The Greek Gazette University of North Dakota Fraternity & Sorority Life Summer 2012 Volume 1, Issue 1 Challenge & Change Alyssa Walker, Coordinator for Fraternity & Sorority Life As the 2011-2012 academic year wrapped-up and I began preparing for the 2012-2013 year, I reflected back on the many successes and challenges that faced the fraternity and sorority community. If I had to select a The 2012 Greek Council couple of key words to describe this past year, they would be “challenge” and “change.” UND’s Greek leaders were regularly challenged this year with risk management issues and they consistently faced these challenges head on and started creating the ground work for positive change. In this Issue The fall of 2011 brought with it, the revocation of Phi Delta Theta’s charter by their National organization. The first fraternity on UND’s campus sadly closed it’s doors in the fall amid allegations of the sale and use of Challenge & Change 1 illegal substances. Unfortunately, at times, our chapters steer so far away from their mission and values that Alyssa Walker, Coordinator for Fraternity & they must be closed in order to come back and become a stronger chapter. The Greek community hopes to Sorority Life welcome Phi Delta Theta back to the University of North Dakota in the fall of 2013. Panhellenice Update 2 The spring semester also had its fair share of risk management challenges. After a ten day period in which the Betsy Dorff, Panhellenic President fraternity and sorority community was involved in a number of risky situations, the fraternity and sorority leaders came together to make impactful decisions that helped the chapters to assess and refocus their Sorority Chapter Updates 3 & 4 behaviors At a special meeting in April, the chapter leaders decided to no longer allow under-age students to drink in their facilities, a practice, although against FIPG policies (of which all of our chapters are members), that has not been followed in recent years. The chapters did a wonderful job of staying true to their Sorority Recruitment Info 4 commitment and there were no further issues the remainder of the spring semester. At a subsequent meeting in May, chapter leaders created a “Good Standing” policy (for more information see page 7) to help The Fraternity Update 5 curve some of the risky behaviors that were being exhibited. The policy was added to both the IFC and PHC Tom Connelly, IFC President bylaws and was approved by both governing bodies. I am proud of our fraternity and sorority leaders who have taken the initiative to make difficult decisions and to enact positive changes that will ultimately protect the safety of our members and safeguard our beloved chapters. Fraternity Chapter 6 & 7 Updates Although this year brought many great challenges, it was also a year of great successes! There continues to be an increase in sorority recruitment participation. In the fall of 2011, there were 235 women that Fraternity Recruitment 7 participated in recruitment and each chapter received at least 31 new members on bid day! Following Update sorority formal recruitment, the Panhellenic Council voted unanimously to increase chapter total from 72 to 80! The sorority community looks forward to seeing this growth trend continue this fall. Men’s recruitment also continues to improve and the fraternities are looking forward to a successful and well-attended fall The Good Standing 7 recruitment! Policy Academically, the Greek students continue to thrive and this fall and spring there were improvements in the 2012 Greek Life 8 sorority average GPA, the fraternity average GPA, and of course, the All Greek GPA. For the first time in a Award Recipients number of semesters, the All Greek GPA was higher than the All Undergraduate GPA at UND. Our members can finally boast that being a member of a fraternity or a sorority can benefit a student’s academic career! In order to add a little fun competition to the monotony of college studying, this spring, the IFC & PHC instituted the “Letters at the Library” competition between chapters. All chapters were asked to log their study hours in either of the libraries on campus. The fraternity and sorority chapter with the most hours logged was awarded the title of “Scholastic Chapter Champion” and was given a traveling trophy for the semester. This year’s winners were Delta Gamma and Sigma Phi Epsilon. At the end of the spring semester, the community celebrated our chapters’ scholastic success and bid farewell to the graduating seniors at the Omega Celebration & Scholarship Reception. All graduating seniors were given a “UND Greek Alumni” pin to wear on their graduation gowns during Commencement. It’s always great to see so many Greek members walk across the stage during Commencement! Although, the fraternity and sorority community