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!