Letter from Greek Life Office

At our last meeting, Cindy Babington, VP of Student Life and Autumn Hansen, GLC came to discuss the current state of Greek Life on our campus. The conversation was very positive and covered a wide range of topics. Below is a letter from the Greek Life Office sent to Student Senate. I wanted to share it with the student body to give you some insight into what was discussed at the meeting. Hopefully in the fall we can begin to work on some of these areas.

Let your new class Senators know if you have any questions or concerns about this or any other

DePauw University Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life
To: DePauw University Student Senate
From: The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life
CC: Matthew Jennings, Student Body President
Matthew Newill, Student Body Vice President
Dorian Shager, Dean of Campus Life
Cindy Babington, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students
Date: 4/20/2009
Re: Priorities of Greek Life Coordinators

Comments: We would like to thank the Student Senate for the opportunity to present on Sunday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. regarding the Greek Life Coordinator position and the purpose and vision of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. The Greek Life Coordinators appreciate any direct feedback or commentary on the state of the Greek community and opportunities for improvement. Per the conversation with the DePauw University Student Senators, the Greek Life Coordinators assert the following priorities moving forward:

• Maintain a high visibility and accessibility to Greek students at community and chapter events, specifically at major community events such as Greek Week, Anchor Splash, Ring Sing, Monon, fraternity/sorority recruitment, Special Olympics, Derby Days (for a few examples)
• Coordinate with chapter presidents to find ways in which to engage more regularly with the general membership of a chapter (i.e. mealtimes, chapter meetings, philanthropic events, visiting the house, fireside meetings, lawn games, educational programs, etc.)
• Request feedback from chapter presidents regarding Greek Life Coordinator assignments for the 2009 – 2010 academic year for consideration of future assignments so as to meet the needs of the chapter
• Develop marketing materials for parents, First-Year students and other constituencies outlining the benefits of Greek membership , the Council regulations regarding affiliation and chapter information
• Work with the governing Councils (the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council) to communicate the affiliation process and the rules related to these procedures in the first week of the Fall 2009 term
• Work with chapter leadership to develop chapter calendars and advertise these through the University calendar at the beginning of each term
• Continue officer roundtable sessions for chapter leadership in an effort to build community and resource networks for Greek students
• The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life will use the summer to assess the current vision and mission statement and subsequently identify concrete action items by which to fulfill the vision and mission of the OFSL.

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life appreciates any direct feedback and would like to invite any of the Student Senators to stop by and visit with any of the Greek Life Coordinators. Our offices are located in Union Building 130 and 140A.

If there are any questions or additional comments, please feel free to contact the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at 765-658-4062 or at glc@depauw.edu. Thank you!

Senior Senators last tabling at the Duck...

The question:
What are your expectations for the Greek Life Coordinators?



The answers included:

(One third of the responders wrote that they had know idea what GLC's were.)


"Not enough interaction with members"

"They need to try to understand the greek system before making decisions"

"GLC's should be more visible"

"GLC's should encourage greek houses to work with a wide variety of organizations on campus"

"GLC's should help foster understanding between the greek system and university staff, faculty and Greencastle community"

"GLC's should encourage house and Panhel unity"

"GLC's should provide guidance, support and encouragement, not just rule enforcement"

"They should work toward a stronger appreciation between all frats and sororities"

"Promote inter-greek relations"

"GLC's need to coordinate relations with all majority greek, minority greek and non-greek students"

"They should promote an equal recruitment among male and female houses"

"They should work to improve recruitment"

"Encourage fair recruitment practices"

"GLC's need to define their roles, are they advisors or authorities?"

"They should be a supportive voice for greek life to the administration"

"GLC's should protect the greek system as a social outlet for DePauw"

"They should be a support system for greek leaders and houses"

Senior responses to resources provided by Career Services

The Senior Senators tabled at the Duck for another Jazz and Whine session on March 5th. We obtained just over 70 responses to two questions: "What are your thoughts about DPU's Career Services?" and "What do you think about a 24 hour library system?"

Concerning the Career Services query there were

• 39 negative responses toward the benefits of our current Career Services set-up.
• 19 positive responses
• 10 people admitted to having never used the resource.
• a few, um, less thoughtful remarks

Some of the more interesting comments included

• "I wish they had been more visible...each class should have had its own career counselor...he or she could tailor their work to meet the specific needs of a smaller pool of people with more in common."

• "My friends and I have proposed that visiting Career Services should be a requirement of the First-year Seminar"

• "There are all kinds of resources that Career Services has access to, like the alumni database. There is a disconnect between the resources and the students' using of them. If you know what they offer, you are in a much better position than those who have no idea."

Some oft-repeated responses included

• "They need to push for job connections in other regions...why do they only advertise for Chicago and Indianapolis? Yes, they're closer, but students are from and are interested in places all over the WORLD!"

• "Career Services doesn't cater to the majority of DePauw's majors"

• "They need to focus more on graduating seniors and they need to link alumni and students. There are very few good jobs on Tiger Tracks and other Career Services sites."

What's Happening Now.

It's official!
DePauw Student Government is officially petitioning for the Percy L. Julian Science and Mathematics Center to become a 24-hour study space accessible to all DePauw students, regardless of major.

