Wednesday, March 5, 1997

Penn State IFC receives national award

By STACEY CONFER
Collegian Staff Writer

The University's Interfraternity Council continues to dominate the region -- they were named the top organization in the Northeast for the 11th consecutive year at this weekend's Northeast Interfraternity Conference/Northeast Panhellenic Conference.

IFC received the Lunsford Award, former IFC President Steve Gordon said. The University competed with schools such as the University of Maryland, Cornell University and Syracuse University, in a division for universities with more than 25 chapters.

" There are a lot of IFC systems that use Penn State as a template"

- former IFC President Steve Gordon

Community service, risk management, council management, judicial systems, membership, academics, public relations and leadership development were each considered by a panel of judges, Gordon said. Not only did IFC receive the overall award, but it also received individual citations in the judicial systems, academic and membership categories.

"We manage to do it year-in and year-out," he said, adding that although other schools are improving their programs, Penn State continues to lead in the region.

"There are a lot of IFC systems that use Penn State as a template," Gordon said.

During the past year, Gordon said the council he led dealt with several difficult issues on which it worked as a team to tackle. This award recognized that work, he said, and will motivate the new council to continue to strive for success.

Greeks assume national posts

While he said he felt little pressure to win the award this year, current IFC President Gordon Savage said the Lunsford Award will serve as an incentive for newly elected council members, who set several goals during their campaigns.

"I feel that if I'm able to reach those goals, we've succeeded as an organization," Savage said.

Panhellenic Council was also cited at the conference for its academic performance, PHC president Kearsi Page said. She attributed the organization's success to incentive programs established in recent years, which resulted in sorority women achieving grade point averages consistently higher than the all-women's average at the University.