Dean of students exchanges goals with greek leaders

IU Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith shared punch and cookies with students Tuesday night at his first official meeting with the campus greeks. Sorority and fraternity presidents shared their goals for their chapters, while Goldsmith shared his goals for the campus as a whole.

The informal open house was in the Indiana Memorial Union at 8:30 p.m. and gave chapter presidents from all the fraternities and sororities within the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association the opportunity to get to know the new dean of students.

The dean was well-received by greek leaders.

“He seems like a really genuine guy,” said senior Natalie Layton, vice president of leadership development for the PHA. “I think it is really great that he’s here to get to know us. He clearly cares about the greek system and the community.”

The meet and greet had no set agenda, aside from mingling for the presidents. As an added bonus, all greek leaders from the IFC and PHA got together as one community, which does not happen that often, said Katie Wickham, vice president of communications for the PHA.

Goldsmith spent the first half of the meeting getting to know the greek presidents. Every leader had the opportunity to share upcoming events, ideas or service projects with the dean.

“This is an opportunity for us to talk to Dean Goldsmith one-on-one and for him to be able to put a face to the greek system,” said Annie Raeder, president of the PHA.

After, Goldsmith addressed the group and outlined his over-arching goals for the campus and the greek community.

“I have three main goals for this year,” Goldsmith said. “To enhance the quality of the educational experience at IU, to give the University a richer, more dynamic environment and to help the greek community thrive.”

He emphasized how important greek success was because of the size and influence IU’s greek community has on the campus.

The IFC and PHA hope to work closely with Dean Goldsmith throughout the year.

“We want to start of the year with good relations,” said senior Jen Gurnick, president of Alpha Phi. “Being a new presence in our school, he will probably want to make some changes or improvements. Hopefully these improvements will be positive, and hopefully we will be on board with them.”