Faculty members and fraternity brothers joked, ate and mingled in Newcomb Hall Ballroom yesterday, kicking off the Inter-Fraternity Council's long-awaited Faculty Fellowship program.
Although initiated in 1999, this is the program's first official event. The program matches up faculty members with individual fraternities.
IFC invited about 150 faculty members to attend the open house, triggering discussion between fraternity leaders and the University officials who could serve as their fellows.
Individual faculty members had served as advisors prior to 1999, but the fellowship program is the most recent organized effort to facilitate interaction.
"We're really trying to get it back going," IFC President Phil Trout said. "The faculty is definitely an important part of the University and we need to improve communication."
IFC Public Relations Spokesman Ryan Ewalt agreed that fraternities need to expand their alliance base.
"A faculty fellow can be a great advisor to a fraternity," Ewalt said. "They allow representation of fraternities in ways they can't do on their own, creating a better understanding of fraternities to the rest of the community."
Third-year College student Pat Reilly, IFC scholarship and faculty relations chairman, said improving the program will be a priority for the new IFC executive board. The board already has scheduled a dinner in the spring and a workshop in the fall.
"Faculty fellows serve as a house's liaison with the University community," Reilly said.
For instance, when problems arise between the University and an individual fraternity, a faculty fellow can represent their organization before the Faculty Senate, he said.
Current faculty fellows said they were excited the IFC is breathing new life into the program.
"They're moving in the right direction," said Wayne Cozart, director of alumni programs for the Alumni Association and a faculty fellow for Pi Kappa Alpha.
Cozart advised the IFC in developing the program three years ago. He said cultural changes in the University may have prompted renewed attention to the idea.
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