Newly appointed acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears will spend the coming weeks reviewing and addressing the Alcohol Management Procedure report, welcoming members of the Class of 2013 and reaching out to students campus-wide, she said Monday in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Spears assumed control of the office in the wake of former Dean Tom Crady's abrupt departure last week, and will fill the position for the next two years, during which time the College will review the structure of the Dean of the College's office, The Dartmouth reported last week. Following that examination, a search will begin for Spears' permanent replacement.
Crady has yet to enumerate the specific reasons behind his departure, though he called his departure a "family decision" in a letter to the Dean of the College's Office provided to The Dartmouth by the Office of Public Affairs last week.
Spears, who previously served as director of the Office of Pluralism and Leadership and acting senior associate dean of the College, said her immediate focus will be preparing for the 2009-2010 academic year, including making preparations for Orientation, which is set to begin Sept. 16. Spears noted, however, that she also looks forward to engaging in dialogue with members of the Greek system.
Spears told The Dartmouth that she respects the role of Greek organizations at the College, and added that she believes the organizations play a "vital part in the campus community."
The acting dean also said she "knows a lot of people who are in leadership roles in frats and sororities," and said she looks forward to having the opportunity to "have some good conversations with leaders" in her new role.
Some students interviewed by The Dartmouth, many of whom noted that they were unfamiliar with Spears, voiced concerns that the acting dean lacks both experience with and an understanding of the Greek system at the College.
"To be fair, I don't know her well, but I think the whole Greek life thing is a huge problem," Jeff Friedman '10, a member of Alpha Delta fraternity, said. "A few of my good friends are presidents of fraternities, and everyone's really worried about what Sylvia Spears is going to do for Greek life."
Other members of the Greek community, however, took a more positive position on Spears upcoming work with the College's Greek system.
"I think that some people jump to say that because someone may not have worked with the Greek system, she is not cognizant of the issues that affect us and our goals and role on campus," Zach Gottlieb '10, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, said. "That's a reactionary rumor that's generally not healthy when it comes to actually approaching the issues and people will jump to the conclusion that she won't be supportive of the Greek system but I don't think that has any foundation in actual truth."
Gottlieb is a columnist for The Dartmouth.
On Monday, Spears declined to outline her specific positions on the delayed Alcohol Management Policy or the newly colonized Kappa Delta sorority, saying that she was still reviewing the details of both issues.
Leaders in the Greek community interviewed by The Dartmouth said that the alcohol policy should be a primary focus of Spears' in the upcoming months.
"We had heard that [Crady] was going to make an announcement related to AMP last week, which has kind of been hanging in limbo, because we've heard nothing." David Johnson '11, the Greek Leadership Council's summer moderator, told The Dartmouth. "Instead, they announced Crady's resignation."
On Monday, Spears told The Dartmouth that it was "premature to say exactly what the time line is" with regard to her review and implementation of AMP policies.
Spears called the AMP proposal "important," but added that it was too early for her to comment further, as she has only had the document for approximately three days.
The document was written by a committee placed in charge of reviewing the Social Event Management Procedures the current rules governing alcohol policy at the College. Crady delayed the implementation of AMP to gather further input from students, The Dartmouth previously reported.
"It's important for me to review the document and then look at any implications there might be with regards to implementation," Spears said.
Members of the GLC have previously spoken with Crady about creating a student advisory committee to help finalize the AMP policies, Johnson said, which he believed Crady favored. Johnson said that to his knowledge, Spears has not yet communicated with Greek leaders about whether she supports forming the committee.
Ethan Lubka '10, the 2009-2010 moderator of the GLC, said that he has been "out of the loop" on AMP and GLC happenings over the summer, and that he does not know Spears. He said, however, that he and other Greek leaders met with Crady in the spring to discuss some of the community's issues with the AMP policies, including the potential that Safety and Security officers could walk through weekly Greek meetings, which Crady told them "not to worry about."
"I was under the impression that they were finalizing the AMP document this summer, and that they would have a meeting in the first few weeks of the Fall term, announce the final version and show it to the leaders of Greek houses, and then it would enter a trial period," Lubka said. "That was what I was expecting until I heard that Crady resigned."
Spears said she will seek to discuss alcohol policies with College President Jim Yong Kim before implementing any changes.
"Of course it's important that the President be informed and briefed about what my insights are," she said.
Student Body President Frances Vernon said she spoke with Spears following her appointment and encouraged her to reach out to students from a variety of campus groups.
"I think that she deserves a shot to demonstrate that she can relate to students on campus, regardless of their affiliation or background," Vernon said when asked about some student's concerns about Spears perceived unfamiliarity with the Greek system.
Vernon added that one of the things she plans to work closely with Dean Spears on is a proposal, which has not yet been completed, to reform the Organizational Adjudication Committee.
Susan Matthews contributed to the reporting of this article.
