University’s Greek system to be examined, revamped

It is a time of change for Pitt’s Greek system.

With the departure of former Greek adviser… It is a time of change for Pitt’s Greek system.

With the departure of former Greek adviser Sharon Malazich, effective last Friday, Vice Provost and Interim Dean of Students Jack Daniel has named Terrence Milani the interim Greek adviser. He has also charged Pitt Director of Public Safety Deborah Furka with compiling a report diagnosing “best practices” for Pitt’s Greek system.

“A lot of people say ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,’ but it’s not good to rest on your laurels, either,” Furka said.

Furka, Pitt’s former police chief, worked in public safety at Kent State University, and said she has worked with Greek communities in the past.

“I was asked to do it because of the experience I’ve had working in the Greek system before,” she said.

Daniel said the timetable for the report has Furka meeting with student and campus organizations this month, looking nationally next month and completing the report in December.

He said that, when the report is submitted, he and Birney Harrigan, director of Student Life, will work with Greek student leaders to examine what policies the University’s Greek system should keep, get rid of or adopt.

Furka said she will have no official role in the Greek system outside of her consulting for the report, and that she will only make recommendations.

“Wherever those recommendations go, that’s not my decision to make,” she said.

Milani, former associate director of Student Activities and now in Student Life, has advised Greek life on an interim basis three times before during his 30-year career in student activities at Pitt.

“I willingly accepted the responsibility because I believe that our Greek system is beneficial to our students and our university,” he said.

Milani said he started working on the position last week, before Malazich left. He said he will be able to take on the additional work thanks to a combination of Malazich’s preparations, the existing structures and traditions in the Greek system, and active student leaders.

“But that doesn’t mean I can close my eyes and it’s all going to happen,” he said.

He said his job, primarily, will be to “assist them, support them, and help them” for the remainder of the year.

“The challenge for them now is to demonstrate and document the value of the Greek membership for individuals, the impact on the University, the contributions to Student Life, and its service to the community,” he said.

Furka said her job will be “taking a lot of info and putting it through the proverbial funnel.” She said she expects to collect as much information as she can about Greek practices at Pitt and across the country, and apply whatever is useful in the report.

“You don’t want to get involved with comparing apples and oranges,” she said. “We have to look at the specific groups as well as the global groups.”

She said that, in her experiences, the biggest difference between Pitt’s Greek system and Kent State’s is that Pitt’s Greek housing is on-campus and Kent State’s was not. She said that at both campuses, Greek life was an important part of the community.

“They’re active,” she said. “There’s a lot of service going on in both areas. There’s a lot of community involvement.”