Sororities select next Panhellenic Council exec. board

The Panhellenic Council passed the torch to its new executive board for the upcoming year on Sunday.

Sigma Delta Tau member and College junior Erica Shmerler will officially take the reins from outgoing Panhel Council President and College senior Elizabeth Kimmelman on Jan. 25.

"I'm really excited for the new executive board," Kimmelman said. "They are all really qualified individuals."

Current board members say they are happy with the past year's accomplishments.

"We worked really well together," current Executive Vice President and College senior Neha Bansal said. We "worked a lot closer with the [InterFraternity Council] and [Bicultural InterGreek Fraternity Council] to promote Greek life and the Greek community as a whole."

Shmerler said that Greek Week and the Rena Rowan Ribbon Run for breast cancer were also successes for Panhel and that she decided to run for president of the council to "take more of a leadership role" in the organization.

Phi Sigma Sigma -- the sorority returning to campus this spring after disbanding in 2002 due to low membership -- was not allowed to nominate members to the board since their sorority status is not official. They were not allowed to vote in the process, either.

The new board is hoping to build off of the past year's successes that included increased communication and more coordinated activities between the sororities. According to the new board, these issues made the board a more unified body.

There was "a lot more sharing of responsibilities," Bansal said of the outgoing board. "We kept in touch with each other... something not really seen in the past."

The new board is looking forward to taking over in the spring, after the sororities have completed spring rush and have begun initiating their pledges.

Many of the new members have served in positions of authority before in the Greek system, either as members of their houses' leadership or as Panhel delegates. Each house has one delegate that serves as a liaison to the rest of the Greek community.

It is this experience, outgoing board members said, that makes them qualified to lead Panhel next year.

"Many of them have worked closely with us," Bansal said.

Of the seven sororities, only Kappa Alpha Theta does not have a representative on the 2004 executive board. No one from the house put a name in for consideration.

The election process that began on Nov. 17 finished Sunday when the sixth and seventh sororities accepted the slate of candidates, resulting in a unanimous decision.

In addition to Shmerler, the new Panhel board will be composed of Executive Vice President Stephanie Cohen, Vice President of Recruitment Emma Phillips, Vice President of Publicity Samantha Goldman, Vice President of Judicial Affairs Lauren Dooley, Secretary Rosalie Candido -- all of whom are College juniors -- Assistant Vice President of Recruitment and Wharton sophomore Kelly Rytel and Treasurer Michelle Vosko, a College sophomore.

Staff reporter Dax Thomas contributed to this report.

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