Junior Maggie Deininger is planning a Greek Life River Cleanup for March 23.

Deininger is in the River Stewards program, established in conjunction with the newly formed Rivers Institute of UD. According to the Institute's Web site, rivers.udayton.edu, the Rivers Institute is located within the Fitz Center on campus and was created so students, faculty and staff can work with surrounding Dayton communities to protect and preserve water resources. The River Stewards program, started in August, furthers this by educating and familiarizing students involved in the program with the Great Miami River.

As a sophomore, Deininger noticed the filth of the river after running near it and became involved in river cleanups. At the beginning of the fall semester, after becoming a river steward, she and the other members of the program began planning another cleanup.

'We got a table in KU and were just trying to publicize it,' Deininger said.

During that time her friend and Interfraternal Council president, John Gravier, asked about the cleanup and said he could get campus fraternities involved.

'The idea evolved into a Greek life river cleanup from there,' she said.

Deininger will be presenting the project March 8 to the Interfraternal Council, consisting of representatives from each fraternity on campus. Depending on the number of people interested, she may also present to Panhellenic Council, consisting of representatives from each sorority on campus. She wants all Greek members to be involved; however, she also wants to keep the numbers simple and easy to control.

'I want about 10 groups of 10 or 11 people, and I'll assign each of them a section of the river to clean in about two hours,' she said. 'Each group will keep track of how many bags they are filling up; there will be separate bags for waste and recyclables.'

She also hopes to gain interest by mentioning that the group who fills the most bags will win a prize.

Deininger's hope is that the cleanup will go well this year so it can continue every year. She believes UD should be taking care of the river, especially since the campus continues to near the river with coming expansion.

'Service is a big part of this university and this is an easy way to get people to come do service for the river,' she said. 'It would also look great for the Greek community to come participate.'