OCR Text |
Show LDSSA Wide variety based on broadened activities Four years ago, some of the leaders of the LDS Church met together to decide what to do with the large mass of unorganized LDS students at the University of Utah. The result was the LDS Student Association headed by an appointed president and an elected student council. The members of the student council represent various sub-organizations that make up the body of the LDSSA. Technically, any LDS student at the university is automatically a member of the LDSSA, but there are specialized groups within the organization as well. Lambda Delta Sigma and Sigma Gamma Chi are two major groups. They are a cross between a fraternity-type system and a service organization. Lambda Delta Sigma is the women's group and has eleven chapters. Sigma Gamma Chi is the men's equivalent but has only four chapters. Sororities and fraternities are not the only type of group activity offered by LDSSA however. There is a newspaper, Commentary, put out once a quarter by a qualified staff. There are also the B'noth Ahaman and I Cantori Choruses who sing all year long in preparation for their big spring concert in the Tabernacle and their annual tour duringspring break. Two other important organizations functioning under the LDSSA are the Women's Council and the Men's Council. Each of these councils is made up of LDS students from the various facets of campus life. There are dorm students, greeks, independents, marrieds, local and out-of-state students, and returned missionaries. These two councils try to be sensitive to problems and needs of university students and emphasize the need of a religious influence in campus life. They sponsor huge firesides in the Tabernacle which manage to assemble as large a group of university students as any other secular or non-secular university activity. 277 |