New Staff Announcement

We have been in quite a time of transition within the area of Fraternity & Sorority Affairs and have had the opportunity to think about the best next steps for our Fraternity and Sorority community. Keeping that in mind, please help us welcome to the team Brigette Gardner as the newest Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs!!  

Brigette will join us from Wright State University where she is currently completing her Masters of Arts degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education with an anticipated graduation date in May 2016.  She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Ohio University.  

In her graduate assistant role at Wright State University, Brigette works with the Office of Alumni Relations to coordinate programs and directly advises the Student Alumni Association.  Additionally, Brigette served as an intern with Fraternity and Sorority Affairs at both Wright State University and Lehigh University and has experience working with the Interfraternity, Panhellenic, and Multicultural Greek councils.  While serving as the Lehigh OFSA summer intern, Brigette also took on a number of ambitious projects—including the development of the hazing prevention website—and held herself to high standards of quality work.  

Brigette was heavily involved with the sorority recruitment counselor program as an undergraduate, and her desire to work with fraternities and sororities stems from a personal fraternal experience.  She said the following: “I have seen the positive effects of Greek-letter organizations on their members and the surrounding community.  As part of my personal student affairs philosophy, I believe in the holistic development of a student. This can be done through complementing students’ learning in the classroom with external educational experiences such as campus involvement. Fraternities and sororities are a productive way to do so due to their emphasis on developing important life skills through leadership, community service, and interacting with individuals of diverse backgrounds and identities. I believe both this position and Lehigh University align with this philosophy and other aspects of my professional practice.”

Brigette will join us when she completes her graduate education in June 2016.  Feel free to reach out and send Brigette a welcome message by emailing her at brigette.gardner@gmail.com.

While we understand that it seems that many changes are taking place and Brigette won’t fill the role for some time, we are truly excited for the opportunity to move forward with Brigette on our team and trust that she’s well worth the wait.  Once she arrives to campus, she’ll bring a great energy and enthusiasm to our office, students, and staff alike!! 

In the meantime, we continue to be thankful for those friends of OFSA that are providing us with additional staffing support and continuity within the office.  Special thanks to Allison Gulati, Brooke Clayton, Christine Gravelle, Jess Manno, Matt Kitchie, Zach Brown, and Chris Mulvihil who are continuing to support our chapters and the IFC for the remainder of the academic year. 

Conduct Update: Phi Kappa Theta

Effective immediately all activities of Phi Kappa Theta at Lehigh University have been temporarily suspended.  This action is being taken because of alleged University policy violations by the chapter and its members.  Allegations include endangering the health and safety of students, providing alcohol to minors, failure to adhere to medical amnesty, and failure to abide by alcohol-free conduct sanctions in place following a previous hearing.

This interim suspension mandates that no chapter activities of any kind may occur, either on Lehigh University's campus or off-campus for Phi Kappa Theta. 

The Office of Student Conduct & Community Expectations will begin an investigation and this interim suspension will remain in effect until the formal resolution of these allegations is concluded.   Failure to comply with the terms of interim suspension will result in additional charges.

Additionally, the Lehigh University Code of Conduct requires that students and student organizations not only know and adhere to the Code of Conduct but cooperate with the University when investigating violations.

The Pennsylvania Alpha alumni leadership and Phi Kappa Theta Headquarters will be contacted and are copied on this memo as well.  If you have further questions, please contact the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs at (610) 758-4157.

Halloween Reminders

Halloween is quickly approaching. As you all gear up for Halloween-related festivities, please take a moment to think through the costumes that you and your chapter members are preparing to wear, as well as the themes that you may be considering for events that are occurring this weekend. It is our hope that all activities will promote a safe and healthy environment while also preserving the dignity of all cultures and backgrounds. 

Other resources to use this weekend if you are unsure about theme and activities include:

• If you are unsure about a specific costume, here is a quick web resource. 

• If you are unsure about a specific theme for an event, please review the Chapter Event Policy included below:

The Lehigh University Fraternity and Sorority Community, comprised of chapters and governing councils, aspire to support and espouse The Principles of Our Equitable Community. As part of this aspiration, the Fraternity and Sorority Community commits to supporting the spirit and intent of these initiatives by prohibiting all events that, through the actions of organizations or individual members negatively affect the dignity of any student, or inhibit the promotion of mutual understanding among Lehigh community members.


Per The Principles: “We confront and reject discrimination in all its forms, including that based on age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomics, veteran status, or any differences that have been excuses for misunderstanding, dissension, or hatred.”

