Cynthia Anderson '99, a member of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority who served as the Panhellenic Council programming chair this past summer, was elected as Panhell's president last night in the Council's second attempt at holding elections.
The first attempt, last Thursday, failed when two sororities, Kappa Delta Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma, did not appear at the meeting.
To hold elections, a voting quorum with representatives from all seven Panhellenic sororities must be present. The Panhellenic Council is the governing body of the sororities.
Anderson said one of her main goals for the presidency is to "increase the presence of the Panhellenic Council on campus."
"The frats definitely dominate most of the weekend activity on campus," she said. "A big part of what [the Council] should do is provide alternatives to what the frats offer this campus."
Other goals the new Panhell president said she would like to address are unifying the various sorority houses, "increasing the amount of philanthropy" undertaken by the Council and working harder to create "women's space." She said she believes that Panhell is the venue to coordinate the sororities' strengths.
Ann Marie Nee '98 -- the outgoing Council vice president and also a member of Theta -- gave a pre-election speech in favor of Anderson.
Anderson "is very, very devoted to Panhell ... and to women's issues," Nee said. "She is really up-to-date with what's going on in the system and she is good at getting sororities to work together as a group."
Also at last night's hour-and-a-half meeting, Christina Dam '00 of Sigma Delta was elected vice president. She said she wanted to make the Panhell Council a "voice for other women."
Ann Strini '99 of Delta Delta Delta sorority became the new judicial chair; Melissa Lafsky '00, of the newest Panhell sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, became Panhell's new programming chair; Trestney Hung '00 of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority is the new publicity chair; Caroline Fayard '00 of Tri-Delta is now the Panhell Council secretary; and Becky Sangster '00 of Zeta Beta Chi is the new treasurer.
