eGreek Forum Newsletter

Grade Reports for all chapters for Spring 2009 and Fall 2009 is now available.

Fraternities (pdf)
Sororities (pdf)

Former Cornell IFC President Eddie Rooker received the “Greek Leader of Distinction” award at the Northeast Greek Leadership Association Conference in February. According to the award description, Rooker is one who truly “exemplifies the ideal of fraternity/and or sorority membership in their daily lives”.

Soon after joining Sigma Alpha Epsilon, where he is also a New Member Educator, Rooker began his ascent to presidency as the Vice President of University and Community Relations. As VP UCR, he created and developed many of the present IFC's annual philanthropic events.  The following year, he served as IFC President, where he answered the Call to Action Initiative set forth by the university and alumni to increase awareness and address the challenges facing our community related to social responsibility and New Member Education programs.

Rooker also dealt with the repercussions of the H1N1 virus at Cornell where he convinced 42 chapter presidents to temporarily restrict social events in order to prevent the possible spread of the illness. The list of ways in which he has served the Cornell community is endless, as is the praise that his peers bestow on him.

Rooker now presides as a graduate council mentor for all fraternities at Cornell.  For over a decade, Cornell University Greek delegates have attended the NGLA conference where it has received dozens of awards and national recognitions.

A partnership between the three councils and Kaplan Test Prep will offer students in the fraternity and sorority community many new opportunities in standardized test preparation.  The recently established partnership was created to help members of the fraternity and sorority community “take an important step toward accomplishing their career and academic goals,” said Suzy Olsen, Center Manager of Kaplan in Ithaca.

The partnership entails numerous scholarships and discounts that will benefit every chapter member.  Specifically, all chapter members will receive scholarships for all test preparation programs and will have access to Kaplan’s financial needs based tuition assistance program. This includes private tutoring, classroom courses and self-study programs for the MCAT, GRE, DAT, OAT, LSAT, GMAT and PCAT.  “Free and half off course certificates [will also] be awarded to chapter members at IFC’s [and MGLC's & PHC's] discretion,” said Olsen.

A primary goal of the partnership is to “further the academic performance within each chapter” to help individual members “take an important step toward accomplishing their career and academic goals,” said Kaplan.  In addition, chapter members will receive access to admissions workshops and seminars to help gain an advantage in the graduate school admissions process.  Ultimately, Kaplan and the IFC are both very excited about this partnership, which will prove highly beneficial to Cornell’s Greek community.

Executive board members from the Interfraternity, Multicultural Greek Letter and Panhellenic Councils traveled to Hartford, CT in February for the annual Northeast Greek Leadership Association (NGLA) Conference. 

Hosted at the Hartford Convention Center, the Tri-council travels to the event every year for a series of helpful seminars and presentations on improving Greek communities. 

The keynote speaker for the event was Mike Dilbeck, who presented his nationally-recognized presentation, “Response Ability,” a discourse on bystander intervention.  Other keynote speakers included CAMPUSPEAK founder TJ Sullivan and Professional Chill-Out Guru™, hypnotist and photographer Haiji Otto. 

In the near future, the Tri-council would like to bring several of these presenters to campus to enlighten the whole Greek community.  Also serving as faculty for the event included the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs very own Jarrod Cruz and Kara Miller; Kara served on the programming planning board for the event, while Jarrod was a presenter for some of the weekend’s breakout session. 

By the end of the weekend, the Cornell Greek Community took home two awards; the Amy Voijta Impact Award for Multicultural Initiatives for went to Sigma Lambda Upsilon Sorority, Inc. and a Greek Leader of Distinction Award for former IFC President Eddie Rooker.  The Tri-council would like to continue its tradition of attending this event next year with their new respective executive boards.

The Tri-Council Change for Change coin drive is in full swing. At the advice of the IFC's official philanthropy, the United Way of Tompkins County, Change for Change selected Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services as our beneficiary.

This decision was made in early February, before the string of tragedies that hit campus.  Mental health and crisis prevention was previously targeted as a need for the community.  Nevertheless, the Interfraternity Council is hopeful that fraternities will be able to unite around this cause to help the community. 

Among IFC chapters, Kappa Delta Rho is leading the way in donations with a whopping $184.59.  Phi Gamma Delta trails behind in second place with $50, with Phi Sigma Kappa not far behind with $48.36. 

The IFC is extremely excited about the impact that this fundraiser will have on our community and look forward to its continued success.  The final numbers will be tallied during Day of Demeter, while weekly updates can be found online.

by Alexandra Hildreth, PHC VP Recruitment, Publicity & Extension

Shortly following the 2010 Formal Membership Recruitment period, a group of women not placed in a chapter or did not participate in the Panhellenic recruitment process joined together to form an interest group.  Their leader was an initiated Delta Phi Epsilon transfer student.  Initially they started out by calling themselves a Delta Phi Epsilon interest group but after communication with their national organization and our council they began calling themselves a new sorority interest group.  

The existence of this group brought up a question that is always in the back of the councils mind—is it time to bring another chapter to our campus?  In the Fall of 2008, Alpha Omicron Pi closed.  Before that we have not seen any entry or exit since the spring of 2004 when Delta Phi Epsilon left our campus and Alpha Xi Delta entered in the Spring of 2005.

