The Order of Omega held its annual Emerging Leaders Institute, a program organizers hope will serve as a forum for building relationships and frankly discussing the fraternity and sorority experience at Dartmouth, on Saturday in 105 Dartmouth Hall.
The event, organized by David Zubricki '07 and Meghan Feely '08, emphasized cultivating relationships with administrators and Greek houses. In order to participate, attendees had to have been selected by their house president for playing an active role around campus and within the house. Most houses nominated three or four members.
Zack Nicolazzo, the community director of Russell Sage Cluster, represented the administration. He argued that the administration was not against the Greek system but does want it to improve.
Ruslan Tovbulatov '09 attended the event as a representative of his fraternity, Chi Gamma Epsilon.
"I think people were pleasantly surprised to hear that the administration was not completely against the Greek system, just only when they [Greek houses] run into trouble," he said.
Other students spoke on five of the six Coed, Fraternity and Sorority administration's principles of Greek life: accountability, leadership, inclusivity, brotherhood/sisterhood and scholarship.
Leslie Shribman '08, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority who spoke about scholarship, also attended this conference last year but as an audience member.
"It was interesting to be on the other side, speaking about the issues we were discussing," she said.
She mainly focused on traditions within her house, such as awarding "smart cookies" that encouraged sisters to excel academically throughout the week.
"It's important to maintain high standards to show the administration that it's not just a culture of drinking," she said, referring to the Greek system.
According to Shribman, the turnout was not as large as last year's. She attributes this to either lack of advertisement on the part of the Order of Omega or the lack of initiative among the presidents of the Houses. In Tri-Delt, she said, the president personally blitzed the nominees to encourage participation.
The event also included a debate among attendees about the pros and cons of the Greek system.
"Personally I really did enjoy the dialogue, I see the merits of our existence, and we got engaged in pretty serious conversations. You could tell people were really engaged in it," Tovbulatov said.
