Students can expect to see the new National Pan-Hellenic Council’s plaza behind Hale Hall on the South Oval side with nine monuments along the perimeter to represent each of its chapters at Ohio State next fall. Credit: Mary Kidwell | Lantern Reporter
For nearly 50 years, Black sororities and fraternities at Ohio State have sought a place on campus to celebrate the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Next fall, students can expect to see nine monuments around a plaza behind Hale Hall on the South Oval, representing each of the council’s chapters at Ohio State.
Each chapter’s monument will feature its crest shield and history, Devon Stith, anti-vice president of the NPHC and member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Zeta chapter, said. The virtual groundbreaking celebration will take place Wednesday at 4 p.m.
“The biggest thing that this is doing for our council, in my mind, is bringing us visibility, and that’s something that we lacked for really the last hundred-plus years,” Stith, a third-year in consumer sciences, said. “It’s always a struggle, because our organizations are very known and notable just in the world really and then also, especially in the Black community, but then students get to campus, and there’s literally no visual representation or physical manifestation of our organizations, except for our bodies on campus.”
The chapters include Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
Rayonna Booth, immediate past anti-vice president for the NPHC and member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Xi Gamma chapter, said the council has tried to find a place on campus for decades.
“We’ve been fighting for a space like this dating back to the 1970s, and as years progressed on, as people came into the Council, they also tried to get this sort of plaza because at HBCs — Historically Black Colleges — they have this, and it’s something that’s very essential to them, something that really means something to them, it belongs to them, it’s something that they can showcase for,” Booth, a fourth-year in health information management systems, said.
Booth said the event will feature various speakers, background about the project and several NPHC members breaking the ground for the plaza with Senior Vice President for Student Life Melissa Shivers and University President Kristina M. Johnson.
Kim Monteaux De Freitas, director of Sorority and Fraternity Life in the Office of Student Life, said in a statement the whole Sorority and Fraternity Life team looks forward to visiting the NPHC plaza and celebrating the location as well as the past, present and future of the NPHC community.
“I am extremely proud of the students and staff that have helped make the NPHC Plaza a reality. NPHC has had a rich impact and influence on Ohio State since the founding for our first NPHC chapter in 1911,” Monteaux De Freitas said.
Booth said the plaza will serve as a place to hold new member presentations, showcase who chapters are and what they do for the community and serve as an educational resource to other students, potential new members, staff and alumni.
Stith said the plaza will be a campus landmark and an inclusive community for all.
“We have an open space that we can not only call our own for our organizations, but we can come and make the Black community feel safe or whatever community feel safe because that’s just the kind of environment that we want,” Stith said. “I think it gives us a lot more freedom to be visible as well. We don’t have to worry and struggle to be seen as much as we did before,” Stith said.
More details about the event can be found here.
