Committee Reports

This fall, after several meetings with staff and with each other, students organized into four committees: Current Challenges, University Relations, Shared Values and External Relations. In November these teams created preliminary goals and plans to begin their research. They met in December to share progress. Their goals and progress reports follow:

Current Challenges Team:

Preliminary objectives of this committee November 2002

Study issues such as scholarship, membership and social behavior.

We must ensure that all groups are abiding by membership recruitment rules set by national and St. Lawrence University.

Given the statistics surrounding GPA and alcohol use, new member programs need to be evaluated and they need to return to the core values of the organization. Service projects and leadership activities should be at the core of new membership education programs.

An Inter Greek scholarship program that challenges members to achieve academically, provides support and recognizes improvement and excellence will be vital to the success of the project.

A possible starting point:

Research new member programs and leadership opportunities that National organizations offer.

Meet with members of Greek organizations to find out more about their new membership programming in terms of time commitment, material covered, etc.

Research scholarship programs from National organizations and programs from other campuses.

Progress Report December 2002

· Looked for weak and strong points in the other universities’ programs.
· Reviewed accreditation policies at other universities. Favorable response to accreditation policies that placed control of accountability in the students’ hands.
· Noted how some schools have incentives for good grades
· Talked about creating an accreditation policy for SLU that would look at all areas, recruitment, social, risk and philanthropy. – Create it and then take two years to implement it so all houses would have plenty of time to know what it will look like.
· Talked about creating t-shirts for recruitment, men’s and women’s.
· Have socials and recruitment nights together for each house to help build community among the houses.
· Get into the FYPs to present about Greek life.
· Suggested meetings among the officers and chairs of each house, to compare duties, ideas and challenges.

University Relations Team

Preliminary objectives of the committee November 2002

Consider relationship between the University and the Greek Community.

Rights and responsibilities of all parties involved.

Determine a system of evaluation and accreditation that will assess each chapter in regards to operations, compliance to standards and be inclusive of chapter, national, university and Canton community goals and objectives. Critical will be establishing an official partnership that involves both St. Lawrence University and the Village of Canton.

Determine what University departments could be helpful to the Greek system such as having a treasurer work with the business office in regards to financial information for each house.

A possible starting point:

Research schools used in our Greek Engagement Project to see what systems of evaluation are being used.

Are there components of some that seem to be relevant to St. Lawrence’s campus? Begin brainstorming what our system should be evaluated on (i.e. membership, community service, campus involvement, etc.).

Assess current relationships within the University by developing questions and interviewing representatives from various constituencies.

Progress Report December 2002

· Heavily researched Bucknell program.
· Also looked at accreditation, creating more of a Greek life review committee
· Enforcing good behavior and incentives or rewards- look at how other universities allocate resources to provide monetary rewards for improved gpa, social, etc.
· Also looked at how we can begin improving the image of Greeks at SLU. Is it possible to train advisors of Greek organizations? Provide more staff to work with houses on grades, classes, other events?
· Have chapters put on events for the greater campus (i.e. non-Greeks)
· Work more closely with administration.

Shared Values Team:

Preliminary objectives for this committee November 2002

Will look at interfraternity relationships and leadership models based on a set of shared values common to all Greek organizations.

Develop a code of values and principles reflecting shared standards and in compliance with St. Lawrence University’s code of responsibility.

Explore substance free-living environments, specifically the chapters on St. Lawrence’s campus and continue to explore and work with groups to see if this would benefit the Greek community here at St. Lawrence.

A possible starting point:

Research national organizations to find out what their founding values are; interview current members of organizations to see what their founding values are.

Interview current members to see what role these values play if any in the day to day life of the organization.

Compare the values you have highlighted; are they similar, different, could we build a broader base here at St. Lawrence University for the whole system- Research the other Greek initiatives to see if/how they are incorporating organizations values.

Progress Report December 2002

· The group has started to research values from each house on campus.
· Get lists from each house as to which values they think are the most important.
· Develop a campus-wide code of values from all 8 houses.
· Research how other schools have used values in their program.

External Relationships Team:

Preliminary objectives for this committee, November 2002

Examine faculty relationships, expectations of Greek service and responsibility to the University Community at large, chapter advisor roles and responsibilities, along with the perception of the Greek system on campus.

Should engage a standing committee of Greeks, non-Greeks, faculty and staff as well as Canton community and others to address mutual concerns and quality of life.

Working advisory boards of alumni should be created.

A possible starting point:

Start by having conversations with faculty you trust about their perception of the Greek system, and the relationship between the Greek system and the University.

Have conversations with non-Greek students about their perception of the Greek system and how those perceptions were created.

Research some of the schools that our Greek Engagement Project studied, and see how faculty and non-Greek students are involved in their Greek systems.

Progress Report December 2002

· Interested in doing surveys with students (both Greek and non-Greek) and faculty to get perceptions about Greek system on campus.

· Creating questions for their surveys and after break will schedule a time to meet with Christine to see if it would be possible, or if Christine already has answers to some of their questions.

· Interested in what perceptions are and how they could be changed.