URI Greeks take home top honors at NGLAs

04/02/09 - The University of Rhode Island Greek community was awarded top honors at the annual Northeast Greek Leadership Association (NGLA) Conference in Hartford this February. The URI Greeks came out as the top award winner, receiving six of the eight programming excellence awards. Their earnings were more than any of the approximately 70 other schools in attendance. Philadelphia's Drexel University came in second with five awards. "The NGLA conference works to promote positivity, tradition and the founding principles of Greek life," said Hayden Green, the associate director of College Activities at Barnard and awards staff member of NGLA.

The three-day program offered workshops and ended with an awards ceremony.

"The awards generally are designed to encourage the values that represent the very best in Greek Life. This year, and going forward, special focus was given to Greek communities that display a sense of inclusivity," Greene said.

"We've been winning different awards since 2005, so this is becoming a tradition of excellence where we're the top performing schools in the Northeast," Steve Simo, the director of Greek Affairs, said.

URI won 13 out of 17 awards in 2008, and 11 out of 17 awards in 2007.

This year, the entire Greek community took home the Academic Achievement, Council Management, Leadership and Educational Development, Risk Management and Reduction, and Philanthropy and Community Service awards.

The Interfraternity Council and Pan-Hellenic Council also each won Council Management awards.

"It really goes to show where we have come as a Greek community at URI," said Phil Bowers, IFC president. "Fifteen years ago, we were the top party in school in the nation and Greek life at this school revolved around that. This school has spent so much time fixing what was here and molding our Greek community around that."

While the awards were given to recognize the full spectrum of work done by the Greek community, NGLA pointed out specific programs at URI as commendable.

"One unique program that they mentioned was their Philanthropy Week," Greene said.

URI's Greek Week fundraising efforts, as well as the Greek 101 new member education program, were also applauded by the conference, Bowers said.

The Greek 101 program, which discusses Greek life, substance abuse, hazing, sexual assault and leadership, was considered so successful by NGLA that URI was asked to present their program at the conference.

"They showed a real dedication to educating their members and to keeping them abreast of issues facing them and their fellow students," Green said.

While the Greek community considers the awards a great honor, they said improvements are still going to be made in the program.

"As far as I am concerned, there is room for improvement in every area," Bowers said. "The Greek community never stops running, including over the summer. Now that we have set our standards and our expectations so high, we need to continue to reach them and exceed them each year."

Simo added, "I think that there's actually a friendly competition between outgoing board and incoming students, where they'll just try and do a little bit better than before."

Simo hopes that the awards will help attract new students to both URI and the Greek community.

"Hopefully, you'll be recruiting new people who are attracted to those things, and those values will perpetuate themselves. It's recruiting the right type of student," Simo said. Overall, the Greek leadership is pleased to receive the award and see it as a gauge to further their work.

"The awards reflect our efforts throughout the year and help us judge where we are and were we need to go," Bowers said.