Eliza Dieck, Opinions Editor
Editor-in-Chief Lizzy Donker contributed to this story
The Sewanee Purple received two written complaints on April 3 and April 9 about a recently published opinion column, “The Discrepancies between Sorority and Fraternity Recruitment” from members of the IFC (Interfraternity Council). The emailed complaints contended that the opinion piece included“a number of false and misleading claims about the nature of the Greek Council and our respective recruitment process.” The Purple invited the two IFC members to meet and discuss their complaints twice but has so far received no responses. The author of the opinion piece has conducted additional reporting to fact-check the IFC members’ allegations that the article was “categorically false” in saying that Greek Council Representatives are selected by Director of Greek Life Donald Abels. The Purple pledges to “report news with clarity, impartiality, and integrity.” This follow up article demonstrates our commitment to accuracy and complaints. To address these concerns, The Purple spoke with Kostas Andriotis (C ‘25) on his experience sitting in on Greek Council elections and McClain Brooks (C ‘25), President of the Student Government Association.
Kostas Andriotis is an active member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, more commonly known as FIJI. He served as this organization’s president during the 2023-2024 academic year. This role allowed him to participate in 2024 Greek Council elections. He also serves as a senator of the Student Government Association (SGA) wherein he led the Greek Life Liaison Committee.
Students in Greek Life are given around one month to apply for executive roles on the Greek Council.” For this application, students must submit their resume, cover letter, and answer some questions regarding their desired role. After the submission process, ISC, IFC and Donald Abels review the applications and arrange interviews.
Andriotis revealed that Abels sits in the room during these interviews. He stated “IFC and ISC are supposed to be separate from administration, but having Abels in the room during these interviews disregards this.” After the interview process, IFC president, ISC president and Abels create a slate of the students and assign executive roles.
The presidents of each Greek organization are invited to see this slate of candidates chosen to fulfill the executive board of the Greek Council. These roles consist of President, VP of Recruitment, VP of Community Service, VP of DEI and VP of Public Relations. Andriotis stated that “according to their Constitution, Abels is supposed to have no say in these elections.”
There is a presidential meeting with all of the Greek organizations, and they present the slate of nominees for executive positions. After the slate was created, Andriotis said “two thirds of the presidents must vote no for a candidate to remove the chosen student from the slate, and Abels is present when the slate is created by the Greek Council.”
This process frustrated Andriotis because “although IFC and ISC represent around two thirds of the student body, they are the only student organizations that are not being elected by the student body or the base which they represent.”
Adriotis is seeking change because he believes “the process we use right now is rigged.For the last four years, the president of IFC has been a FIJI, and it will probably be a FIJI again.” A FIJI was in fact chosen for the fifth consecutive year on April 14.
Despite this frustration, Andriotis “thinks the ISC and IFC have done a good job with the tools they have and what the school has allowed them to do. Because they are not getting elected by the student body, they have less power than schools like Centre that elect these positions. We should see who the students are and what they run for. This is how the Greek institution will thrive.”
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McClain Brooks is an active member of the Theta Pi sorority. As the President of the Student Government Association (SGA), she is constantly communicating the wants and needs of the student body to administration and faculty.
Although Brooks is graduating in the Spring, she has been meeting with the Dean of Students, Nicky Campbell (C ‘99) to discuss her concerns about Greek Council elections. Brooks said that “there must be systematic changes with regards to the election process of the Greek Council.”
Students affiliated with Greek organizations represent approximately 68% of Sewanee’s campus. For this reason, Brooks said she believes the “existing voting process must change.” Because the Greek Council represents the majority of the student population, their constituents should have a say during the election process.
In Brooks’ view, the Greek Council utilizes this strategy to reduce bias “because sizes of Greek organizations differ.” However, she added, considering that the president of IFC has belonged to the same Greek organization for the past five years, this bias seemingly already exists.