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Project to help Miami assess Greek life

Natalie McKerjee

Miami University hosted the Fraternity and Sorority Coalition Assessment Project Monday afternoon in hopes of gaining information to serve as representation of Miami's Greek life in comparison to other schools and to obtain suggestions for improvement.

Scott Irlbacher, assistant director of the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternal Life, is responsible for coordinating Miami's relationship with the project.

"This is the second year the project has been running," Irlbacher said. "It is a 10-year process in which the national organizations send representatives to 800 schools in the U.S. that have Greek systems."

Eric Freeman, the coalition project manager, said the assessment included interviews from students, staff and faculty of Miami's Oxford campus.

"A six-person team of representatives from national Greek organizations from around the world will look at Miami's specific strengths, weaknesses and challenges," Freeman said. "The whole point is to assess the health of fraternity and sorority life in the community. We cannot adequately do this unless we have opinions from a variety of individuals at Miami."

According to Irlbacher, the team did not limit itself to interviewing only Greek members of Miami's community. In fact, it emphasized getting views and opinions of unaffiliated students at Monday's meeting.

"The assessment team focuses on the stakeholders of Miami's Greek life," Irlbacher said. "This includes President Hodge, staff members and students, both Greek and non-Greek."

Miami junior and sorority member Kristin Grubb said she attended the assessment session and has high expectations for Miami's Greek system.

"I think it would be interesting to see how Miami compares to other schools, especially because each college's Greek systems are conducted so differently," Grubb said. "I would expect Miami to have an impressive system in comparison to other schools. I think it is managed really well."

Miami sophomore Haley Holman said a non-Greek perspective is important.

"I think it is great that they are getting independents' perspectives for this project," Holman said. "I feel like including the opinion of non-Greeks will allow for more accurate results of the Greek system's effect on the community as a whole."

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According to Irlbacher, the results of the project will allow for a thorough evaluation of Miami's Greek life in comparison with other colleges. The report is organized into four sections, according to Freeman.

"There are basic summaries on the information that was acquired, one section on the strengths that were noticed, one on the challenges and the last section, which is generally half the report, focuses on recommendations," Freeman said. "The typical report is about 25 pages long."

Freeman said the assessment process is based on the core ideas of what Greek life should accomplish.

"We look for the development of positive interpersonal relations, leadership development and the building and strengthening of social IQ, citizenship and service learning," Freeman said.

According to Freeman, the project was created by university presidents who were concerned with the worth of their Greek community.

"The project was a response to university presidents questioning the value of their fraternity and sorority system," Freeman said. "The information can be extremely useful feedback for these presidents."