The Frieze - University of Maryland Greek Community Yearbooks

The Frieze was a yearbook published specifically for the University of Maryland Greek community from 1971 to 2000. Publication began in part in reaction to the elimination of composites of each Greek chapter and other individual pages for each group from the university’s yearbook, the Terrapin. The Greek leadership at the time was also disappointed with the practice of Maryland Media Inc. of selling pages in the yearbook to any group, fraternity, or sorority that wanted to buy them to help generate funds for publishing the book, thus limiting coverage of Greek life on campus to those chapters willing pay for this coverage.

Rather than continue to pay for a product that they did not appreciate, leaders in the Greek community in the early 1970s developed the idea of having a "Greek Yearbook" which they named The Frieze. They decided to return to a traditional format, with each fraternity and sorority having its own pages and its own composite picture. They sold the books, with each group committing to buy a certain number, and the coordinating councils, the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association, contributing enough to completely fund the publication; the Student Government Association also provided funding for a time in the 1990s. The Frieze also included candid photographs from all of the Greek-sponsored activities such as intramurals, parties, group philanthropies, "Greek Week," and "Homecoming." The publication was a huge success for nearly 30 years. Publication in hard copy ceased in with the 1999-2000 edition, due to lack of funding.