IWA offers associations outside of Greek community
By Holly Hanson
Staff Writer
Institute Women’s Association (IWA)and Institute Men’s Association (IMA) have changed their names from the Greek system to names associated with LDS church people and places.
Mauri Tolman, the interchapter president, said some of the reasons the name change occurred was to get away from the negative generalizations given to sororities and fraternities, and it allows IWA to go international as well as include non-students.
“When IWA and IMA are translated into different languages, the same meaning still makes sense,” Tolman said.
According to the IWA handbook, IWA is open to single adult women ages 18 through 30 who are enrolled in a class at the Institute of Religion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, regardless of religious affiliation.
Some of the effects of the transition due to the name change are the discontinuation of pledging and membership ceremonies and a decrease in the amount of dues. Dues went down to $10.00 a semester.
Mike Smith, IMA second counselor, said there hasn’t been an effect on the numbers since the change. He said IMA has been in existence for one semester and is now in their second.
Tolman said she anticipated their size to go down since they are no longer a sorority, but that didn’t happen. Last year the IWA had 400 girls in 17 chapters.
The girls are divided into chapters that are named after church people or places. Some of the names include Nauvoo, Zarahemla or Sariah. Each chapter has a reason for choosing the name they did, Tolman said.
“IWA meets many needs young single adult women have during this critical decison-making time of their lives,” according to the IWA handbook.
Each activity is based on four ideals: sisterhood, service, spirituality and scholarship.
“We offer fun activities while strengthening testimonies or feel the spirit (of God) on a weekly basis” Tolman said. “Logan is the largest IWA (program) the church has.”
For more information on IWA or IMA or to join contact the main office of the LDS Institute of Religion at 752-4265.