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The Dartmouth
July 27, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Clemens sets out goals for College Greek life

Newly-appointed Acting Director of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies Kristi Clemens has begun her term by meeting with student leaders to familiarize herself with the Dartmouth Greek System, Clemens said in an interview. In the coming year, Clemens said she hopes to address Dartmouth's drinking culture, "female empowerment," and stereotypes about individual organizations and the Greek system as a whole.

Since her appointment in early August, Clemens has been meeting regularly with the Panhellenic Council, the InterFraternity Council and the presidents of individual houses, she said.

Clemens said she hopes to improve communication between social organizations, the College and the town of Hanover, she said.

Improving communication between organizations, the College, and the town, is particularly important with regards to alcohol policy, according to Clemens. She said she plans to work with organization leaders to reduce the level of unsafe drinking on campus, which she described as "part of the culture here."

Although Clemens said she was not concerned about an increase in the number of Good Samaritan calls, she was concerned with the increase in the blood alcohol content of students who have been subject to Good Samaritan calls, she said.

A May 2010 report by the Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee raised similar concerns. The report found an increase in the percentage of medical cases involving students with a BAC above .25 over the past four academic years, as well as an increase in the percentage of cases that came from Good Samaritan calls. Clemens attributed the increase in Good Samaritan calls to students becoming more familiar with the policy.

Clemens has advised Greek organization leaders to ensure that there are always people at the doors of any organization's physical plant to prevent intoxicated students from entering, she said.

"To me it's a risk management issue," she said.

Clemens said that she believes the town, the College and student leaders all prioritize student safety.

"No one wants to say Don't have fun in your time at Dartmouth,' but we want to make sure students are safe," she said.

As part of her goal of addressing issues of gender equity, Clemens said that she hopes to help sororities gain power equal to that of fraternities on the Dartmouth campus. As part of this goal, she plans to help Alpha Phi and Kappa Delta sororities advocate for physical plants, The Dartmouth previously reported.

The College has set aside money for building Alpha Phi's physical plant, but the project was stalled because of budget restructuring and is now being discussed by the Board of Trustees.

"The College is very supportive [of Alpha Phi's plans to build a physical plant]," Clemens said, adding that she is "confident" that the sorority will soon have at least a timeline of when the project will be complete.

Clemens has also met with a Kappa Delta national representative to discuss the possibility of Kappa Delta acquiring a physical plant, she said.

Based on her conversations with men on campus, Clemens said she was concerned that "many of them do not understand how women feel." Additional steps can be taken to make women on campus more empowered, she said.

Prior to her appointment as acting director of GLOS, Clemens worked as associate director of residential education at the College. Before coming to Dartmouth, she was an administrator at New York University, serving first as community development educator and then as assistant director of residential education.

Clemens said that although she enjoyed working at NYU, her alma mater, she wanted to change to a smaller environment.

"It's really important for me to have contact with students and not just do things in a vacuum," she said.

Panhell President Anna Sonstegard '11 described Clemens as an "asset to sororities and the larger Greek community at Dartmouth," in an e-mail to The Dartmouth, citing her work to help sororities without physical plants advocate for houses.

"Clemens is promoting women empowerment on campus by helping us utilize all of our resources to meet our goals," Sonstegard wrote.

IFC President Tyler Brace '11 also said he was happy to be working with Clemens.

"Working with her has been great," IFC President Tyler Brace '11 said. "She has a lot of enthusiasm for the job and we're pretty excited to be working with her."

Although Clemens said she has her own ideas for the upcoming year, she is looking to the student leaders of individual organizations, IFC and Panhell to steer the conversation.

"I really want to see where the group wants to go with it," she said.