50 | FEBRUARY 20 • 2020 

for college students 
by college students

C

ommunity is the thread 
that runs through the core 
of Jewish life. Community 
also is a central theme of Greek 
life organizations on college 
campuses across the country. 
For three young men — Jason 
Gelsey, Zack Kirshner and Daniel 
Wolfe — these two tightly knit 
communities intersect in a very 
special way: All are presidents of 
their respective Interfraternity 
Councils (IFC), one of the 
governing bodies of college Greek 
organizations, and all are Jewish.

The role of an IFC president 
is to serve as the middleman 
between Greek life and 
administration members, oversee 
Greek life chapters, manage 
communication and recruitment, 
and act as a sounding board for 

those with questions about what 
it means to be involved in Greek 
life.

Central Michigan University 
senior Jason Gelsey of West 
Bloomfield has been involved in 
Greek life for four years. In high 
school, he was involved in BBYO 
and cites his BBYO experience 
as one of the main reasons he 
initially decided to join Greek life 
as a brother in Sigma Tau Lamda.
“I loved the brotherhood of 
BBYO,
” Gelsey said. “My friends 
from BBYO are still some of my 
best friends now, four years later. 
I wanted to experience that same 
kind of brotherhood in college. 
My dad had been involved in 
Greek life back in the day, so I 
knew it was something I wanted 
to be a part of.
”

While CMU has a relatively 
small Jewish community of 200 
students, Gelsey finds ways to 
embrace Judaism by attending 
events at the school’
s Hillel. 
After being involved two years 
with Greek life, he decided to join 
the IFC and, at the beginning of 
this year, became its president.
“I wanted to make a huge 
difference on my campus,
” he 
said. “I wanted to be involved in 
creating memories for people.
”

Brotherly 
Leadership

Three Jewish students serve as Interfraternity
Council presidents at their colleges. 

Jessie Cohen } jewish@edu writer

CLOCKWISE: MSU junior Daniel Wolfe at 
the PRIME Leadership Conference for IFC 
presidents. Senior Zack Kirschner, IFC 
president at Grand Valley State University, 
with senior Elijah Ong. Central Michigan 
University senior and IFC president Jason 
Gelsey.

continued on page 52

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MSU HILLEL

