Big-C elects new exec. board

Wharton junior George Holt was elected the new president of the Bi-Cultural InterGreek Council last night. He will replace outgoing president Trista Bridges, a Wharton senior. Holt, a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., ran unopposed. "A lot of people want to serve on the executive board on the Big-C, but do not have the desire to hold the president position," he said. "But I felt I could handle it." The Big-C also elected College junior Nicole George its new vice president and Engineering junior Jerome Hairston its new treasurer. Wharton junior Rachel Lawson will serve as recording secretary, and Wharton junior Arthur James has been chosen to serve as parliamentarian. College junior Elizabeth Valentin will be the Big-C's corresponding secretary. Holt said he is excited about the new board. "They are all wonderful people and I look forward to working with them," he said. Bridges said she had a satisfying term as president of the Big-C, an umbrella organization that joins the black and Latino Greek groups on campus. Primarily, Bridges said that under her leadership she has seen the Big-C fulfill the goal for which it was founded: service to the greater black and Latino community. She also said the University administration has begun to give the Big-C a more important role in campus life. When gathering student input, administrators will often turn to the Big-C as a representative of both black and Latino students -- and the Penn student body in general. But while in some ways she has laid a smooth path for Holt, Bridges warned that he will still have issues to address. "There is an ignorance about our organization in general," she said, explaining that many students incorrectly assume that members of the Big-C take part in traditional Greek pledging activities. Bridges said this ignorance was especially apparent in the general student reaction to an incident earlier this fall, in which High Rise North residents allegedly hurled a glass bottle and other objects at members of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. But Holt said he is prepared for any obstacle that might come his way. "It's still a little early," he said. "I'm waiting for things to pop up."

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