Tufts has brought in an expert to reinforce community service and philanthropic work in Greek life on campus.
Higher education consultant Thomas Jelke met last week with a variety of groups on campus to discuss the current state of fraternities, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Vice President John Valentine said.
Jelke met with academic deans, TCU senators, cultural groups and Greek members around campus. He was also scheduled to meet with Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel, Director of Drug and Alcohol Programs Margot Abels and Vicente Sanabria with Somerville Cares About Prevention.
He arrived Monday, Sept. 26 and departed on Saturday.
Jelke runs T. Jelke Solutions, an independent consulting firm in Miami that specializes in fraternities and sororities. He was brought to campus through the combined efforts of the Dean of Students Office, the Office of Fraternities and Sororities, the TCU Senate and the Inter-Greek Council.
"We wanted an outside view on how to reshape the fraternity and sorority programs so we don't have more years like last year," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said, referring to the disciplinary actions taken against fraternity and sorority houses, including suspensions for Delta Tau Delta and Chi Omega.
"The fraternities and sororities are frustrated," Reitman said, "because despite good peer leaders, the reasons for joining a Greek organization are not widely apparent."
Although the Greek system could do more positive things on campus, Valentine said media organizations have not been covering the positive actions of fraternities and sororities.
"People who aren't in the Greek system see negative press," he said.
On Friday afternoon, Jelke met with the TCU Senate and some members of the Greek system, according to senior Dave Baumwoll, a trustee representative and the president of the senior class council, who attended the meeting.
Because of time constraints, the meeting yielded no concrete plans, Baumwoll said. Its primary purpose was "to get ideas out," he said. "The consultant did a lot of explaining, and we reacted," Baumwoll said.
"We discussed the current state of fraternities," Valentine said. Participants addressed a variety of positive and negative features of the Greek system.
Senior Rajit Kapur, the Interfraternity Council president, met with Jelke on Thursday evening. Jelke "had a lot of great suggestions" about how to improve the Greek system, Kapur said. These included ways to increase recruitment.
According to Reitman, Jelke said there is a lack of unity and pride in the Greek system. The chapters are too separated from each other, and each chapter may feel more like just a fraternity house than a fraternity chapter.
The Interfraternity Council expects Jelke to send a report in a few weeks with recommendations for the reinvigoration of the Greek system, Kapur said.
Jelke was originally chosen to come to Tufts because of his past work. He has provided his services to Middle Tennessee State University, Chico State University in California and Florida State University.
"[Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs] Todd Sullivan and I liked the way he wrote up the reports and results at other schools," Reitman said.
Brian McPartland contributed to this article.
