Almost everyone on campus has heard about the Iota Chi Pledge Class 2012 Facebook group. In fact, almost everyone on campus is probably a member of the group, or was at one point.
Facebook groups that are classified as open allow members to add their friends without approval or consent, and that is exactly what happened to the group recently created for new members of Iota Chi women’s social club. Someone added to the group in turn added many other people to the group, which continued to grow exponentially. The group quickly filled with posts consisting of Harding- and Iota Chi-related jokes and pictures of students from schools across the nation showing off their Iota Chi pride. The atmosphere of the group was fun and frivolous.
On Saturday, Oct. 27, the group’s membership peaked at more than 53,000 members. As one of the administrators of the group, I am glad to say that this Facebook fiasco didn’t remain solely a joke, however.
A couple of days after the group blew up, I was approached by a friend in Iota Chi, Autumn Dixon. She told me about a fundraiser the club was putting on to support Meagan Burkhead, a member of Iota Chi who is in remission from breast cancer but still has medical bills from her treatment. The club was planning to sell buttons at the tailgate before the football game that weekend, and she asked me to advertise the sale on the Facebook group.
After seeing the post alerting members to the sale, the group really took to the cause. Jay Brownlow, a member of the group, set up an online T-shirt sale, with proceeds contributing to the club’s drive for Burkhead. A group of Harding students, with help from Director of the Campus Activities Board Logan Light and The Sheriffs of Nottingham, recorded two rap songs and music videos, with proceeds from the downloads also going to the drive.
Other causes found a place within the group as well, such as the film “Guttersnipes,” written by Harding graduate and “Doug” co-creator Joe Aaron. With 45 minutes left to go on their Kickstarter campaign, the “Guttersnipes” team reached their goal of $75,000. This was not only because of the Iota Chi page, but also because of the “sisters,” who definitely helped out.
Good Spread Peanut Butter, a company connected to MANA Nutrition, also found coverage on the group, with their crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.com linked to on the Iota Chi page multiple times. Another Indiegogo.com campaign was shared on the group, this one for the family of Ryan Woods, a terminally ill cancer patient with a wife and two young children. Both campaigns have exceeded their goal amounts.
At first, the Iota Chi page was just a really funny joke. The viral nature of the group was exciting. It was hard to believe that a Facebook group created for the purposes of one social club at Harding had reached all around the world, and that it was still growing. I’m glad it didn’t stop there. Through the generosity of many people, most of whom didn’t know anyone involved in the various causes promoted on the group, a lot of good has been done. Hopefully that will continue, even now that the group has died down.