faced many challenges this year, the chapters and leaders have come out on the other end, a stronger, more resilient, and accountable group. I continue to be proud every day of the men and women who wear Greek letters on UND’s campus and I’m thankful to have the opportunity to work with these incredible scholars, leaders, and upstanding citizens. They continue to make an impact on the UND community and it is a pleasure being their advisor. The Greek Gazette Volume 1, Issue 1 The Panhellenic Update Betsy Dorff, Panhellenic President This year has been a test for our fraternity and sorority com- ment & Review Program). Greek lenic study tables in which all sorority munity. Due to risk management inci- SCARP is an interactive, education chapters are invited to study with one dents that our community experi- based program designed to investigate another in the Memorial Union every enced, we were in a make or break the role alcohol and/or other drugs Tuesday. Snacks are always provided situation. Our chapter leaders came play in a student’s life. We hope that which often motivates women to together and agreed we had to push chapters utilize this program to edu- study! Finally, to encourage our wom- through these difficult times and we cated members who may struggle en to continue studying, we instituted made a huge leap towards overcoming with alcohol or drug dependency is- the “Letters at the Library” program many of our risk management issues. sues. in which the chapter who studied the Even though our community was go- most hours in the library was award- With the increasing number of wom- ing through a challenging period, our en participating in sorority recruit- ed the coveted title of “Scholastic Panhellenic leaders focused on the ment, this fall the Panhellenic Council Chapter Champion.” The traveling positive, such as having a successful decided to purchase an online recruit- trophy for spring 2012 was awarded recruitment, raising Panhelllenic total ment management system called, to Delta Gamma at the spring Study-A to 80, and forming the Panhellenic Ju- Campus Director. Campus Director -Thon. dicial Board. This year, we also con- will allow for online PNMs registra- Overall, it was a challenging but suc- tinued to become a more unified Pan- tion as well as real time PNM list sub- cessful year for our sorority commu- hellenic community and I can truly say mission and compilation. The program nity. We are excited to see the that our sorority members always act will still utilize Release Figures Meth- strides that we continue to make to in the best interest of not only their odology (RFM) to match PNMs to provide the best possible membership own chapter but for the Panhellenic chapters. This recruitment system will experience for all sorority women at community as a whole. The women benefit recruitment exponentially and UND. on our campus continue to strive for will help us to save paper in the pro- excellence and the betterment of our cess! During fall 2011 formal recruit- community. ment, we had 245 PNMs registered As a PHC, we worked with determi- for recruitment and we hope that this nation to finally establish a Panhellenic number continues to increase through Judicial Board. We diligently revised the use of online registration. If the our bylaws, established the Judicial number of PNMs participating in for- Board Handbook, and selected Pan- mal recruitment continues to increase hellenic Justices. Finally having an op- this fall, our community may look to erating Judicial Board will help us to open for extension in the fall of 2013, continue to self-govern our communi- which is very exciting! ty and further strengthen our commit- Finally, our Panhellenic community ment to our sorority values. In addi- understands and values the im- tion to a Judicial Board, the Greek portance of academics. Because we all Council worked with the University strive to receive the best grades pos- Counseling Center to create Greek sible, PHC has implemented Panhel- The Letters at the Library Trophies SCARP (Student Chemical Assess- The Greek Gazette Volume 1, Issue 1 Sorority Chapter Updates Alpha Chi Omega Delta Gamma President—Chelsie Bickel ([email protected]) President, Sonja Collin ([email protected]), at- On Hera Day, March 3rd, the chapter volunteered at tended Delta Gamma’s Convention June 28-July 1, 2012 both The Fire Hall Theatre and at Lutheran Social Ser- in Indianapolis, IN. vices. Members cleaned and organized the theatre and In the fall, DG recruited 32 amazing members and ex- helped Lutheran Social Services sort out donations for ceeded Panhellenic total. We are excited to see these families in need. phenomenal women develop into leaders! The Alpha Male Philanthropy Competition was held this Our annual Anchorgrill raised $2,014.59 for the North fall.