The Panhellenic Association held its annual election for the executive board in Auditorium D in Goldwin Smith Hall yesterday. Members of the chapters were present to vote on the proposed slate for the new executive board.
The newly elected Panhellenic officers are: Alpha Epsilon Phi’s Ashley Higgins ’06, president; Kappa Kappa Gamma’s Samara Fetto ’06, executive vice president; Delta Delta Delta’s Megan Malone ’06, vice president of communication; Pi Beta Phi’s Ashleigh Walker ’06, vice president of finance; Delta Delta Delta’s Melissa Kiedrowicz ’06, vice president of formal membership recruitment; Delta Gamma’s Elizabeth Durkin ’06, vice president of judicial affairs and standards; Pi Beta Phi’s Erica Kerman ’07, vice president of programming; Alpha Chi Omega’s Rachel Easton ’06, vice president of recruitment, publicity and extension and Kappa Delta’s Kristen Rich ’06, vice president of university and community relations.
Ten members from each chapter were required to be present in order to vote for the slate. Attendance was taken after each position was approved. Melissa Rasmussen ’05, vice president of judicial affairs and standards, ran the election process.
“Any member of the Panhellenic community can run for any of the positions besides president. In order to run for Panhellenic president you must have been the president of your chapter, on the Panhellenic Executive Board or be granted permission by the general body,” Rasmussen said.
All potential candidates were interviewed last week by members of the outgoing executive board, as well as delegates from each chapter.
“The interview process is very demanding. Interviews last about 20 minutes and candidates are asked questions by the slating committee. The questions are challenging and are aimed at determining how thought out the answers are and how well-spoken the candidate is under pressure,” Rasmussen said.
Higgins, slated as the incoming president for the Panhellenic Association said, “I was extremely happy and excited by the endorsement of the slating committee. Their support is always crucial to how the community views your candidacy and it was a great honor to be recognized by them.”
Higgins explained that she has three main goals for her presidency in the upcoming year.
“I want to strengthen our image in the Ithaca community with events like the one for the Tompkins County Library. The second [goal] is I want to work on is our social policy with Order of Omega, the Greek honor society, and National Panhellenic Council, our national governing body, to give our chapters safer options for holding social events. Finally, we need to broaden our sorority community culturally through co-sponsorships and programming with the Multicultural Greek Letter Council chapters.”
Higgins is confident that the slated executive board members will prove to be a strong asset to the Greek community.
“I know that the girls who were slated and who won positions on the board are extremely motivated and dedicated to this community. I hope that they are prepared to make changes to our community and I anticipate that their ideas and goals will be innovative and bring new energy to our community,” Higgins added.
“I have had the great opportunity to shadow our outgoing president Stephanie [Wedekind]’s work for the past year and I’ve learned a lot from it. I will be the face of the community and will hold my position with the utmost respect for what our community strives to portray,” Higgins said.
The overall objective in slating candidates was picking individuals by how they would work with the other board members and how their positive attributes will complement each other.
Rasmussen commented on the official slate: “We looked for well-spoken, assertive leaders such as Ashley. We want individuals that will not only get their tasks completed well and on time, but will go above and beyond what is expected of them.”
“It is all about trying to find the best fit, and this slate fit like a perfect puzzle,” Rasmussen said. “We are all so pleased that the slate was passed as standing. We are confident that we are leaving the Greek community in great hands.”
Archived article by Allison Markowitz
Sun Staff Writer