Want to know more?
For further details, read the official white paper unanimously adopted by both the DePauw student senate and student congress. The official document can be found on the Student Congress Moodle page, accessible to all DePauw Students, and a thumbnail version will soon be uploaded to this blog page.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contact your senators to make sure your opinions are heard!

Opinions about the Library and Career Services

The following are opinions from students about both the library hours and career services. These are not only limited to juniors, but are from a cross-section of students from all grades I have spoken to about these issues:

What do you think of the libraries hours?

-The hours are fine

-I don’t use the library

-I think on the weekends they should go longer

-I don’t go to the library that often so they’re fine, I wouldn’t stay that long anyway

-I don’t go to the library, I don’t like working there at all. I feel like a lot of other people would stay longer if it was open though.

-They’re ok, I would use longer hours on the weekends.

-I would like them to be 24hrs, I live there and I don’t like leaving when my work is half way done.

-I wish it was later, sometimes 2am isn’t enough. I wish they were longer during the weekends, because people have more time to do work. It should open earlier too. And they should keep the café open longer too.

-I’d like it to open earlier and stay open later on the weekends.

-I personally don’t care because I don’t go to the library that often at night

-They’re good for the weekdays, but probably they could be open longer on the weekends.

-It works for me.

-They’re pretty reasonable, since they change for exams

-I liked when they were 24hrs during exams, I would use that during the year

-I would like them to do 24hrs , especially if you’re a night person, it’s the best during finals when they’re open longer.

-If it’s 24hrs, some students would really use that.

-They’re ok.

What do you think of Career Services?

-Students don’t really utilize it and they probably should, they send a lot of emails

-I don’t know, I haven’t had much interaction with them

-I don’t use them, I don’t know why, I should.

-I know what I want to do (be a doctor), and they don’t have stuff that pertains to that

-They suck. They don’t really have good connections with desirable companies. What they have is good, but they don’t have services we need.

-I think they don’t do as much as they say they do and they’re not very helpful.

-They’re not very helpful, just told me to look at the binders when I needed advice on cover letters, it wasn’t very personal

-They do a decent job; they send a lot of emails. But I don’t think they do a good job of selling students on what they offer. Maybe better promotion?

-I feel like they would be helpful if I ever used them, but I don’t go to any of the events.

-I’ve never used

-I don’t know, I don’t use it because my major doesn’t pertain to it or my region

-I think it’s awesome; they were really helpful when I went in there and offered to do anything and everything I needed.

-Never used them, I’m a sophomore and don’t need to use it yet. There are plenty of connections that I have at home.

-I like tiger tracks, there are at least good ideas for companies to look at and stuff, but sometimes it’s tricky to navigate.

-They need more stuff outside of Indiana

-I’ve never used it, for me I just talk to my professors about career stuff, I don’t think they would help me for my major (physics)

Whine and Jazz at the Duck Responses

When Stacey and I tabled at the Duck we received more than 60 responses from mostly seniors. It was an unofficial “survey” and many of the responses were um, let’s just say, informal. Some of the more serious responses included the following:

-Expand Lilly

-Freshmen should stay on campus freshmen year

-Remove group requirements

-There should be more entertainment geared toward a diversity of genres (like hip-hop)

-Students should not eat in their greek chapters so often to promote better inter-school relations and to provide continuity through the social experience

-DePauw should be more diverse

-Students should learn to exist outside of their “locked-in” social network

-DePauw should be more supportive of the arts

-Group requirements should not be such a check-list

-Leadership roles are far too pressured upon students

-DePauw should promote greater class unity

-There are problems with DePauw’s meal plans

-DePauw should make more groups like ISA better integrated on campus.

-There should be more scholarships or opportunities for students to go abroad/do WT

-There should be more diverse types of language programs and international studies classes

-There should be an international studies department

-DePauw should have more school spirit

-Independent students shouldn’t be alienated

-Student Government Allocations should be better managed for student organizations

-Dancing classes at DPU should count as a PE class

-There should be more support for the greek system

-DePauw should really support Dr. Casey and his new ideas

-Greek life was more of a support system

-DePauw Students are treated like kids; education comes from outside of class, too

-Student Senate seems like a great idea, it should have been set in place, sooner

-Professors should be better prepared for class, seminars and discussion in class can be effective tools for education; however, class often stalls discussion because students are attempting to discuss matters of which we are not experts…we should have more lecture based classes from people who are experts

-Group requirements/graduation requirements are too demanding and too confusing and they don’t leave room for the liberal arts education…this system does not work

-There should be more student parking

-Professors should be more responsive to emails and clearer about grading scales, what is an “A-/B+” grade?

-There should be more transportation available for students

-Students have to pay too much for parking passes

-There should be fewer group requirements, optional meal plans and more scholarships for studying abroad.

-Better transportation options

-Limit on the number of recognized organizations

-Students need more opportunities to live out their faith, get off campus, more time with professors outside of class, more hands-on education applications, computer skills workshops, more activities should be held in Greencastle so we can meet “townies” and form better relationships

-There should be fewer academic requirements for Winter Term

-DePauw needs more speakers and guest programs for weekends…campus is boring on weekends!

-DePauw needs better food options

-DePauw should have more diversity




I’ve included the repeats. The responses were prefaced by, “DePauw would have been a hell of a lot better if…”

Update #1

Apparently the Moodle blog page sucks... so welcome to Blogspot!

--> Senators: Please compile the responses you received from students this week and post one copy from each class to our new blog page.