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Thank You! Shared Leadership Summit

Lexie Elliott - Tuesday, February 6, 2024
 Events 
Group of attendees from the Shared Leadership Summit

Thank You!


Thank you to those who attended the Shared Leadership Summit on Saturday, January 20. What an excellent gathering of over 50 student leaders, advisors, national partners, and CMU staff. It was an afternoon of building new and meaningful relationships, setting goals and aspirations for the fraternity and sorority life community, and clarifying our roles to make positive change. We are grateful for your time, thoughtfulness, and energy as we took a deep dive into the different facets of shared leadership. This work isn’t easy, but for a community over 100 years old it deserves our time and attention.
 

Here are some highlights from the Shared Leadership Summit:

Thank you, Matt Evert, president of Alpha Sigma Phi, who led us in an icebreaker activity to get us energized for the day. He led us through a series of “hot takes” on controversial topics like does pineapple belong on pizza. Matt said his chapter will often do this activity to engage their members at meetings.

Gina Casalegno addressing the Shared Leadership Summit.

We kicked off the Summit with a few remarks from Gina Casalegno, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. She reaffirmed the importance and value that the fraternity and sorority life community at Carnegie Mellon University. Also in her remarks, she challenged the community to make decision that align with the values of our fraternities and sororities. Gina reminded us that hazing, in any form, has no place at CMU. We appreciated her remarks and time with us during the afternoon.

This notion of the fraternity and sorority life being a valued experience at CMU is also articulated within the Stragetic Plan. 

Lexie Elliott, Assistant Director in SLICE, helped the Summit take a deeper dive into understanding shared leadership. This venn diagram was presented. It depicts the intersection of “things you can control” and “things you care about.” At the center of the venn diagram is “what you should focus on” which is the central focus of shared leadership. It is important to put your time, treasure, and talents into things you can control. Attendees were given stickers of this venn diagram to remember this concept in the future. 

Taylor Ritzert, Coordinator in SLICE, helped the Summit identify ground rules to help guide conversations. 

Affinity Lunch

During the affinity lunch, council presidents and leaders led conversations for attendees within their council community and attendees who wanted to learn more about their council. It was an opportunity to build community amongst leaders and set some goals for the upcoming year.

  • IFC: Explored more community service opportunities and hazing prevention education
  • Panhel: Discussed their future plans for Panhellenic led recruitment events during COB
  • MGC: Set goals for increasing their presence on campus and engaging their members
 

Shared Leadership Topical Conversation

For the pinnacle activity of the Shared Leadership Summit, there were six topical shared leadership conversations led by our conversation champions. Conversation champions led a talking circle to define what success would look like for each topic and outlined what each person do to help achieve success within this topic. A big shoutout to our champions for leading these conversations.

Here are some action items that were developed from these conversations:

Bridging Communities: FSL Collaborations on Being a Better Neighbor with Bilal Chaudhry

  • Being more cognizant of our neighbors who are not college students
  • Building better relationships between CMU Police Department and fraternity and sorority life
  • Exploring a night time ride-along program with CMU PD to understand the neighborhood from their perspective 
  • Fraternity and sorority life leaders participating in Knock & Talks on Beeler Street prior to Spring Carnval

Skybar, Beeler Street, and Beyond: Increasing Social Safety with Sara Riyad and Taylor Ritzert

  • Understanding that fraternity and sorority life, CMU, and third-party event spaces have different understandings social safety at events
  • To move forward in social safety all stakeholders need to be in alignment with their goals
  • The basic tenants of social safety include following the law, chapter policy, and insurance requirements
  • Collaborating to create more educational strategies for Amnesty policies and Commonwealth law, individual fraternity and sorority social guidelines, best practices for alcohol management (Please consider attending the IFC Risk Management and Safety Summit on February 1)

Cultivating Commitment: Discussions on Member Engagement with Will Rifkin and Karishma Kulshrestha

  • Setting clear expectations when joining
  • Chapter programming and member commitment will look different between spring and fall and the beginning and end of the semester
  • Fines impact chapter cultural and retention
  • Trickle Down- the importance of chapter leadership and older members setting the tone for being involved

Working Relationships Between FSL Stakeholders with Nick Schmid and Candace Okello

  • Contact sheet of stakeholder and their responsibililites to ask questions (Check out the Staff Directory & FAQ on the Dashboard)
  • Opportunity for a better relationships among stakeholders in the fraternity and sorority life housing
  • Interest in FSL communication to parents and families
  • More dialogue at the Fraternity and Sorority Leader Gathering

Using Values to Drive Chapter Growth with Margaret He

  • Our values and concerns for the community are shared
  • Celebrating the success of others and supporting each other in our missteps
  • Growth is a long-term mindset and not a rush to get numbers
  • Embodying our values in all events and chapter functions
  • Committing as an entire community to lead with values

Rome wasn't built in a day. Just like Rome, these topical conversations will take time to make progress. If you would like to participate in future topical conversations, please provide your availability to be included in future planning:

 Fraternity and Sorority Leader Gatherings occur monthly and are gatherings of chapter presidents and council officers. The agenda is driven by the community. Please email aelliot2@andrew.cmu.edu if you want discussion items added to the agenda.

What will you do first?


We are still accepting feedback if you haven't submitted it yet. Now is your time to focus on the intersection of "things you can control" and "things you care about" as our community exercises shared leadership. Here is a list of attendees who gave permission to share their contact information. These are stakeholders who want to see positive change in the FSL Community.

Fraternity and sorority life is a valuable experience at Carnegie Mellon University and deserves our time, attention, and talents.

Thank you again for your time and passion at the
Shared Leadership Summit!