s Greek alumni council also emailed alumni advisors for Greek organizations to encourage participation. “The Greek system has a great opportunity to show its commitment to community service,” the email to advisors stated. “While I think this choice is unfortunate, please urge your chapter to participate in this worthy cause and thereby show their commitment to community service in the morning prior to Shake Day festivities. I appreciate your help.”
Fredericks and Goodpaster expressed their satisfaction with the openness and cooperation of Greek life students regarding the event being moved to shake day, emphasizing that “students’ voices matter.”
Fredericks shared that they allowed students to come and leave early in order for students to make it to their Shake Day experience on time, and stressed that Greek students “understood why it needed to be moved to Shake Day due to availability and scheduling.”
Other community parties involved felt differently.
The Purple spoke with Michael Payne (C ‘76), the current Rotary Foundation president.
Payne’s history and involvement in the Sewanee community runs deep. He graduated from the University in 1976, the same year as our current Vice-Chancellor Rob Pearigen, whom Payne called his “long-time friend.” Payne has previously served as Associated Alumni president, president of the Sewanee Club of Atlanta, president of the Monteagle-Sewanee Rotary Club, president of the Greek Alumni Council, and president of the ATO house corporation. He is also currently a member of the Sewanee Community Council for District 3.
The Monteagle-Sewanee Rotary Club, including Payne, has been heavily involved for several years in Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s initiative to provide beds for children in several area counties. He said, “The day the snow happened, as the day went on it became apparent that we were not gonna be able to safely move equipment into there…the right call was made to defer it.”
When Payne found out the event was rescheduled for Shake Day, he and other community members were concerned. “Because of my experience working with the Greek system and continuing to work with them, I was personally not happy,” he said. “We were hoping to have a lot of student involvement and if I’m correct I think probably seventy percent of our students are involved in the Greek system.”
The U.S. News & World Report ranked Sewanee in its top-10 list of schools with the highest number of students in Greek Life in 2022, with 61% in sororities and 57% in fraternities.
Payne said he was “simply advised by civic engagement” and felt like “they were doing the best they could… I felt like it would cut into our available workforce and more importantly I felt like this would be a perfect activity for the Greeks to be involved in.”
Payne said it was unclear to some Greek organizations how the decision was made. “I’ve asked 3 advisors: the advisor of KA, SAE, and one of the sororities, ‘Did they get notice or anything from student life that encouraged them as Greeks to participate?’And they all had the same answer: ‘Not to my knowledge.’”
Payne expressed his gratitude towards students who participated in the event. “They were a great help. A lot of groups, not just fraternities but sororities too, a lot of folks came to the build day.” But for many, the amount of time they could work at the event was limited, he added.
“A lot of them had to leave by 11 o’clock so we did notice a lesser workforce from about 10 or 11 o’clock” shared Payne. “Building 200 beds is significant, that’s the most we’ve ever built and we still had people working at 3:30 in the afternoon, and then of course clean up went into 4 or 5 o’clock that night if not later. So it would have been beneficial for us to have a larger workforce there in the afternoon.”
Payne said that this was the first year they have ever tried to build that many beds. The reason behind it, he added, is that there were so many children on a waiting list for beds despite the group having built and delivered over 1,400 beds in the area over three or four years. “We could’ve used more manpower, and I think there’s no question that a significant number of students because of Shake Day left earlier than I think they would have otherwise.”
“I think we would do everything going forward to avoid any conflict with any group of students but most especially a Greek system that’s 70 percent of our students. If Student Life office, those in charge of it, did not actively encourage Greeks to participate then I think that’s a mistake and one I would love to hear their explanation on why they did it.”
Despite being held on Shake Day, the event was still successful and unarguably will make a significant impact.
“It’s a really big event, a big undertaking and I just think it’s a good example of a community coming together, two offices and community partners all coming together and hopefully creating positive change…I’m very grateful,” Goodpaster said.
Fredericks and Goodpaster said they believe the event being moved to Shake Day could’ve increased student engagement. Goodpaster added that a few students even commented that the University should consider making service a permanent part of Shake Day.
Yet some students say the rescheduling decision is only the latest example of Student Life and other administration officials not involving students in decision making.
Fredericks and Goodpaster wished to express their gratitude to the more than 20 University and community partners who helped make the MLK day of service event possible.
They include: All Saints’ Chapel, Bonner & Canale Service Internship Program, Career Readiness & Integrated Advising, the Center for Leadership, the Division of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, the Division of Student Life, Monteagle Sewanee Rotary Club, Mountain Top Meal Prep & Catering, the Office of Civic Engagement, the Office of Inclusive Excellence, the Office of the Dean of the College, Reliable Rental of Franklin County, the Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, & Reconciliation, the School of Theology, Sewanee Athletics, Sewanee Greek Life, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, South Cumberland Community Fund, South Cumberland Plateau AmeriCorps, and the Vice Chancellor’s Office.
What exactly does the Office of inclusive Excellence do?