Spotlight: An Administrator’s View

As a new employee and a new member of the Colgate community, I am still learning about the institution and about Greek Life at Colgate. It is very hard for me to make large sweeping statements about Greek Life at Colgate simply because I do not see it as a monolithic entity but as a community of students. Therefore, Greek life is going to be doing well if the students in Greek Life are doing well, and vice versa. In my time here I have found the students in Greek Life to be passionate about their affiliation and interested in improving the status of their organizations and the community.

The officers and leaders I have had the pleasure to work with and meet, have always represented their organizations well with pride in their accomplishments and sincerity in their desire to improve their weaknesses. Students have shared with me both their suc­cesses and the challenges they face as leaders within their organizations. In addition to the students, I have also had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with dedicated alumni and parents that help to support the Greek Letter Organizations and the students within them. I would say the student pride in their organizations is only second to the pride and the connection that the alumni hold to both Colgate and their organizations. I hope to work with the students and alumni over time and earn the opportunity to share in that pride while helping to develop the organizations.

I have high aspirations and expectations for where Greek Life can go at Colgate. I have those aspirations because of the caliber of the students involved in these organiza­tions and their desire to be the best at what they do. If we work to set high expectations, we can accomplish those expectations together. I work with Greek Life because I believe in the value it presents to students. It creates community; opportunities for involve­ment; support in academic and non-academic endeavors and most importantly leader­ship opportunities unlike any other on a college campus. I wanted to work at Colgate because of the reputation of the institution and because I believe there is the potential for Greek Life at Colgate to attain a standard that can place it in the top tier of Greek life programs in the Northeast.