An unanticipated event in the Greek community has led to leadership changes within the Interfraternity Council.
On Nov. 14, Sigma Chi fraternity lost university recognition at Lehigh. The fraternity had two members on the council, including the council president and the judicial chairman. Those members were required to vacate their positions.
Ian Davis, ’18, now holds the position of IFC president. Davis, a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, was previously vice president of the council and assumed his new role after Sigma Chi was dissolved.
“(Davis is) a bright leader,” said Jonathan Levin, ’20, a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi. “He’ll be able to move Greek life in the right direction.”
Mark Shterk, ’18, the new IFC vice president, wrote in an email that the executive board voted to install Davis as president. Shterk previously oversaw campus relations for the council.
Typically, elections for the board are held at the end of the spring semester after candidate interviews. However, this was an unusual circumstance.
Molly Bankuti, ’18, the president of the Panhellenic Council, said IFC leadership experienced further changes. Brian Venter, ’19, is now responsible for both programming and campus relations. Tashi Eng, ’18, is now the judicial chairman and Garrett Santini, ’18, is the new head of community service. Santini was not previously on the council.
“So far, we’ve had success transitioning everyone into their new roles, and the board is excited to close out the semester on a strong note,” Shterk wrote in an email.
Before becoming involved with IFC, Davis was the president of Alpha Epsilon Pi. He said he was heavily involved with accreditation, recruitment and academic planning as president of the fraternity.
Davis said he wanted to become a member of IFC because he had positive experiences as president of his fraternity. He said he wanted to build on these experiences and become more involved with Panhellenic Council and the Cultural Greek Council.
“Since the beginning of the year, as IFC, we set out goals of making our campus more inclusive and discussed, as a Greek community, what our role in promoting diversity and inclusivity meant,” Davis said. “It’s a challenging process but something we continue to work toward.”
Davis said he is promoting inclusivity by engaging in more open dialogue with Panhel and the Cultural Greek Council and talking about difficult topics that need to be addressed.
He said that before the changes to leadership, IFC had a strong group dynamic that the council will need to find again, but he added that the members continue to move in a positive direction.
Bankuti said Davis has a different approach than the previous IFC president. However, she believes Davis will be successful in his new role.
Despite recent changes, the overall goals of IFC and Panhel remain the same.
“We want to ensure that all of our organizations are being held accountable and we’re doing as much as we can to remain transparent,” Davis said.
Bankuti said both organizations want to support each other in creating a safe social climate.
Levin, who met Davis when he joined Alpha Epsilon Pi, said Davis was successful in risk management and interacting and forming relationships with campus organizations. He said Davis will bring his experience as fraternity president to IFC.
Despite unforeseen changes, Davis said this year’s goals and overarching vision were already determined by the previous council. He said it won’t be difficult to continue the work it had done.
The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
2 Comments
I hope that the IFC will support any attempts of recolonization by sorities and fraternities. Many alums have donated money to houses on the hill before being disbanded. Those should be allowed to immediately occupy a house on the hill.
Each year since 2004, the System Wide Assessment Committee (SWAC) has reviewed the fraternity and sorority community and produced a report with recommendations for improving or addressing academic standards, recruitment, occupancy requirements in the chapter house, New Member Education and hazing, student and organizational conduct, and accreditation. An integral piece of this assessment is whether current Greek organizations sufficiently meet the students’ level of interest, for example based on the number of people who rushed and received bids and current membership numbers. SWAC takes a continuous look at whether to expand the Greek system every year and is deliberate in its approach, and Greek students and alumni certainly have a seat at the table.
View the past reports here: https://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/content/reports-statistics.
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