In the spirit of this statement, our belief is that any event sponsored or endorsed by a Fraternity or Sorority in Lehigh’s Greek Community, may not discriminate against any class listed above. Failure to adhere to this, either through the acts of organizations or individual chapter members representing their organization, would result in investigation and adjudication, as appropriate, in partnership with the Office of Student Conduct and Community Expectations. This includes on and off-campus events, activities and actions as well as actions taken on-line via use of social media.

To learn more about the Principles of Our Equitable Community please refer to:http://www4.lehigh.edu/diversity/principles

To report an incident, please refer to the Online Incident Communications Form at:http://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/conduct

IFC Launches Guidebook + Open Recruitment Events

Please see below from a message from the Vice President of Recruitment for the Interfraternity Council.  

Hey everyone,

I hope your first semester at Lehigh has been going great! I'm Wes Michaels, the Recruitment Chairman of the Interfraternity Council (IFC). The IFC is an elected board of students that oversees and helps guide fraternity life at Lehigh. 

I'm writing to encourage you to check out the recently launched IFC Guidebook. For those of you who don't know about Guidebook, it's a pretty cool app that various organizations at Lehigh are using to communicate various events throughout the semester.

The IFC Guidebook is designed to give you direct insight into what Greek Life at Lehigh looks like. It's got info about all 17 recognized IFC Chapters, like their founding dates, values, philanthropies, and what the chapter is all about. It also has info on the 20 Brotherhood Recruitment Officers, who will help guide you through Lehigh's formal recruitment process in the Spring.

Most importantly, the Guidebook has information about Open Events that chapters are hosting this semester. These are events designed to help you network with chapters you want to get to know better: some events have maximum capacities, but anyone and everyone is invited to every event. Some events are being held as soon as tomorrow (Sunday, October 25), so download the Guidebook and take a look. If an event interests you, save it to your schedule on Guidebook and just show up!

To download the IFC Guidebook, you must first download Guidebook in whatever app store your phone supports. Next, search for "Lehigh Interfraternity Council Recruitment" in the Guidebook search bar. Once it pops up, select it and hit download- it's really easy!

The IFC Guidebook will be updated periodically with new events Chapters are hosting, so make sure you enable notifications and check it frequently- it's the best way to keep up to date with the many events Lehigh's Greek Community is hosting.

Lastly, tell your friends about the IFC Guidebook! It's super quick to download, and going to open events with your friends makes them that much more fun. The IFC will be doing the strong majority of its communication through Guidebook, too, so it's important to have the app and stay informed for Recruitment. 

Thanks for reading! I speak for the entire Greek Community when I say we're incredibly excited to finish this semester off with some awesome events for y'all. I look forward to seeing many, if not all, of you at formal recruitment in the spring.

Sincerely,

Wes Michaels

IFC Recruitment Chairman

Chemical Engineering & IBE Finance '16

Message Regarding Unrecognized Fraternities

The fraternity and sorority community is an important part of the campus experience for many students at Lehigh University and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (OFSA) strives to create a distinctive learning-centered experience.  We also take, very seriously, our obligation to inform students about all of their options within the fraternity and sorority community to assist them in making educated decisions about their choices to affiliate with Greek-letter organizations.  To that end, we provide many information sessions for students, and also provide opportunities for parents to learn about the options.  This letter is another initiative to provide you with important information that we encourage you to review.

Lehigh University currently has 20 officially recognized international fraternities.  We also want to make you aware that some fraternities may exist off campus that are not recognized by the University.   It is important that you are aware of some potential issues if you choose to affiliate with one of the unrecognized off campus chapters rather than one of Lehigh’s 20 recognized fraternities.

To provide some context, over the years, several fraternities have lost recognition from the University and/or from their international headquarters.  In most cases, these fraternities lost recognition because they failed to comply with University and/or international headquarters policies or guidelines.  To view a list of formerly recognized (currently not recognized) chapters from Lehigh University, please refer to the attached enclosure.  You may also refer to the Lehigh Greeks BlogSpot at www.lehighgreeks.blogspot.com to learn more detailed information about specific chapters that have lost recognition in recent years. 

We have come to learn that some of these formerly recognized chapters have continued to operate without University recognition, oversight, or approval and are considered unrecognized chapters.  Unrecognized chapters are not permitted to use Lehigh University's name or image, reserve University spaces, secure University group housing, or represent themselves as an official part of the University community.  This situation concerns us because we do not have confidence that unrecognized chapters operate with the same diligence to promote student growth and development; provide proactive and preventative measures to foster wellness and safety; nor abide by University guidelines with regard to recruitment, new member education, academic support, and other areas vital to the successful management of a chapter.  Additionally, unrecognized chapters operate in the absence of reasonable and prudent oversight by the OFSA professional staff and therefore lack resources and support provided to other student organizations. 

