Despite inviting two candidates to campus, the future assistant director for Greek life remains unchosen. A student, staff and faculty search committee has been searching a new assistant director for Greek life, a position currently held by Jeremy Allen, since early September, right after he announced his departure. Allen plans to leave Trinity by Nov. 15.
“Our search continues. We want this person to be qualified, and a great team member and a good fit,” said Jamie Thompson, director of Student Involvement. “Student Involvement is made up of a diverse set of team members and we each bring our own talents and skill sets to the table, and so someone who helps us diversify those talents is also something we’re looking for.”
The search committee is preparing how to sustain aspects of Allen’s role if the position is still vacant on Nov. 15. The members of the search committee are planning to take on a few of his responsibilities while still continuing interviews.
“It’s likely that we’ll go a period of time with no one in that role,” Thompson said. “But we won’t make a quick decision just because we want to fill the role.”
Part of Allen’s role is overseeing fraternity and sorority life. Every member of the search committee has ties to the Greek community at Trinity, including the two student representatives: junior Brian Guerrero, the president of Omega Phi Fraternity, and senior Sarah Hantak, member of Gamma Chi Delta Sorority and judicial chair of the Greek Life Council.
“My perspective adds a sense of reliability from the student side. Even though it is on the faculty and staff of the committee to look for the qualified candidate, Sarah Hantak and I are on the committee to help provide insight to how a student should be able to relate and trust the person in this position with anything,” Guerrero wrote in an email interview. “[She or he] needs to be a team player, and a quality supervisor for the Coates aspect of the job, but more importantly someone who has a passion for working with and developing student leaders.”
Along with Greek life duties, Allen’s position also assists in operating the Coates Student Center (CSC). Heather Haynes Smith, a member of the search committee, worked with Allen last year to review the effectiveness and usefulness of CSC.
“It is important when we’re having discussion about candidates that each of us can help speak to what strengths we see in that candidate based on what we know about the role,” Haynes Smith said. “My lens is, ‘How would they run this place? Would they be able to address some of the areas or opportunities for growth that we identified in that plan that maybe have yet to be addressed?’ ”
According to Haynes Smith, it’s difficult to separate Allen’s personality from the role when looking for new candidates.
“It’s really hard to remove your bias or preconceived ideas about the person who was in those roles and think more about the actual things that they do,” Haynes Smith said. “You do have to take away the person and look at the skills.”
