Campus Currents

Photo by Ralph Morang

The Granite State Room was a sea of sorority sisters, dotted with large islands of fraternity brothers in baseball caps, pointing fore or aft. All eyes were on the stage where a trio of sorority sisters in variations of the little black dress functioned as emcee under an arch of green and white balloons.

"Now, without further ado, let's bring out the boys!" So began the 15th annual Greek God contest, sponsored by Kappa Delta sorority to benefit the nonprofit Prevent Child Abuse America. Ten contestants appeared one by one, each greeted by a chorus of deep shouts from the fraternal cheering section. There were togas--satin mini-togas worn by sorority sisters escorting each contestant--but the would-be gods wore sweatshirts. The Greek God contest, it turns out, is not about statuesque Adonises. It's more about being hip--or at least hokey--than handsome. And it's definitely how campus Greeks like to raise money and have fun.

During the talent portion, several contestants displayed their musical skills by singing with a guitar, a cappella, or "beatbox" style (making percussion music with mouth and mike). But what members of the audience really wanted to do was laugh, and they weren't disappointed.

Ryan Fragala '05 [wearing pants] of Lambda Chi wows the crowd with his send-up of the final scene of "Dirty Dancing." Photo by Ralph Morang

A 17-second comic bit from a Will Ferrell movie drew a big roar. Takeoffs on "Chariots of Fire" and the Taco Bell Chihuahua were also popular. The biggest crowd pleaser of all, however, was James DeLoid '04 of Sigma Nu, who re-created an MTV video for the hit song "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." With lights flashing in the dark, Deloid took to the stage in a glittery spandex suit, flipflopping his long blond mop of a wig while his assistants portrayed back-up musicians and writhing fans. The crowd went wild.

Eventually, the field of 10 was narrowed to four, and in the end, DeLoid had won, and the sisters of Sigma Delta announced that this year's contest had raised more than $11,000 for philanthropy.

In case you're wondering what Greek gods do when they get to Mt. Olympus, DeLoid's prizes included three free pizzas and four free tans. ~

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