Members of various fraternities and sororities gathered Tuesday evening to form the United Greek Council, a new student group hoping to unify greeks on campus.

Students from the Asian Greek Council, Interfraternity Council and other organizations were on hand, hoping to create a public forum where members can address and resolve concerns.

The group came together for the first time because they felt that animosity was becoming too prevalent between fraternities and sororities, facilitated by the loss of Jack Causseaux’s advisory position when the Greek Life office moved under Off-Campus College.

“At the end of the day, each council may have a different prerogative, but we all have common goals as to where we want to go with our organizations,” Paul Liggieri, a senior political science major and president of Theta Delta Chi, said.

An issue discussed at the meeting was housing in the city of Binghamton and how new zoning plans would affect those who live in fraternities and sororities.

The West Side Neighborhood Association is among several groups pushing for revised zoning laws for students who live in the city.

New laws being proposed would restrict the number of unrelated tenants in a house to three, a move that would force greek residences to divide.

“How can you run a fraternity or sorority without a house Downtown?” Liggieri said.

Lasala stressed the need for all off-campus students to attend Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan’s 7 p.m. visit on Monday, March 9 in Lecture Hall 2, and voice their concerns.

“We want to prevent problems before they happen,” Lasala said.

The group discussed the possibility of scheduling philanthropy and community events together to demonstrate a united cause on campus.

An all-greek listserv is being created, and Lasala expressed the idea of creating a special text messaging system.

“We all wear greek letters, and I’m interested to see how we can all come together,” Gil Auslander, a senior political science and economics major, and member of Phi Alpha Delta, said.