Haley Russell
Assistant News Editor
A national Greek assessment team, the Fraternity and Sorority Coalition Assessment, is visiting Murray State next week to evaluate Greek life on campus.
Tara Hawthorne, director of Greek life, said the team is a combination of all of the national councils, the North American Interfraternity Conference, the National Pan-Hellenic council, National Pan-Hellenic conference and National Association for Latino Fraternity Organizations.
Hawthorne said the team will not only meet with the fraternities and sororities on campus, but others as well.
“We have three to four members that will be coming in next week that are represented across the board of the chapters we have here and will just be meeting with different constitutions,” she said. “So, we’re trying to get them to meet with faculty members and non-Greek students.”
They will meet with President Randy Dunn, Vice President Don Robertson and Assistant Vice President Mike Young, Hawthorne said.
After their evaluation, they will provide a report listing recommendations for all of the chapters, giving University the opportunity to adjust where necessary, she said.
Hawthorne said the assessment will help Greek life grow.
“We’re at a position where we’re growing and trying to strengthen and we want to make sure that we’re doing that in the appropriate way and taking the proper steps to do so,” she said. “Having them come in and evaluate where we’re at and what we’re doing will be a huge benefit for us.”
Hawthorne said she doesn’t know what to expect out of the evaluations.
“I think with anything like this, you’re going to get a lot of positive feedback, you’re going to get a lot of negative feedback and I think with us wanting to grow, we have to be open to that experience,” she said.
Michael Shepperd, senior from Bardstown, Ky., and president of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said he expected his fraternity to do well with the assessments.
“As far as Sig Ep’s concerned, we’re going to look OK,” he said. “We rank pretty high nationally within our own organization, we just won the Buchanan Cup of Chapter Excellence, which dignifies the top Sig Ep chapters in the country, so I feel, personally, that we stand as one of the top chapters in the country.”
Katie McAllister, senior from St. Petersburg, Fla., and president of Zeta Phi Beta, said she was looking forward to the assessment and is using it as a way to foster the chapter.
“We feel as if good advice on how we can change the way we run our chapters and the programs we have on campus and let us know who we can enhance them and make other people more become more involved,” she said.
Don Robertson, vice president of Student Affairs, said bringing the assessment team to Murray State is the next step in order to continue to foster Greek life.
“It’s our next step as we work to improve and strengthen our Greek system,” Robertson said. “We’re very excited about having this happen.”
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