As Pitt Greeks wrap up their fall rush period, new Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy… As Pitt Greeks wrap up their fall rush period, new Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey hopes that this autumn will turn over a new leaf for them and, in turn, for the entire campus.

Humphrey and Greek Advisor Chris Meaner have clear hopes and expectations to improve Greek life this year.

Meaner said that the most pressing issues this fall are increasing GPAs while also increasing membership from eight to 10 percent of the student body.

While each chapter of every fraternity and sorority on campus has individual academic standards, Meaner noted that grades will be monitored more closely and that standards will be enforced more consistently.

“Why come in and not make this institution better and stronger? This is our school and we all have a responsibility to take care of it,” Humphrey said, explaining that the value of the Greek system depends entirely on its students.

“There is a need and there is a reason to have a Greek system if the Greeks are living up to their responsibilities,” she added. Both Humphrey and Meaner hope that all Greeks will remember and live up to their organizations’ creeds.

Humphrey also said she expected Meaner, as an advisor, to educate potential Greeks about their responsibilities and also about their rights.

Pitt has already banned hazing, though Humphrey clarified that students are not obligated to participate in any hazing activities.

In addition to grades and recruitment, Humphrey also said that the Greeks play a key role in bridging the gap between different racial groups on campus.

“I challenge them to erase the gap and become one community,” she said. “I want there to be one Greek Week.”

Humphrey has already met with the presidents of the Panhellenic Association, the National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Interfraternity Council.

“I definitely see Greek Week being a tri-council event,” NPHC President K. Chase Patterson said. “I know that we will have more strength as a tri-council instead of individual councils.”

Meaner worked last year to bring together the historically, but not exclusively, black NPHC organizations and those of IFC and Panhel.

“The most important thing about Greeks is that you’re not serving yourself,” Patterson said.

The goal of the three councils is to focus on the service aspect of all fraternities and sororities. According to Patterson and NPHC Vice President Atiya Strothers, NPHC can only benefit from teaming up with IFC and Panhel, who both have a more extensive membership and a deeper reach into the student population.

“The Greek population is so powerful it’s ridiculous,” Strothers said. “If everyone that’s Greek can reach out to 10 people, hopefully that will reach everyone on campus.”

Strothers said that before NPHC can truly take advantage of a strong alliance with the other two Greek councils, it must first find unity within itself. She explained that in the past organizations under the NPHC umbrella have fallen victim to petty and prideful conflict that has hampered progress.

Both Strothers and Patterson hope to remedy the situation.

“It has definitely improved already,” Strothers said.