While we cannot predict the outcome of membership in an unrecognized fraternity, it is important to alert you to the possible concerns and consequences regarding the well-being of students that choose to affiliate with or join an unrecognized fraternity.  There exists no meaningful partnership between the University and students, alumni volunteers, and international headquarters staff associated with unrecognized fraternities.  These unrecognized fraternities will not receive an invitation to regain University recognition in the near future or in subsequent academic years while they continue to exist in direct violation of University policy.  

We also invite you to review our website at www.lehigh.edu/ofsa to learn more about Lehigh’s recognized chapters. These chapters have rich and lengthy history at Lehigh and many have been recognized for excellence by Lehigh University and/or their respective international headquarters in the areas of membership development, academic excellence, leadership, and community service efforts.   The content of the OFSA website is robust and you will find a number of resources, including Accreditation reports, grade reports, membership statistics, and conduct history for our recognized groups.  All of these resources are valuable tools to you as you consider membership in a fraternity and if you choose to participate in recruitment in January 2016.  The current recognized Lehigh University fraternities are:

Alpha Epsilon Pi

Alpha Phi Alpha

Alpha Tau Omega

Chi Phi

Chi Psi

Delta Chi

Delta Upsilon

Kappa Alpha

Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Sigma

Lambda Sigma Upsilon

Phi Delta Theta

Phi Kappa Theta

Phi Sigma Kappa

Pi Kappa Alpha

Psi Upsilon

Sigma Chi

Sigma Phi Epsilon

Theta Chi

Theta Xi

 If you have questions regarding any this information please contact the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs at (610) 758-4157 or by e-mailing Infrasor@lehigh.edu.   

Thank you,

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs 

Greek Emerging Leaders (GEM) Mentor Applications Available Now

GEM Mentor applications are live today!! For those who aren't familiar with the program, Greek Emerging Leaders (GEM) is a great opportunity for rising Juniors and Seniors who are interested in developing their leadership skills, serving as a positive role model for new members of the Greek community, and creating a vision for change in the Greek community at Lehigh. 

For more information on being a GEM Mentor, please see the position description included below. Interested applicants can access the link to the application here as well.

2015-2016 Greek EMerging Leaders (GEM) Mentor Position Description 

Being a GEM Mentor allows juniors and seniors to positively engage the newest leaders in the Greek community. Mentors are an integral part of the Greek Emerging Leaders program.  Being a mentor allows you to develop essential leadership skills, while being a role model to future Lehigh leaders. Mentors shape the program by building relationships with the mentees, revising content for the overall program, and facilitating that content by engaging mentees in small and large group conversations about important issues in leadership and the Greek community.

Responsibilities:

• Planning and facilitating the major components of the GEM Program
• Preparing and developing curriculum for GEM sessions 
• Marketing and recruiting new members and mentors
• Providing guidance and advice to prepare students for leadership positions
• Assisting in the recruitment of mentees, including marketing initiatives, reading applications, and conducting interviews
• Being present at all required events and meetings

Benefits of Participation:

• Connect with other mentors and students in various chapters in the Greek community
• Offer your advice and knowledge while getting experience in mentoring others
• Develop and refine skills such as facilitation, mentoring, effective communication, and giving/receiving feedback
• Develop a community of leaders who will make a difference in the Lehigh Greek community
• Eligibility for scholarships to attend national leadership conferences (i.e. UIFI)

Expectations & Important Dates:

• Attend Peer Educator Facilitator Training in February 2016
• Participate in the GEM Mentor 2016 Spring Retreat
• Attend the Mentee Induction Event in Spring 2016
• Meet weekly in the Spring 2016 semester
• Attend the GEM Retreat in August and all GEM sessions throughout the Fall semester

Application Process:

Interested applicants will complete an application by November 11 at 11:59 pm.  Applicants will be interviewed by the GEM Coordinator and GEM Advisor. Mentors will be selected and notified before the end of the fall semester.

Take the Lehigh Survey TODAY!

Please make sure to take the Lehigh Survey that was sent out via email on the 12th. You can search your mail for "Office of Institutional Research" or "The Lehigh Survey" to find your unique link to participate!

It will only take 20 minutes! Find out more about the survey online!

http://www1.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-launches-campus-climate-survey