On March 1, Wake Forest SEC hosted an event featuring Imam Khalid Griggs, an associate chaplain for Muslim life at Wake Forest.

Griggs spoke about his history with the Muslim faith and its relationship with academic life at the school, focusing on Greek life in particular, along with questions from students as well.

“The event was organized largely by one of our members, Faraz Ahmed, Wake Forest ’18, who is a member of the Muslim Student Alliance,” said Chapter President Austin Nissen, ’17. “He pitched the idea of promoting positive dialogue among students of different backgrounds and shared how Islamic values have assisted Imam Griggs throughout his life.”

The chapter hopes that with more education they can help knock down the brick walls of generalization and stereotypes and instead start to construct a community of tolerance and acceptance. The executive board thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a difference.

“I was inspired by my brothers in my Fraternity,” said Ahmed. “Ever since I joined, my Fraternity has been always asking questions about Islam and Muslim life on campus. They showed a great level of interest and fascination with my faith. I thought it would be great not just for the Fraternity, but for anyone else who wanted to get to know the Muslim chaplain and learn more about the Islamic faith,” he said.

Griggs adopted Islam in his senior year at Howard University, partly as a result of civil rights movements that were occurring during his time at the school. He spoke of his own experiences with Islam and its role at Wake Forest, and also discussed the importance of recognizing privilege as a university student and a member of a Greek-life organization.

For the SigEp brothers at Wake Forest, this is not just a one-time event. They hope to continue a tradition of a speaker series that makes a difference on campus.

“We have actually started a panel series from the event, and have recently also co-hosted a panel with Spectrum, as well as hosting a debate between the College Republicans and College Democrats next week in the spirit of the presidential election,” noted Faraz. Spectrum is the LGBTQ student organization on campus.

“At the end of the day, we want everyone to live in a safe, friendly and loving environment and that can only be done if all of us work together to put apart our differences and look at what our similarities are,” said Faraz.