From formal dinners to pumpkin carving, the greek calendar fills up quickly. However, the process of getting a social event approved in the greek community includes multiple people and requirements.

Each semester individual chapters will put on two large social events. One of the events typically includes a formal where members dress nicely and travel to Des Moines or as far as Omaha or Minneapolis for a weekend of events.

“The idea is to meet new people you haven’t met before,” said Corey Anderson, senior in business administration and president of Delta Tau Delta. “It’s a way to get people recharged and get people excited about not only the university but the greek community at Iowa State.”

The second event happens with a sorority and fraternity being paired with another sorority or fraternity in the greek community. The social can take the form of a bus party or a social event at a chapter house, normally around homecoming in the fall and Greek Week in the spring.

“In the case of our fraternity, and generally around the greek community, there is a position called a social chair or someone in charge of all the social functions,” Anderson said. “They bring those ideas forth to the chapter, [the] chapter votes on it, and then the social event happens.”

After the chapter brainstorms ideas, they must go through Greek Affairs to get the event approved. Depending on the event, a form may need to be filled out in order to begin registration for an event.

The A-form is for events that will have alcohol and that will be held at third party places or locations other than a chapter house or the university. B-forms are for events located at chapter houses with alcohol and events filled out with C-forms are at a third party location without alcohol. D-forms are at a chapter house without alcohol.

Any event in the greek community with alcohol must be registered two weeks in advance.

“We have a team that meets every Friday morning that goes through the whole list of social events that have been planned,” said Billy Boulden, director of Greek Affairs. “We walk through the forum, we talk about complete information if all the necessary information is there and if everyone at the table is at a consensus then we approve the event.”

As far as house parties, the chapters are not afraid to get the police involved. The greek community has worked with the Ames Police Department for many years. Whether it is a noise permit or having the Safe Neighborhood Team speak to chapters about being responsible while sponsoring events.

Visiting most chapters once a year, the Safe Neighborhood Team speaks about alcohol, nuisance parties, under-age drinking, fake IDs, public intoxication, hazing, sexual assault and other subjects concerning social events.

“We will get thank you notes every once and a while saying, ‘Thank you for coming,” or we will see them in the bars, and they will remember us,” said Mike Arkovich, sergeant of the Safe Neighborhoods Team.

One fraternity admitted to Arkovich that since the Safe Neighborhood Team spoke at their chapter, they hadn’t had any more problems with binge drinking.

Greek chapters have their own way of monitoring their social events. With a position in the house called vice president of risk management, who has a committee or team under them.

“[They are] responsible for for maintaining the safety, security and wellness of the entire event so we can further safeguard ourselves and allow people to have a safe environment for a social event,” Anderson said.