We take the existence of this new sorority interest group very seriously because we believe as a Panhellenic Council that any Cornell woman who wants to participate and become a member should have that opportunity.  In a general body meeting this past February, the council voted for the formation of an Exploratory Extension Committee.  This committee will consist of a representative from every chapter and will explore the idea of extension.  We will look at statistics from formal recruitment going back seven years.  We will also compile qualitative questions we want to collect from members of the Panhellenic community that address the issue of extension.

Currently every chapter’s total is set as 150, and only three chapters fall below this number.  We are still in an Informal Recruitment period where these eligible chapters are participating in Continuous Open Bidding (COB).  Our chapters are more full than we have seen them in a while and with this new interest group the prospect of extension seems plausible.  

Over the next month the committee will compile a formal presentation with both quantitative and qualitative data to bring to the council.  At this point we will propose a vote for extension.  Each chapter will have three weeks to communicate with their headquarters and will have one vote to say whether or not they are in favor of moving forward with extension.  There needs to be a two-thirds majority (currently 8 out of 11 chapters), for this to occur.  

If the vote is yes we will move forward with contacting the National Panhellenic Conference and extend the invitation to join our campus to every organization that is currently not recognized on campus.  The time line for adding a new chapter is not set in stone; however, we anticipate that we may potentially see a new chapter in the fall of 2011.  The notion of change can be difficult in such a traditional community but we are making a concerted effort to assess whether or not this is the proper time for extension.

by Virginia Tyrone, PHC EVP

From the 56 very qualified applicants to the Junior Panhellenic Council, 33 were chosen (3 from each chapter) to represent their New Member Education class and resolve issues that New Members feel exist.

The Junior Panhhellenic Council will be planning and organizing a service event of their choice to occur in late April. They also elected a JPHC Executive Board (comprised of President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Philanthropy positions) to lead the council to a successful semester.

Virginia Tyrone, PHC EVP

Every year, New Member Educators have the difficult task of planning an engaging, educational, and memorable New Member Education period while on a budget. In their efforts to make this an easier feat, the 2010 Panhellenic Council Executive Board created a $300 scholarship. Chapters applied with a detailed description of what program they would like to hold, what Panhellenic wide and chapter specific values it pertained to, and how this event would enrich their new member’s experience.

Congratulations to Alpha Chi Omega! Alpha Chi Omega won the scholarship for their plan to hold an annual off-campus, catered, lineage and sister bonding dinner. This dinner is aimed to strengthen the bonds of the new members, current members, and alumni, promoting the lifelong sisterhood that they share.

by Emily Cusick, PHC VP Programming

On Friday, March 5, Cornell's Panhellenic Council sponsored "How to Confront the Pressure to be Perfect", a lecture by author Liz Funk.  Liz, who wrote the book "Supergirls Speak Out", discussed the pressures that young women today feel from the media, their peers, the opposite sex, but most of all, from themselves.  Throughout her talk, Liz helped the young women realize that there are many proactive steps that Cornellian women can take to be happier and healthier, ranging from scheduling free time into daily schedules to demanding self-respect through limited use of alcohol when socializing.  At the end of the talk, the 60 women in attendance asked candid questions about their own lives and participated in a discussion about the realities of sorority life here at Cornell.  The lecture was the final event of Women's Wellness Week, a week-long series of forums and events sponsored by Panhellenic in order to publicize the many pressures and wellness concerns that are present on Cornell's campus.

by Eugenie Lehembre-Shiah, PHC VP Judicial

Kelsey Shultz is a sophomore in the School of Hotel Administration from Plano, Texas. She is a member of Delta Delta Delta and became interested in Judicial Board to be more involved in the Cornell Greek community. She is excited to help improve the image of Greek life to the entire Cornell campus, and looks forward to better understanding the structure and regulations of Cornell’s Tri-Council. Kelsey is also a part of the Cornell Tradition and is involved in many activities in the Hotel School.

Danielle Newman is a sophomore studying Industrial and Labor Relations and pursuing minors in Law and Society and Inequality Studies from New Jersey. She is the current Panhellenic Delegate for her chapter, Sigma Delta Tau.  On campus she is also involved in the Pre-Law Undergraduate Society, ILR Women's Caucus and the Society for Women in Business.  Danielle's interest in Law, as fostered by courses such as Death Penalty and Labor and Employment Law, combined with her understanding of the social responsibility faced by Greek Women led her to apply for a position on the 2010 Greek Judicial Board.  Danielle is looking forward to understanding the inner workings of the Greek Judicial process.

Colleen Cozzens is new to the Greek Judicial Board this year. A sophomore sister of Delta Gamma and member of the Panhellenic Council, Colleen is very excited to get more involved in the fraternity and sorority community by serving on the Greek Judicial Board. Colleen is a Policy Analysis and Management major who also has a minor in Spanish, and is also a member of the Cornell University Sailing Team.

Emily Mangan is junior from Philadelphia majoring in biological engineering. As a member of Alpha Phi, Emily served as VP of Chapter Operations for the past year and is currently the Director of Formal Membership Recruitment. Her experience on Alpha Phi's judicial board spurred her interest in getting involved with judicial policies from a broader Panhellenic perspective. Emily looks forward to working with the rest of the Panhellenic judicial board, as well as its MGLC and IFC counterparts, to promote social responsibility by empowering the
fraternity and sorority community to make changes within itself.

Jaclyn Terran is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.  As an American Studies major, she focuses on the American legal system and the law.  Being born and raised in New York City has made it her absolute favorite place in the world.  She joined the Judicial Board to explore what a law career would be like.  She’s looking forward to hearing some interesting cases and making great decisions!