Last night in Cutter Shabazz a gathering of Greek presidents voted to officially replace the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council (CFSC) with the Greek Leaders Council.
The vote was unanimous among the house presidents in attendance, with two CFS organizations absent. Houses that had seceded from the CFSC were also present and are planning to join the new organization.
"A lot of discussion was held," said President of the Panhellenic Council Tasha Francis '02, "a lot of questions were brought up."
"This represents the new direction of the Greek system: one of responsibility," said Eric Powers '02 president of the Interfraternity Council, "I really believe that."
The council is "a good step in the right direction," said Frederick Hurley '01 president of the Coed Council.
Among the changes that the GLC will implement will be a website and a monthly newsletter on the Greek system for the entire community which will be handled by the soon-to-be-elected Public Relations Manager.
The newsletter "was something that I was very excited to hear about," said Hurley, "sometimes it's difficult to get the word out," about programming events.
In addition a Moderator and a Social Events Manager round out the new offices created for the GLC.
The main role of the GLC is to handle issues that affect the entire Greek system such as Greek Week, held this year in mid-October, and issues that "draw a lot of attention to the Greek system," said Francis.
The more general role of the council will put more pressure on the sub-councils to handle specific issues relating to their constituency, allowing the houses to have more input into the system.
The structure is "bottom up," with all ideas spawned by the houses said Francis. "Any time there's less red tape in an organization it's better for that organization," Francis added.
There are "definitely more responsibilities for the presidents," said Powers. However, there are also "more opportunities for presidents to speak their houses' wishes," added Francis.
The new structure is very beneficial to the Coed houses, said Hurley, who added that the council should help to bring the CFS system together. "There are a lot of issues that are very specific to the coed system." With the GLC, "we can be participating where we can but not feeling that we have nothing in common."
In addition, organizations will receive some benefits for remaining members of the organization such as taking advantage of the social events registration procedures.
Nomination procedures for the three elections will be held soon, and information will be distributed by presidents of the Greek houses.
The GLC will go into effect pending the approval of Dean of the College James Larimore. Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deborah Carney was optimistic that approval would be forthcoming, according to Powers. If it is approved the first meeting of the new GLC will be next Tuesday at Chi Heorot fraternity.
