The markers were unveiled Oct. 23 in the plaza between the Belknap Academic Building and the Student Activities Center. 

The 10 markers—one representing NPHC overall and nine representing each affiliated Greek fraternity and sorority—were planned and designed by students. 

Founded in 1930 at Howard University in Washington D.C., NPHC supports Black college students who seek the benefits of a Greek organization, especially collegial collaboration, peer activism and a robust campus life.   

Political science senior Brandon McClain, who spoke at the unveiling ceremony, said NPHC’s mission is to work “toward advancing the social and economic status of African American and other persons of color through lifelong brotherhood and sisterhood.”

McClain, who is also vice president of the university’s NPHC and president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., said the plots serve as a reminder that “the University of Louisville National Pan-Hellenic Council is strong and united. This campus is better because we are here.”

“I don’t need to tell you how much Black Greek life has meant to Black life in this country. If you think about the leadership, the scholars, the activists that are right here in our midst today, the debt we owe is incredible,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi during the virtual ceremony.

Dean of Students and Chief Student Affairs Officer Michael Mardis said conversations have been ongoing about having a physical, permanent location on campus to recognize NPHC. 

“With some of the renovations underway, the idea came up and the students thought maybe we could utilize the plaza space,” Mardis said. “Our goal every day at the university is to make sure every student has a place to belong and an opportunity to succeed and achieve their goals.”

Members of NPHC and its Black fraternities and sororities have a strong record of overall student success including higher grade point averages and higher graduation rates than non-Greek students. NPHC members are typically active in leadership roles as both students and alumni.

For alumna Terina Matthews-Davis (‘93) the NPHC plots are a gratifying milestone in a journey she helped launch. In the early 1990s, Matthews-Davis was part of a group dedicated to establishing NPHC at UofL.  

“We saw all of our friends at other schools with NPHC chapters and saw an opportunity to govern ourselves,” she said. “We wanted something where we could have intimate, and sometimes controversial, conversations amongst like-minded people.” 

Mardis said that while NPHC has been linked with UofL for nearly 30 years, not all council-affiliated chapters—often called the Divine Nine—were active during those decades.

“By April, 2012, all Divine Nine were back on campus and it was truly a great celebration,” Mardis said. 

The Black fraternity and sorority chapters under the NPHC umbrella are Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. 

Photos of the marker dedication . To watch a video of the virtual event,

She realized later that not everyone is that passionate about the right to cast a ballot but still thinks they should be. She and fellow UofL student Clara Wilson are bringing their zeal for the electoral process to campus life and encouraging others to join in – especially this week in the midterm elections.

“Midterms are coming up, you guys. We’ve really got to get in here to vote,” Wilson told students passing near their table on the Quad during National Voter Registration Day Sept. 25. Students checked out an information sheet about who’s up for election in Kentucky, literature about signing up to vote and an iPad with the Secretary of State site, along with stickers reminding “Midterms Matter” and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Miss Elections.”

Wilson and Greenwell are UofL ambassadors for Vote Everywhere, a nationwide, nonpartisan effort by the Andrew Goodman Foundation to encourage citizens to get involved in the democratic process. Their endeavors are part of a coalition of partners and programs that helped gain UofL a “voter-friendly campus” designation from the Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher łÉÈËֱȄ.

Greenwell, a May political science graduate from Springfield who now is a first-year law student, and Wilson, a junior political science major from Elizabethtown, attended the foundation’s National Civic Leadership Training Summit in July at Ramapo College of New Jersey. There they learned about voter registration, nonpartisanship, leadership and alliance-building.

The nonpartisan alliance at UofL includes groups such as Student Government Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Campus YMCA and the Engage Lead Serve Board.

“They’ve been working really hard to get the information out,” said Kathy Meyer, ELSB adviser and the Office of Student Involvement’s student leadership coordinator. “Through Vote Everywhere we’re able to surpass the reach of those partnerships.”

Recently they targeted absentee voters, reminding them to mail their ballots to their home counties; at a campus party to address the mailings, Canon chipped in to cover their postage.

The students are urging registered Jefferson County voters in affiliated housing and Old Louisville to get to their nearby polling places Tuesday and are participating in “Stroll to the Polls” walks with volunteers at 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. from the Student Activities Center Ballroom. Student Government Association organized an election results TV watch party at Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium from 7-10 p.m. after the polls close, according to Nicole Fielder, SGA governmental relations director.

“We’re trying to make any effort possible to (help students) vote any way they can,” Greenwell said. “It takes five minutes to register but it takes more commitment to go out and vote.”

So how do she and Wilson counter apathy?

“People tell me all the time their vote doesn’t matter,” Greenwell said. Her response: “Your vote is unique. People vote different ways for different reasons. No one else is going to vote the same way as me for the same reasons.”

As a student of political science and now law, Greenwell said she doesn’t regard politics negatively but rather as a mechanism for change.

“It’s all about the world you want to exist.”