Following former Assistant Dean of Residential Life and Director of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies Deborah Carney's official retirement from her position on June 30, the College has to hire a permanent replacement to act as primary advisor for campus Greek organizations, according to April Thompson, Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life. College administrators are working with Summer term Greek leaders to select a replacement "as soon as possible," Thompson said.
Carney's retirement coincided with the College's decision to eliminate Dean of Residential Life Marty Redman's position due to budget cuts leaving the Office of Residential Life without a permanent advisor for campus Greek organizations, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The Dean of the College's Office began a search for Carney's replacement in mid-April, which was ultimately unsuccessful, Thompson said. The search committee identified three candidates in May, although no one was hired as a permanent replacement for Carney, acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears said in an interview with The Dartmouth on Friday.
"There were some real strengths in the candidates pool and we did think that there were some people that would be a good match for Dartmouth," Spears said.
For a variety of both personal or professional reasons, none of the candidates were hired by the College, Thompson said.
Since the search failed to produce her successor, Carney extended her stay as director of Greek letter organizations until the College found a replacement, Spears said. Due to personal reasons, Carney was unable to remain at the College, leaving the campus temporarily without an advisor to the Greek system, according to Spears.
Thompson said that her "ideal" plan would be to identify an interim director of Greek letter organizations "as soon as possible."
"Ideally, we would put an interim acting person in place and we would be looking for the students' input and Deb Carney's wisdom and guidance about who that should be and how that should work," she said.
Following a meeting with Carney on Tuesday, several sophomore Greek leaders will begin to interview candidates within the next one or two weeks, according to Nishreen Ali '12, Summer Panhellenic Council president.
Trevor Chenoweth '12, who is the moderator of the Greek Leadership Council this term and has worked with Thompson to identify qualifications for candidates, said that he hopes to find someone as Carney's replacement "in a time period as short as possible."
Both Spears and Thompson said that input from sophomore and upperclassmen Greek leaders will be factored into their hiring decision.
"[Summer Greek leaders] have been brainstorming what would be helpful from an interim position, what they need most for critical issues right now to get them through the Summer term," Thompson said. "They have also been consulting with their Fall term leadership to ask what would be helpful in the Fall that would be different from the Summer."
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Interfraternity Council President Tyler Brace '11 identified two main criteria for the future director of Greek letter organizations.
"The first [qualification] is a thorough understanding of the Dartmouth Greek scene someone who understands how we exist and why we exist," Brace said. "The second main qualification is someone who knows the [College's] administration and bureaucracy, and how to get things done within that."
Ali said that the new director of Greek letter organizations must be able to work with administrators to resolve two main issues for Panhell the upcoming rush process and the lack of physical plants for two of the eight sororities.
Chenoweth said that the new director of Greek letter organizations must also be approachable for students.
"Other than [those criteria], interests we've had are basically someone that can be understanding and listen to students to be a resource we can go to as Greek leaders, especially with the higher turnover for Greek leaders from year-to-year," Chenoweth said.
Search processes for positions in higher education typically begin with candidate applications in January, February and March so that new hires can transition over the summer before the next academic year, Spears said.
"It may be we find someone to be in the role on an acting basis, and then launch the search when we'll get the most talented group of applicants in the Winter term for the following academic year," she said.
Thompson said that any interim or permanent director of Greek letter organizations must have an understanding of the College's stance on alcohol and social events, current "tensions" within Greek communities and societies about those issues, and relations with Hanover Police.
"We've started a lot of momentum with the [Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee], with relationships with the town," Thompson said. "We really can't lose the momentum that we've started."
