Shining Example of Panhellenic Excellence

Look no further than the University of Oklahoma to find one shining example of excellence in College Panhellenic operations. Last weekend I presented the NPC Excellence Award to the OU College Panhellenic. University officials, sorority chapter leaders and inter/national leaders representing the 11 NPC chapters on campus were in attendance for this special recognition event.

NPC recognized 11 campuses with this award for the 2013-14 academic year. Other Excellence Award recipients included the College of William and Mary, Georgia Institute of Technology, Indiana State University, Mississippi State University, Texas Christian University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Kentucky, University of South Carolina and University of Southern Mississippi. With 585 College Panhellenics in North America, you can imagine it is quite an honor to receive this level of recognition. Campuses range in size but the common thread among all of them is superior performance in seven areas identified as core functions of College Panhellenic operations. These include:

• Recruitment planning and execution
• Panhellenic structure
• Regular communication with the NPC area advisor
• Implementation of NPC judicial procedure
• Panhellenic programming
• Academics
• Panhellenic community impact and relations

NPC views these core functions as key factors in the success of any College Panhellenic. OU’s efforts truly represent and exemplify the values of the National Panhellenic Conference.

This event was part of a Panhellenic showcase weekend where we heard about the achievements as well as challenges the OU Panhellenic community has facec. The OU Panhellenic is banding together to heal and move forward following the recent fraternity incident that cast a negative light on fraternity and sorority life. Sorority women recognize opportunities to lead and offer solutions. There was agreement that good will come from what has happened as the community confronts the issues. This statement was profound: “We will all grow and improve.” As a blended group of inter/national and local chapter leaders, we held a roundtable discussion where we talked about the strengths and challenges that we face as sorority women. We drilled deep and discussed issues related to integrity versus image and accountability. We also talked about programming for seniors and how we can better use them as mentors and instill lifetime membership. Overall there was an unwavering commitment to advocate for the sorority experience. I walked away inspired by these young women as I listened to their hopes, their dreams and their convictions.

I look forward to watching OU “better its best,” as I do regard OU College Panhellenic as the gold standard. Here’s to OU!

The Journey Continues!

The NPC Executive Committee enjoyed campus visits to Washington University and Saint Louis University just prior to the NPC annual meeting held in St. Louis Oct. 24-26. These campus visits allow the NPC Executive Committee to meet with university officials and empower our sorority women to work together as a unified coalition of women. We reminded the sorority members that they are the largest women’s organization on campus. At Saint Louis University, the NPC Executive Committee received a warm welcome with more than 1,000 sorority women attending the all-sisters forum. After an informal roll call of chapters, each NPC Executive Committee member shared her personal story of sorority membership. It is exhilarating to have that many sorority women present to hear the message: Shared commitment brings desirable outcomes. Our journey continues to advance sorority. We look forward to more travels in the coming year.

Executive Committee Visit to the University of Delaware

By Adam Cantley, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, University of Delaware

As a self-admitted NPC fan boy, I was excited to learn that the Executive Committee would be visiting the University of Delaware on Saint Patrick’s Day. I began lobbying for this visit in December knowing that they would be a short drive down the road in Baltimore while attending the NASPA conference. When I finally received confirmation of the visit, I began piecing together the schedule with the help of the executive office. We had three main priorities, connecting with students, connecting with various administrators and a group photo. Let’s be honest, no one loves a group photo like Adam Cantley.

After a brief introduction to campus, our community and quick tour of our council offices and resource room, we hosted a breakfast meeting for the committee. It allowed them the opportunity to connect with the deputy provost, the vice president of student life, the dean of students and other student involvement administrators. It was exciting to see the Executive Committee having honest conversations with campus administration. Topics were being batted around the table that included managing organizational growth, priorities for women in education and where NPC fits in the future of higher education. Everyone at the table, including our current College Panhellenic president, was seen as a valued partner. As a professional, it reenergized me knowing that a variety of people were in the conversation and could be an ally to me in the future.

