Greek Alumni Council Report to LUAA Board of Directors Spring, 2014

The Greek Alumni Council (GAC) represents the interests of Fraternity and Sorority Alumni on campus, provides a forum for alumni and actives to interact and receive updates on campus life today, and advises student Greek organizations. Committee (SWAC). We will install new leadership within the GAC shortly, with most individuals identified. We will streamline the board to include President, Vice Presidents of Fraternities, Sororities, and Multicultural Greeks, and Formerly Recognized Chapters, and Past President. We will also recruit assistance for specific roles (micro-volunteering). Campus professionals presented a series of webinars for our alumni to help them in their roles and/or to keep them current on the Lehigh Greek environment. Each of these could be viewed live which entailed watching a PowerPoint presentation, listening to the moderator and interacting through a chat function; those who participate after the fact get everything but live chat. We were disappointed with the live viewership, which impacts the interactive dialog in the chat, but we did find that many more alumni viewed the taped webinar. We will likely rebrand our efforts as Greek Alumni because the word Council may imply that they are for select alumni, and we will look at our outreach, including, perhaps, inclusion in chapter communications. Finally, we will look to make our webpage more informative and user-friendly. We met on campus on Saturday, February 8th, with a good turnout, and updated the alumni on current events, including an update from the presidents of the three student councils. We offered five breakouts, and a stimulating lunch session on campus climate. meeting. We have had a few challenges with the active chapters this year. Several chapters are facing disciplinary action due to excessive alcohol use including whether or not they took appropriate action under medical amnesty to protect the affected students. We have had a very productive dialog with the councils, and have held the chapters accountable, and I believe that they have recognized the issue and will be more responsible regarding alcohol, but the proof will be in their actions. The councils have recently adopted an events policy banning theme parties which are offensive to others, including those which might demean based on race or gender or any of The meeting was very well received, so we will likely keep our format of webinars and an annual GAC officers also participate in the Greek Partnership Council (GPC) and System Wide Assessment

many other groups, in accordance with the universitys Principles of Our Equitable Community. The administration is adamant that those types of events will result in immediate (not deferred) disciplinary dissolution. As previously reported, our fraternity system will be expanding in the fall of 2014, with preference given for chapters which espouse traditional Jewish culture and tradition. SWAC recommended this initiative based on a proposal by the then rabbi, among others, who argued that this need was not being met by our current system. Proposals are due in August, and in September we will invite finalists to present to a committee. We consistently aver that Lehigh is in favor of a strong Greek system, but it must be one which enhances the educational experience at Lehigh. Lehigh has invested considerable sums in the support and development of our system, and we have strong professionals to support our system. We occasionally lose chapters who have not measured up (most recently Delta Gamma sorority and Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) fraternity), and we have consistently sought new chapters who will fill the void when that happens. Kappa Delta sorority is now fully active, and will move into the house previously occupied by Delta Gamma (& Sigma Nu) in the fall. SWAC has yet to discuss the status of the fraternity system post-FIJI. GAC strongly lobbies that chapter houses which were purchased for Greeks by Greeks must remain Greek, so that a pathway back to the Hill remains available; we view this as a critical component of Lehighs continued support of Greek life and for the credibility of our message to alumni. FIJIs house is temporarily a dorm, and we will strongly push to keep that within the Greek System. As alumni, we seek strategies to enhance the engagement of our Greek Alumni with their active chapters. We feel strong mentoring by alumni will assist our actives in further improvements in our Greek system at Lehigh. Actively engaged alumni also cannot help but be more interested in Lehigh as well. strong system we have in place. Howard Brainerd Foltz 77, GAC President HBFoltz@RCN.com (610) 390-5520 I encourage LUAA board members to view the webinars and attend Accreditation presentations in April to enhance understanding of the