2017-2018 Accreditation Results

The Accreditation results for the 2017-2018 academic year have been finalized and the ratings breakdown for the 25 fraternities and sororities reviewed this academic year included 7 Accredited with Excellence chapters, 15 Accredited chapters and 3 Unaccredited chapters.

The Accreditation results provide feedback intended to support efforts to enhance the success of Greek chapters. We encourage chapters to accept the feedback in the constructive spirit in which it is offered, and urge undergraduate and alumni members to discuss this feedback and develop an action plan for continued success. The results are published on the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs website at https://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/node/5698

A heartfelt thank you goes out to the members of the Accreditation Committee who worked tirelessly through hours of presentations and discussions.

Please share this information with your respective undergraduate members, alumni volunteers, and others as you see appropriate.

For questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs by phone at 610-758-4157 or by email at infrasor@lehigh.edu.

Farewell Corey Gant

 

We're writing to share bittersweet news.  Corey Gant, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, will be leaving us this month for an incredible opportunity as the Director of Greek Life with Washington and Lee.  In this new position, Corey will provide guidance and support to Washington and Lee’s 20-chapter fraternity and sorority community alongside its three governing councils.  He will also serve as the primary catalyst in facilitating officer transitions, developmental programming, and hazing prevention and risk management initiatives for members of the fraternity and sorority community.   

During Corey’s tenure at Lehigh, he has served as the advisor to the Interfraternity Council alongside 10 fraternities and sororities.  Under his guidance, the Interfraternity Council worked to reconsider its role within the greater Lehigh community; explored opportunities to enhance transparency, responsibility, and accountability; and made a conscious effort to dig into difficult conversations and make unpopular, yet groundbreaking, decisions.  Corey is also the brainchild behind OFSA’s hazing prevention and new member education efforts, and he developed the curriculum for new member orientation sessions targeting 400+ students each spring semester.  Corey’s also challenged himself to better understand hazing behavior and its connection to masculinity, vulnerability, alcohol misuse, and other concepts, and this has greatly informed his work and our office’s signature programs in these areas. Corey’s involvement also extends far beyond the fraternity and sorority community, as he’s worked closely with others across campus via the Pride Center (co-advising Greek Allies), the Spirit Committee, and the Student Affairs Professional Development Committee among others.     

We’re incredibly grateful to have called Corey a colleague, advisor and friend. Please join us in congratulating Corey on this well-deserved opportunity.  His last day will be Friday, June 22, 2018.     ​

Our team will be in touch across the summer as we shift Corey's responsibilities to other staff members.  In the meantime, please feel free to contact Ash Baudouin via email at amb512@lehigh.edu should you require assistance. 

Best,

Team OFSA

Summer Spotlight: Matt Tracy

IFC President Matt Tracy gives us his take on UIFI....

As I began my trip to UIFI, I was unsure of what to expect. I have attended leadership conferences in the past for AEPi, but I knew this would be vastly different, as it encompassed leaders from across the country, from four different councils, and many many organizations. Also having been a part of the Greek Emerging Leaders program at Lehigh for the past two years, I had assumed that I knew everything there is to know about Greek leadership and that this would be a waste of my time. I’ve never been more wrong in my life.

From almost the instant I got off the plane, I was surrounded by so many passionate individuals who shared my common vision for a more united, values and serviced-based Greek community. The first day our coordinators focused on values; first identifying our personal values, then determining if they aligned with our chapter’s or council’s values. This set the tone for the entire weekend as everything we subsequently learned was based on our core set of values and empowering others to live through their values.

Once we determined what was important to us, we needed to understand how we got that message through to our members, our leadership style. I learned that my biggest strength in leadership is inspiring a shared vision; this is setting a long-term direction for an organization and ensuring that members understand its importance. This is something key that I plan to bring to IFC in the coming year, a long-term vision for what we want our community to look like, as well as getting buy-in from chapter members for this vision. Doing this same exercise, I learned that I need to work more on challenging limiting beliefs. For me, it’s really easy to continue doing something that’s working, instead of asking “is there a better way to do this?” This is an aspect of my leadership style that I must focus on in order to ensure that our community continues its path of positive growth.

Another takeaway that I found extremely valuable was understanding the importance of leadership transition. It is far too easy for leaders to check out once they are done in a job, but it is far more effective for them to leave a blueprint and guidelines for their successors to ensure a continued tradition of excellence for their organization.

Lastly, we moved onto the “why” of our organizations, our ritual. Ritual is the basis upon which all organizations are founded and contains all of the values each member should embody. This is vital to any organization because everyone has a unique ritual, separating what makes each organization special and unique. Leadership expert Simon Sinek explains that at the heart of every successful organization is a driving ideal, a “why.” Our coordinators conveyed to us the need for this why in our chapters and councils, how it impacted our leadership styles, and what values it creates. Starting with why and working our way to how and what creates a foundation for success within our organizations.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend UIFI, as I learned a lot about myself and how to better my community. It is my hope to share this knowledge with everyone I encounter at Lehigh.

Kappa Alpha: Loss of Recognition

The Lehigh University chapter of The Kappa Alpha Society (KA in VL) has received a second consecutive rating of Unaccredited by the 2017-18 Accreditation panel. The findings of the Accreditation panel, comprised of student, alumni and staff members were the result of thoughtful and extensive deliberation. These findings were subsequently reviewed and accepted by Vice-Provost for Student Affairs, Dr. Ric Hall. Per policies enacted by the Strengthening Greek Life Task Force in 2003-04, a second consecutive rating of Unaccredited results in a loss of chapter recognition and university group housing being immediately withdrawn. The following is excerpted from the 2017-18 Accreditation report, the full report can be found here.

Kappa Alpha worked to establish a foundation for the fraternity through the creation of a mission statement and bylaws and basic facilities management, among other things. However, much of their efforts were the result of required sanctions and the committee feels strongly that the chapter did not demonstrate enough growth to indicate that they deserve to continue as a recognized organization on this campus. Most notably, the chapter’s conduct record has continued to increase, despite efforts to develop a comprehensive risk management plan and establish cultural changes. The chapter has failed at holding members accountable and making difficult unpopular decisions about who should hold membership within the chapter. When Kappa Alpha was required to conduct a membership review, a true opportunity for some immediate culture change and renewed expectation setting, the chapter did not follow recommendations and failed to fairly and effectively evaluate every member of the organization. This is a blatant disregard of the severity of their situation and is just the most recent example of their inability to follow through on feedback and recommendations.

The following statement made by the 2016-2017 Accreditation committee continues to remain true, “Kappa Alpha has remained stagnant and has continued to ignore repeated recommendations made by the committee across all metrics.” The chapter has been consistently reminded by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, the Office of Student Conduct and Community Expectations, Accreditation committees, their alumni, and other stakeholders that they needed to show improvement around general member accountability, their impact as an organization on the community around them, garnering member buy-in, and academic performance. The lacking sense of urgency from the chapter leadership combined with the deep-seated general member apathy has prevented Kappa Alpha from creating sustained cultural change. Kappa Alpha has been rated Unaccredited for 2017-2018, a second consecutive year, thus immediately losing chapter recognition and rights to group housing.

The fraternity and sorority experience is at a critical crossroads--nationally and locally--as many call into question its relevancy and continued existence on the American college campus. Now more than ever, fraternal organizations need radical vision, leadership, and courage to realign the experience we all value so deeply. There exists boundless potential for fraternal organizations to promote a culture of excellence, advocate for social change, champion inclusion and equity, engage in controversy with civilly, and develop globally-minded and conscientious leaders.