Some are calling it an implementation committee, others a steering committee. Whatever name eventually sticks, the Student Life Initiative committee on Greek Life currently being formed will redefine the Greek system as we know it.
At the end of Winter term, the committee will submit a complete report of recommendations to Dean of the College James Larimore. The report will outline a new vision of what the Greek system should look like.
"Let's recreate the Greek system, [one] which would better meet the educational purpose of the institution," said Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman, describing what he hopes will be the perspective of the committee when they convene.
Redman will head the committee with Acting Assistant Deans of Residential Life Cassie Barnhardt and Chris Chambers.
The committee will comprise 25 people, including four unaffiliated students and nine members of the Greek system. Yet-to-be-determined faculty, administrators and alumni will fill the rest of the positions.
Redman hopes the committee will spend Fall term developing a set of goals of what the Greek system ought to accomplish at the College.
Over the summer, a group of Greek leaders met with him at a retreat and discussed four things that are important to the idea of being Greek -- scholarship, service, leadership and friendship.
Redman hopes to flesh out the implications of these ideals and commit to principles that will in turn guide the implementation of more specific issues.
Twelve to 15 working groups will be created to deal with the smaller details, with at least one member of the steering committee participating in each group.
Working groups will focus on such issues as physical plant standards, winter rush, leadership development and faculty advising, Redman said.
"The task is pretty huge," he added. "It covers everything from the beginning to the end of the Greek experience."
During winter, hopefully with a set of principles laid out, the focus of the committees will be on making progress in the working groups and completing the report.
On Monday, Student Assembly Vice President Chance Hill '01 chose four unaffiliated students from among a list of 46 applicants who responded to a campus-wide BlitzMail message sent out by Student Assembly.
He said he was looking for a group of people who were representative of the College demographically, as well as people who were open-minded, willing to listen, willing to speak their opinions and had a good understanding of a wide range of social options.
"Hopefully we can make these [student] selections a big deal, because they are. They'll be representing student concerns on some heated issues," Hill said.
Hill said he wanted to publicize the names of the student representatives so that the rest of the campus will turn to them with their input.
Assembly President Jorge Miranda '01 also said that communication with the rest of the campus was an important role for the committee.
"I would hope that we will be hearing throughout the year what [the committee is] doing," he said. "This is something that all students care about."
Miranda said he hopes the committee will initiate improvements on the Greek system instead of rehashing the two-sided pro-Greek and anti-Greek arguments prevalent last year.
The Coed Fraternity and Sorority Council are awaiting the end of rush to make their recommendations, and will probably submit their nine names by the end of next week, CFSC President Eric Etu '01 said.
Originally, the nine Greek representatives were to be filled by the heads of the CFSC and its sub-councils, such as the Panhellenic Council, the Coed Council and the Inter-Fraternity Council.
However, after some discussion, the leaders declined to join because of their already heavy commitments to other organizations.
"They have a lot of work ahead of them," said Etu, who knew firsthand the difficulty of assembling student opinion when he headed the committee that put together the CFSC response to the SLI in February.
"I think if we get good, hardworking people into these committees, there's a lot of potential," Etu added. "We're going to be creating a better Greek system."
Applications for the Greek positions are going to be sent in the next few days.
Throughout the Fall term, more committees addressing other issues of the Initiative will be created, such as first year housing, programming and residential construction.
Over the summer, committees on hazing, adjudication and improved social options were formed and are still now meeting.
