Alex Curcuru and Nicole Soussan, the new presidents of the Interfraternity Council and the Women’s Panhellenic Council, respectively, began their leadership under challenging circumstances. Soussan and Curcuru realize that the Greek community is in need of more coordination and reforms. While they are committed to establishing a comprehensive vision for Greeks, they have yet to explicate how this plan will manifest itself in reality.
Beginning with a Visioning Committee is a noble and necessary first step. The committee will establish fundamental values and principles for Greeks, and as Curcuru said, “We’re trying to build a sense of community here.” A concern is that the vision statement, which will take a month to draft, does not address issues of accountability or enforcing rules of conduct on each chapter. The vision should be practical, not just lofty and abstract principles. Greeks should be able to party with the vision in mind
Chapters can claim to be in favor of brother/sisterhood, scholarship or any number of positive values; but to avoid the behaviors that led to the moratorium, the vision needs to address actual behaviors of Greeks, especially with regard to alcohol. Curcuru is working for this regulation by implementing new National Interfraternity Council standards that will create rules to oversee many Greek activities.
For now, Curcuru and Soussan seem to be heading in the right direction. While short on specifics, they have at least begun the discussion with Greeks and University administrators. Said Soussan, “There’s a whole process of first having conversations, then educating, then implementing.” Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward a solution.
As to the moratorium, both Soussan and Curcuru admit that the short-term hardships it caused are outweighed by the potential long-term gains for Greeks. If only it didn’t take such a strong wake-up call for Greeks; IFC and Panhel need to be more pro-active and less reactive in the future, finding and solving problems before it takes massive intervention from the administration.
It remains unclear what the outcome of the moratorium, vision or reforms will bring for Greeks. What is clear is that Curcuru and Soussan are focused on working for positive change. As both Curcuru and Soussan said, they’re working to make the Greek community, “something we can be proud of” in 30 years.