New executive board members in Ball State University's greek system hope to bring fresh ideas and improve communication among the council members and the fraternity and sorority presidents. The first step to this process began at the greek leadership retreat Jan. 5 and 6 when the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council and house presidents met together.-á
The Office of Student Life coordinated the retreat to ease the transition for the new members and help with the communication between the outgoing executive board members and the incoming members, Cara Luyster, assistant director of Student Life, said. She said she always thought it was important the incoming members look at what the outgoing members did in order to continue the focus or change things if needed.-á
"We need to continue work on getting to the community, communicating among the councils and the presidents and strengthening values," Luyster said. "I'd like to see [the councils] focus on and start the greek strategic plan from the councils and chapters."-á-áInterfraternity Council-á
Since last year, the greek community has worked on developing a strategic plan for areas such as academics, recruitment, housing and risk reduction, Interfraternity Council President Eric Maroun said.-á
"We have a peer-to-peer evaluation team that determines if each fraternity is following the policies," he said. "The evaluation team has been around for a year, and each semester we train people from each chapter to work on the team."
Maroun also said he wanted to build relations with the other executive boards of the Panhellenic Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council. The leadership retreat provided education and discussion about what each council is about, and a lot of networking occurred, he said.
Besides continuing work on the developing plan and improving communication among all councils, Maroun said he wanted to have a philanthropy event where all members of the greek community come together, not just individual houses.
Panhellenic Council-á-á
Like Maroun, Panhellenic Council President Deanna Pogorelc said she wanted to continue to create a sense of unity among the other councils as well as also try and focus on new members.-á
"We want to try and build their values," Pogorelc said. "New members are the future, and we want to increase their values."-á
She said she wants to improve relations between the Panhellenic Council and each sorority. Sororities have expressed concerns that Panhellenic Council meetings do not pertain to them, she said.-á
"Each chapter will have delegates at the council meetings, and they will do reports to take back to their sorority," Pogorelc said.-á
She said the Panhellenic Council was also going to try to get involved with other campus activities to show sorority support.-á
"I'm really excited [about this semester]," she said. "The council is completely new this semester so we're trying to pass and talk about new ideas that might not have been done before."-á
National Pan-Hellenic Council
Ennis Adams, president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, said he wanted to increase communication among the other executive boards as well as have an event where all the greeks could learn more about one another.
"We don't necessarily need to make each other best friends, but move forward and open the door as a collaboration for fraternities and sororities within the three councils," he said.
"The retreat was a big part of that because there was a perception of racial tension within the councils because the National Pan-Hellenic Council is historically black," Adams said. "There's a perception that they don't want us here, and we don't want them with us, and it got misconstrued on both sides."
Adams said the retreat cleared the misunderstandings and helped everyone to learn about each organization's philosophies.
Besides communication, Adams said he hoped the National Pan-Hellenic Council could make sure people were better informed about the organization.
"We want to get a chance to inform everybody of who we are and what we do," he said. "We've been around for a long time, and we want to bridge those gaps of understanding. I'm a full believer that your actions speak louder than your words."
For more information about the greek strategic plan visit bsu.edu/greeklife/stratplan
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
