The Interfraternity Council, which governs most the of campus fraternities, elected Public Policy junior Ari Parritz as its next president last night.
- (Max Collins/Daily)
Parritz, the former president of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, defeated LSA senior Sahib Singh to win the post. Singh, of Pi Kappa Alpha, is the IFC’s outgoing vice president of programming.
Parritz said meeting with chapter presidents and getting them more involved in the IFC will be his main priority as president.
“I really want to empower the chapter presidents to really make them feel like they can make a difference,” he said. “Their purpose is not just to come fill a seat — their purpose is to drive change.”
Parritz said during his term he wants to implement social policies for IFC events that are responsive to the needs of chapter presidents.
“I think presidents have already identified areas in social policies where they’d like to see improvement, some big, some not so big,” he said. “I’d like to see our policies continue to evolve to policies that we’re proud of, policies that we say we created, we follow and we uphold.”
Parritz, who writes a column every two weeks for The Michigan Daily, said he wants to improve the image of the Greek community by working with other organizations like the Michigan Student Assembly and the Ann Arbor Police Department.
“Our image can always be improved. I never want a negative association or stigma attached to the Greek community,” he said. “I want to strive to create policies that are transparent and policies that we are proud of and I think that will only enhance our image.”
LSA junior Jason Rosenblatt, the former philanthropy chair of Phi Gamma Delta, was elected executive vice president last night. He said he also plans to reach out to the individual chapter presidents.
In addition to Parritz and Rosenblatt, the IFC also elected the remaining nine members of its executive board last night.
LSA junior Max Barack, the outgoing president of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, was elected the judicial vice president.
Starting next semester, Barack will be head up the Greek Activities Review Panel along with the judicial vice president of the Panhellenic Association. The Panel, which is made up of representatives from all four Greek governing bodies, is mostly responsible for enforcing Greek social policies. Barack said he wants to expand the role of GARP next semester.
“I’d like to take (GARP members) out and use them in an educational capacity,” he said. “I’d like to educate (the Panhellenic Council) and sororities so they understand a lot of the things about alcohol and why fraternities do what they do for safety reasons.”
In addition, Barack said he wants to make sure individual fraternity members have a better understanding of the rationale behind the system’s social policies.
He beat LSA junior Jason Mohr for the position. Mohr, of Chi Phi, was elected vice president of social responsibility later in the evening.
Presidents from each of the 27 fraternities that the IFC represents met in the Anderson Room of the Michigan Union to vote. Before the ballots were cast, the candidates gave a speech and answered questions. Then they left the room, and IFC members took turns debating the candidates’ merits.