Part three: Greek life dominates CU Student Government

If you want to be elected to CUSG, you have to have the Greek life endorsement, said Jemil Kassahun, CUSG Finance Board Chair and CU Law student. 

CU Boulder officially recognizes 28 chapters of fraternity and sorority organizations. There are at least 3,600 members in those organizations and that number does not include 20 fraternities on University Hill that are a part of the North American Interfraternity Conference that are not recognized as University organizations. 

Greek life has an important role and intersection with CU Student Government because Greek members have continuously held positions of power and leadership within CUSG. 

Each spring, student government elections are held and interested students form tickets composed of three students run as a tri-executive team to be joint student body presidents. The tri-executives that are elected select other students to fill out their cabinet and staff to be the newest additions to the executive branch. Additionally, there are positions for representatives at large who become members of the legislative branch and positions for justices who become part of the judicial branch.

Since 2016, every tri-executive team that has been elected has had at least two out of its three members also be members of a Greek life organization. 

“If you don’t have Greek life on your side, you are not going to be elected for tri-executive,” said Jemil Kassahun, CUSG Finance Board Chair and CU law student.

The tri-executives help oversee a budget of almost $27 million. Their role allows them to have access to CU Boulder administrators, regents and the student government leaders at the other CU campuses. Because of these connections, they have the ability to create change—or not—by going directly to administration and passing agenda items; these are actions that are not available to other CUSG members and exclusive powers for the three student body presidents. 

However, CUSG elections do not seem to be a top priority among students. 

General attention, knowledge and care about CUSG elections are not values held by a majority of CU students. It was reported that 11.9% of the student body voted in last spring’s election, which is just over 4,000 votes of the 34,247 students enrolled last year. 

For comparison, IFC on the Hill reports 2,200 fraternity members and the university recognizes 3,600 Greek life members, coming to roughly 5,800 members a part of Greek organizations in Boulder.

In an Oct. 12 statement released by the current tri-executive members regarding the chancellor’s agreement amendments and the anger it caused last fall, they state that “the opportunity to run for Tri-Executive and hold the authority to revise and edit the Chancellor’s Agreement is open and accessible to any and all fee-paying students at CU Boulder.”  

While there is no data breaking down the demographics of who votes in student government elections, the results of the last six years’ elections show that the top positions are going to be held by people that can get their other organizations to vote for them, Kassahun said. And it turns out that fraternities and sororities have been very successful in getting their members to run for and be elected to tri-executive positions. 

Of the nine students – across three tickets – currently running for tri-execs for next year, six are in fraternities or sororities. Two of the three current tri-execs are both members of Kappa Sigma, and over the past five years – from 2016 through 2020 – 13 of the 15 tri-execs were also Greek members.

This trend points towards fraternities (considered by students) to be “top” houses in the IFC, see the list at the end of the article for more information.

Julia Foley, former legislative council president and member of the Tri-Delta sorority, said getting the votes from her sorority sisters, and from sorority members from house to house across University Hill, was a key to her election. 

“I think everyone running for tri-exec knows that you need to have at least one person on your tri-executive campaign ticket to be in Greek life,” she said about the votes a candidate can receive from friends.

Foley also said that being in student government and a Greek organization means being able to give up a lot of time, which is something not every student can afford.  

“In student government, you work like 20 to 40 hours a week and at least for legislative council, you’re paid only about $4 an hour. So you’re never going to get applicants that need a part-time job to be able to join,” Foley said. “And so I think it’s this intersection of Greek life and student government just because of how little we are paid in student government, but it means most people in student government are [in it] because they can afford to be.” 

Though many have questioned and/or criticized the amount of overlap between Greek life and CUSG, an argument can be made that it is not all bad. Kassahun said that Greek life members do bring previous leadership experience and connections to the roles of being in CUSG. He also said that they work hard on student government.

But it is an ongoing reality that only some people are voting and electing very similar groups of people into leadership positions that have a lot of power over budgetary decisions and communication with campus administrators. 

While an 11.9% voter turnout by the CU student body for last year’s election may seem low, this is a record turnout compared to other universities, said Jake Carias, a Ph.D. candidate and former CUSG member. But based on election results, it is still evident that a majority of those voters come from Greek organizations.

“This dream of having a BIPOC ticket run and win, or just having a ticket outside of Greek life entirely, it’s still very much a dream,” Kassahun said. 

Is there a solution CU students can participate in? Yes – it’s voting, a democratic process that reflects the outside world.

Students at CU Boulder do vote in national elections–it was reported in CU Boulder Today in November that a record 80% of enrolled students voted in the 2020 Presidential election. But similar to local elections or midterm elections in the country, voting at CU’s local election for student government sees a dramatic drop in voter participation. 

The years-long trend of Greek life-dominating tri-executive leadership begs the question, “How representative is CUSG?”

“At least in the near future, unless we get more students voting, I don’t foresee a tri-executive ticket that’s going to be elected without the help of Greek life,” Kassahun said. 

CUSG elections begin next week. Starting Monday, April 4 at 8 a.m. and closing Friday, April 8 at 8 p.m. students have the opportunity to vote online for the representatives of their choosing. Voting information will be available through BuffPortal next week. 

The next article in our series, which will be published later this week, details the tri-executive candidates and their stances. 

Tri Executives over the years

Inspire Ticket 2022 

(running currently)

Ben Lansbury-  Kappa Sigma 

Andrew Harvey- Kappa Sigma 

Milan Enayat

Unity Ticket 2022 *

(running currently)

Rachel Hill

Chloe Nicklas- Kappa Kappa Gamma

Lucie Nguyen

*This is the first all-female identifying ticket 

Amplify Ticket 2022

(running currently)

Hope James- Kappa Kappa Gamma

Arthur Didinsky- Sigma Alpha Mu 

Chyna Varner- Gamma Phi Beta

Empower CU 2021

Ben Capeloto- Kappa Sigma 

Taylor Weinsz- Kappa Sigma 

Kavya Kannan

CU Create 2020

(ran unopposed)

Amalia (Molly) Frommelt- Pi Beta Phi 

George Conway- Chi Psi

Isaiah Chavous

Progress for CU 2019

Nicholas Kennedy- Chi Psi 

Michael (Shark) Martin- Chi Psi

Ryan Passas- Gamma Phi Beta

Ignite CU 2018

David Kidd- Sigma Nu

Jake Reagan- Pi Kappa Alpha 

Olivia Wittenburg – Kappa Alpha Theta

Empower 2017

Troy Fossett- Chi Psi

Carter Gruba- Chi Psi 

Betsy Sabala- Delta Gamma 

Revolution for CU 2016

Madalena DeAndrea- Gamma Phi Beta

Marcus Fotenos

Colton Lyons- Chi Psi

Originally reported for CU News Corps 

Additional reporting by Dawson Drew and Georgia Worrell