Drake University installed the Divine Nine Plaza on Feb. 27. The plaza honors the nine historically Black fraternities and sororities of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, and consists of nine metal panels displaying the name of each fraternity and sorority that make up NPHC. Each panel shows the Greek letters of a chapter and where and when each chapter was founded.
The Black Alumni Association helped fundraise for the Plaza. According to the Drake Alumni and Development website, the Divine Nine Plaza celebrates the “community-driven spirit” and the friendship of the NPHC fraternities and sororities.
“This is a proud moment for Drake University and our National Pan-Hellenic Council with the installation of a dedicated NPHC Plaza on the west end of Painted Street,” Jerry Parker, Drake vice president and dean of students, said in an email on March 3. “For over 100 years, our NPHC chapters have had a rich and vibrant history at Drake.”
Parker added that the Divine Nine Plaza was important because it recognizes the impact that NPHC has on service, culture, social engagement and academic achievement on campus.
The Divine Nine Plaza is located in front of the Paint It Black circle. The Paint It Black circle symbolizes Drake’s solidarity with students of color on Drake’s campus, according to the Coalition of Black Students.
“The NPHC Monuments serve as a physical testament to the rich history and legacy of the Divine Nine within the Drake University community,” Josh Boswell, a senior and president of NPHC, said in an email. “These landmarks provide essential visibility for our organizations, ensuring that the diversity of student leadership is recognized and celebrated.”
NPHC continues to be active on campus, hosting social, philanthropy, service and on-campus events each year.
“One event NPHC hosts each year around Relays is their Stroll Off,” said Liz Itzen, director of fraternity and sorority life. “Each chapter has a step or stroll, or call that is unique to their chapter. It’s partially as entertainment, but also as historical relevance to the African American background; some of it is rooted in slavery tradition.”
Itzen said that since she has been the director of FSL, NPHC has become more integrated into the FSL community.
“Not only do our IFC and Panhellenic chapters know more about NPHC, but NPHC knows more about our [Interfraternity Council] and [National Panhellenic Conference] chapters as well,” Itzen said. “While they’re a small council, they are still just as active as some of our 40-50 people chapters that we have on campus, just in different ways.”
While NPHC, IFC and Panhellenic chapters host similar events, one way that the organizations differ is in recruitment.
“Panhellenic and IFC chapters do the bid day thing, and then you get all the education,” Itzen said. “NPHC chapters do the inverse. So they do all the education first, and then do the big celebration of the new member presentation.”
NPHC faces some unique challenges that the Panhellenic and IFC chapters don’t face, said Itzen. Some of the NPHC chapters are joint chapters with Iowa State University.
“Not only do they have to do programming on both campuses, they have to do education on both campuses,” Itzen said. “They have to participate in NPHC councils at both schools, They have to participate in campus and FSL programming on both campuses. They have to do their annual reports on both campuses. They also have to know the policies and procedures on each campus, because they’re different.”
Itzen believes that the Divine Nine Plaza will help increase awareness of NPHC on campus.
“All the IFC and Panhellenic chapters have their houses over on 34th Street, and that is a physical representation that those organizations are here and exist,” Itzen said. “Our NPHC chapters don’t have physical houses like that, so this is a way for the campus to acknowledge their presence, but also celebrate their accomplishments and the way that they’ve impacted the community.”
