I am writing this column on behalf of the Coed, Fraternity, and Sorority Council, which is formed by the presidents of the 27 Greek-organizations on campus. Our weekly column expresses the opinion of this 1,600 student system and informs the campus about important programs.
Public service announcements now aside ...
Freshmen at football games are always searching for the leader who will head the charge through the law-enforcement ranks, but the need for leaders extends into all realms of campus life. Well-intended organizations fold every term for lack of knowledgeable student leadership. Some groups fail because they try to deal with problems of too large or too small a scope; some groups lose direction when the leaders end their term, or are forced by D-plan scheduling to change; other groups are hamstrung by politics about who ate with whom at Food Court on Thursday. When we as students take on the power to lead, we need to, well, use it or be faced with losing it.
FDR once said, "It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead ... and find no one there." There is probably a 1:1 ratio of students to campus organizations and committees. I'm waiting for the formation of the Committee to Explain Da$h; it could make training presentations as students come off the lines at the Hop, thus wasting the maximum amount of our time.
Sometimes simply getting out of the way can be a good idea. As students and Administrators, we need to recognize when there are enough people on the bus and when we're not the ones that should be driving.
As the Greek system drives through the current officers' final terms, we will be keeping our feet firmly on the gas continuing the efforts we started last year. You might remember some of them from the spring: the Green Key Block party, the Pan-Hellenic and Inter-Fraternity Council's developments in rush planning and new-member education, or the founding of this column as an effort to communicate with non-Greek students, faculty, administrators, and the Hanover Community.
This term there is a need once again for a concerted effort from the Greek system to reaffirm its place in the community, both socially and intellectually. As drivers, we have the responsibility to put on the brakes when they're necessary, and realize that there are problems in the system.
We want the entire community to know about these problems and to know how we are solving them. This term, for the first time, the CFS Judicial Committee will publish and distribute a summary of the past year's cases and rulings so that you know what's going on. As a campus community, we have to not only be supportive of the positives of each other, but also aware of the negatives and be concerned about them.
The CFSC wants to continue its leadership role in campus social and intellectual life. I look forward to seeing students take ownership and leadership in more and better events in the coming months. As an example, next week this column will highlight the thought and process involved in the sorority rush system as it has changed in the past four years.