We then moved into the meeting with our collegians and campus advisors. The meeting started with a roll call and NPC Chairman, Jean Mrasek, encouraging women to “Throw what you know!” Then each NPC Executive Committee member shared part of her personal sorority story. It was inspiring to hear these women explain why they joined and continue to advocate for the Panhellenic experience. Each story had a different twist. Whether they were a legacy, told people they would never join or simply signed up for recruitment to meet new people, each one provided a moment to connect with an undergraduate in the room. Then they let those women share their stories. It was great for me as an advisor to hear why our women are inspired to be involved at the University of Delaware. As advisors, we get wrapped up in the rules, rosters and phone calls. We forget we are giving women the ability to have an experience that is truly unique and life changing if it is done well.

Next the chairman called our women to action. She spoke of the power of these women to come together and affect change in not only the fraternity and sorority community, but on all of campus. This was by far the most powerful part of the visit. It challenged collegians to not accept the status quo and to address problems in our community. As an advisor, I talk to them all the time about their collective power as a community. Seeing these five women highlight that message and highlight lifetime membership truly drove that home. I have already seen our women reference this in meetings and in program development.

If ever presented with the opportunity, I would encourage all my colleagues to host one of these visits. It assists you in building a connection with upper administration, but more importantly, it highlights to collegians the true power of leveraging their membership on campus and throughout their life. Finally, it provides you with an amazing group photo that you can immediately blast throughout all your social media channels.

Our Work is Our Passion

University of Arizona

The NPC Executive Committee has made several campus visits since the start of the new year. In January, we met with Panhellenic leaders and university officials at Rhodes College (Memphis), University of Arizona (Tucson) and Oklahoma State University (Stillwater). We held a reception at the Kappa Delta headquarters in Memphis for Panhellenic women from the University of Memphis, Rhodes College and Christian Brothers University. NPC Panhellenics Committee Chairman Julie Johnson appeared center court at a basketball game on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington and presented an award that recognized the College Panhellenic as exemplary. These face-to-face visits allow us to empower sorority women to embrace their shared commitment as a unified coalition of women. It is inspiring to hear directly from these amazing sorority leaders -- their accomplishments and their experiences.  

Rhodes College

Many of our NPC area advisors will be meeting with Panhellenic leaders at the regional conferences. NPC is the voice for sorority advancement, and our work is carried out by women on the 26 NPC delegations who are trained and dedicated to the cause.  

The work that we do as professional volunteers is our passion.  We continue to do it because of our belief that the sorority experience adds value. 

Panhellenic Growth in Ohio

University of Cincinnati

This past weekend, I attended the Fraternal Law Conference in Cincinnati. NPC Panhellenics Committee Chairman Julie Johnson from Kappa Delta joined me, and we enjoyed campus visits on the front end and back end of our trip to Miami of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati. It was wonderful to meet with the sorority women and talk about the power of Panhellenic. We heard points of pride from the Panhellenic women on both campuses, and we were pleased to hear about the level of unity and cooperation among sorority women in these communities. We were also excited to hear about the Panhellenic growth at each of these schools, as the University of Cincinnati recently welcomed Phi Mu on campus, and Miami of Ohio welcomed Delta Delta Delta on its return to campus. 

One thing in particular that stood out to me on our visit to Miami of Ohio was the five pillars of the fraternity/sorority community:

• Stand for leadership (leadership and values);
•  Stand for excellence (scholarship and learning);
• Stand for others (community service and philanthropy);
• Stand together (brotherhood and sisterhood); and,
•  Stand with the community (community). 

Miami University

These pillars are intended to support members in their journey and development as leaders, and individuals on campus. The concept of pillars reminded me that, while we can celebrate our accomplishments for today, we do stand on the dirty shoulders of others who have weathered the challenges and sought to make things better than when they found it. We cannot underestimate that we can only be true to ourselves if we bring others along with our shared commitment as Panhellenic women. It was once said “people of true greatness lift others up.” If we are to achieve great things as sorority women, we must stand tall with these pillars of principles and be willing to lift others up in the process.