Enthusiasm and poise would best describe the characteristics of Jaime Staples '98 as she discussed her new position as Coed Fraternity Sorority Council president yesterday.
Last Monday, Staples, a sister in Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, was elected Summer term president of the CFSC, which is the governing body of the CFS, which is the organization representing the unified interests of the campus' fraternities, sororities and coed fraternities.
Staples beat Lincoln Willis '98 of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity for the position of president. Willis was elected programming liaison for the CFSC.
Staples said she was "extremely excited" about winning.
"I had been planning to run since the end of last term," she said.
In the fall, James Freeman '97, who was elected president of the CFSC in the winter term will resume his role as head of the governing body.
Staples expressed an interest in running again for the position.
"If I am on in the winter, I will run again," she said.
Staples served as secretary on the CFSC last Spring term. She is the formal chair of KKG this summer and will be house manager in the fall.
The CFSC is an important aspect of the community, Staples said.
"I think that the basic thing the CFSC does is to unite the houses on the campus," Staples said. The CFSC helps show the members of the Dartmouth community "that we are one whole Greek system and not just divided houses," she added.
The CFSC "serves as a body to better the community through the Greek system and improve the community's impression of the Greek system."
Staples expressed concern that individual houses have the capacity to commit acts damaging to the reputation of the entire Greek community.
"I think we have the potential to suffer because one house's actions affects all the other houses," she said.
"We also have the potential to have a really great image if each and every house works to make it that way," she added.
"A lot of people in the Greek system see themselves as separate members of separate houses having nothing to do with the members in other houses," she said. "The CFSC says that this is not true."
The CFSC did a great deal last term to improve the unified nature of the houses, she said.
"We did things like the Block Party which was the first thing on campus sponsored by every single house."
The Block Party, held during Green Key weekend last term, was a block-long party held on Webster Avenue. It was sponsored by all fraternities, sororities and coeds.
"The block party helped unify the CFSC," she said. "It may have gotten rained out, but everybody turned out to help us."
The CFSC will be working towards a symposium for the fall "which is going to get everyone on campus involved in one event," she said.
The topic of this symposium will be "Pop Culture."
This summer, the CFSC will be organizing a Greek Olympics, she added.
The symposium and the organization of the Greek Olympics are first priority for the new governing board, Staples said.
"These are some things we can do as a whole to promote unity," Staples said.
Staples said that she became interested in becoming CFSC President because of the events of last term.
"There was a big effort to unify the CFSC with itself and the rest of the community," she said. "The advisory committee got created so that presidents of houses could go to their peers on the committee when they had problems to deal with."
"We had a reception with Dean [of the College Lee] Pelton last term in an effort to increase communication," she said. "We went to his house and they [the Peltons] were very kind to take us in and ... it went over really well."
"I was interested mostly because I saw all the changes that occurred last term," she said. "There seemed to be a general momentum ... increasing communication with community and administration."
"I was also the only '98 on the council last term and wanted to continue the momentum that began with improving the overall image," Staples said.
Staples is a 19-year-old psychology major.
"I'm pre-med," she said. "Hopefully, I'll go to med school. I'd like to work in infectious diseases, like AIDS, or in psychiatry."
Staples has been a cheerleader for the last two years.
"I will be captain in the fall," she said. "I will also be working on presidential scholar research in the fall."
Staples said she volunteers in the psychiatry ward of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
She likes Russian Literature and competed in an equestrian team for 10 years before coming to Dartmouth.
In addition, Staples is very active in house life.
"We do a lot of social activities here," she said. "I volunteer at blood drives. We had a grandfather party where a bunch of older alums came to Kappa."
