He's an easy-going, approachable guy. He's a math major, a Dartmouth Dining Services full-time administrative intern and a brother and house chaplain at Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He's the new Coed Fraternity and Sorority Council president.
And now, as one of the key players in the Student Life Initiative debate that has been at the center of campus wide interest throughout this first full week of the Winter term, he's probably one of the busiest students on campus.
Eric Etu '01 will be largely responsible for overseeing the Greek students' response to the steering committee's recommendation report that was released last Monday.
As the new CFSC President, elected just last Thursday, Etu has been pounded with the public relations work involved in his position right off the bat with the release of the College's Student Life Initiative.
He spent a large portion of last week representing the Greek system, making public appearances and giving speeches, and generally serving as the liaison between affiliated students and administrators and organizations involved in the Initiative, he said.
Etu said that he is looking ahead the new year with ambitions of producing a Greek resolution regarding the Initiative. He said that the Greek system's first priority is to discuss, and to reach a compromise on where the CFSC stands on the currently released recommendations.
The CFSC hopes to reach a peaceful compromise with the Board of Trustees by carefully analyzing the report and to formulate positive recommendations and alternative solutions to the ideas with which many students are dissatisfied, he said.
"It is extremely important for the Greek system and the College to maintain a positive relationship based on effective communication," he said. "I hope to lead the CFSC in trying to civilly approach the current situation with viable alternatives instead of simply dismissing it as stupid."
"I feel there is a general lack of trust between the two entities of the Greek system and the College. There is a constant fear, distrust and worry about the question of 'what if,' on the part of the CFSC," Etu said.
"If everyone knew each other's intentions, the situation will be much better. I don't think people want to get around the rules anymore. If people knew and were happy with the set of rules, and these rules were set permanent, they would want to follow and everyone will be happy," Etu said.
According to Etu, one of the main problems that many Greek-affiliated students find with the proposal is the Greek house residency in the summer term. Etu and the CFSC will be addressing this issue with special attention, he said.
Etu stated that the CFSC will focus during the Winter term mainly on the discussion of the proposal, and the cooperation with other student organizations and administrators to present ideas on the table. He expects numerous campus organizations as well as individual students to submit recommendations on the present proposal.
Etu expressed his hope of producing a comprehensive recommendation document of some sort before the end of the term addressing the large issues affecting the Greek system in general.He also expressed his hope for individual Greek houses to produce similar miniature documents focusing specifically on the issues concerning their individual houses. He hopes that all documents will be submitted for Trustees' review in the Spring term.
With this in mind, Etu expressed his intention to pull some ideas together over the weekend to sketch out the beginning of the document.
Etu said, the Greek system has a tremendous presence at the College, and it holds a lot of merit as well as problems. He explained that his involvement in his fraternity has provided him with the opportunity to make valuable friendships as well as to be involved in activities he probably would not have participated without the encouragement from his fraternity brothers.
"My house got me doing a lot of community service, so my involvement in Sig Ep was a great incentive for me to do some good deeds. It's really great to have such encouragement. My brothers are also largely responsible for my decision to go back to church," Etu said.
"The friendships that I made through Sig Ep are really incredible. And most of [my friends] I probably wouldn't have met had I not joined the fraternity," he said.
In addressing the housing issue outlined in the Initiative proposal, Etu said he respects the College's efforts to create a homier residential atmosphere for students by creating more clusters as East Wheelock.
"The Greek houses also provide a very 'home-ish' atmosphere. They give a real feeling of ownership. I mean, I can even paint the walls of my room if I wish. This freedom really gives the Greek houses personality and character. That's why I love living in the house," Etu said.
However, he said he disagreed with the report's claim that the Greek system polarizes the campus between the Greek-affiliated and the unaffiliated students. Etu said that he has never experienced this polarization in all his years of involvement in Sig Ep.
Etu said that he does not fail to acknowledge the problems that also accompany the Greek presence in the campus. The most obvious of these problems is alcohol abuse and underage drinking, he said.
He said fraternity parties serving free alcohol make it very easy for students to drink in excess, and he hopes to be able to address this problem in a reasonable manner.
Etu also sees "ghastly" problems with the treatment of sexual assault. He said the current procedure in dealing with sexual assault offenders is a three term suspension followed by normal enrollment back in campus, whereas the punishment for plagiarism is permanent expulsion from the college.
"This is ridiculous and truly, truly sad. What is even more shocking is that the [report recommendations] failed to address sexual abuse at all. They blatantly overlooked this problem, despite their efforts to address the gender social gap on campus," Etu said.
