Kellen Stepler | assistant features editor
Halloween without festive pumpkins is no Halloween at all.
The Duquesne National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) agrees. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the Duquesne NPHC held a pumpkin painting event in the Africa Room that started at 8 p.m.
Brandon Scott, president of the Duquesne NPHC, said the event was part of the organization’s HalloWeek. HalloWeek began on Monday, Oct. 28 with a candy apple bake sale. Tuesday, Oct. 29 was pumpkin painting, Wednesday Oct. 30 was a movie night, and the organization sold candy grams on Thursday, Oct. 31 – Halloween.
“We wanted to create a good environment and event for spooky season,” Scott said.
The NPHC governs the Black Greek Lettered Organizations, also known as the “divine nine,” on campus. They overlook five fraternities and four sororities.
The fraternities NPHC governs are Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc; Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc; Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc; and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. The sororities are Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc; and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
NPHC is open to anyone to join, and they promote service-based events. The organization was reinstated on campus last semester and is going through a rebranding phase, said Grad advisor Darian Reynolds.
The NPHC Board has eleven total members, with one representative from each sorority and fraternity to make sure all voices are heard.
The NPHC’s pumpkin painting event was the first of its kind, but the group has done numerous other service projects as well, ranging from service, to social to informational events.
Reynolds explained that last semester, the NPHC put on a karaoke event with a water entry fee. Instead of paying money for admission, attendees were to bring cases of water that the group donated to Flint, Michigan.
“Events bring people together, but also have a cause behind them,” Reynolds said.
