Augustana’s Greek Life Coordinator position has remained vacant since former coordinator, Tia Steele, left the college in July of last year, along with former Office of Student Life (OSL) Director Ken Brill. At the end of January, Augustana hired Eboni Springfield in hopes of her fulfilling the role.
Throughout the school year, senior Brock Clark has stepped up to fulfill many of the duties of the Greek Life coordinator as the Greek Council president. As president, Clark said he is responsible for assisting the Greek Life Coordinator and handling smaller-scale tasks, such as conducting weekly meetings and assisting the twelve Greek Life chapters.
However, when the coordinator role stayed unfulfilled throughout the fall semester, Clark said he quickly obtained large roles and responsibilities.
“It was rough at the beginning,” Clark said. “[I] was balancing being fully in charge of Greek Life, [having] a full-time job, a full course load and then my social life.”
The job of the Greek Life coordinator is to delegate tasks and handle any complaints or concerns that arise throughout the rush and new member period processes. Augustana houses twelve distinct Greek organizations.
Clark said he has been in close communication with both Steele and Brill throughout the year to ensure he is properly acting to fulfill the role.
In the absence of a coordinator, Director of Student Activities Reynard Benschop, who was hired in July to lead the OSL, officially took the title of intermittent Greek Life coordinator. But many Greek Life members, such as junior Kendall Filanowicz, have expressed concerns with no set coordinator throughout the rushing process and going into the new member period.
Filanowicz serves on the Greek Life Executive Board as this year’s sorority recruitment chair and said she is worried about the next month for both new and active members without an established coordinator.
“When it comes to the new member period, you need a responsible adult, just for legal purposes,” Filanowicz said.
Throughout the rush process, she said event planning such as Bid Day, informals and formals, as well as transportation to and from, has fallen entirely on the Greek Council Executive Board.
The position for Greek Life coordinator was not released by the college until late September to early October, Clark said, and Greek Life members were assured the role would be fulfilled by the end of the fall semester. He said he was also involved throughout the hiring process.
“I have communicated my concerns and some of my issues, and personally, I feel they’ve fallen on deaf ears,” Clark said. “In my opinion, there was no sense of urgency.”
Both Clark and Filanowicz said they believe Benschop has done a great job with what’s been thrown at him, but the two said they are anxiously awaiting the position to be filled permanently.
“I really hope [that] whoever [becomes the coordinator] listens to the people who are already here, as in the students,” Filanowicz said. “I really hope that whoever comes in is able to fix the dying groups, the smaller ones.”
Since Springfield was hired in January, she has been given the title of assistant director of Student Life and Leadership. Benschop said Springfield has been shadowing him to see what role best fits her.
“Eboni and I have fulfilled [the Greek Life coordinator] role together for the past couple of weeks,” Benschop said. “[We] will continue to do so until things are finalized and either passed on or remain fully with me.”
If Springfield does not take the role of coordinator, Benschop said he will fulfill the position permanently. In the last couple of weeks, Springfield said she has gotten the chance to see all the different activities within the OSL, such as the role of director of Student Activities, and has thoroughly enjoyed her time on campus thus far.
“I am really interested in Greek Life, [but] I think I’d be a great fit for the other [roles] too,” Springfield said. “We’re just not 100% sure what exactly I’ll be overseeing.”
Brock Clark previously worked for the Observer.