Meet our newest Her Campus Celebrity, Jim Perry, from Indianapolis! Jim is a senior economics major, and a football player. He is also very involved with Greek life. Jim is an active member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and the former President of the Interfraternity Council. Some of his brothers described him as a great leader and fatherly but fun at the same time. Jim sat down with Her Campus to tell us about his experience in DePauw Greek life!
Her Campus: Thanks so much for meeting with us, Jim! So what were some of your responsibilities as President?
Jim Perry: Happy to be here! As President I oversaw the other members of the IFC executive board and made sure our budgeting was on track. I also helped start the IFC hearing board! It’s similar to a standards board within a chapter except it reaches across all IFC fraternities on campus. It helps the chapters trust us a little more!
HC: Wow that must keep you very busy! I’m sure last weekend was especially busy because of recruitment! How did it go this year?
JP: Recruitment went really well this year! All the chapters got some really great guys, we had a lot more guys than we expected go through. We were only expecting about 160 but we ended up with 190! This helped all the houses get the numbers they needed to keep their chapters thriving.
HC: That’s great! Do you have any advice for the new members this semester?
JP: Enjoy the experience! The spring semester is a lot of fun because you’re finally apart of something that you’ve wanted to join since the beginning of the process. The best advice I can give is to really take the time to get to know the members—especially your pledge class. Those are the people you’re going to be spending the next 3 ½ years with. Well really you’re spending the rest of your life with them. It’s important to take advantage of all the bonding experiences when you’re a new member.
HC: What was one of your favorite memories of DePauw Greek life?
JP: Probably junior year little 5! Two other guys and myself in IFC got to do rounds the morning of little 5. We went to all the different chapters and hosted parties; It was a great way to meet so many new people and get to know brothers in other chapters we didn’t know very well. Little 5 is always great!
HC: That sounds so fun! It really shows what a great community DePauw has. How do you feel about the changes in flower-ins this year?
JP: They’re a necessary evil. The flower-ins were getting out of control. The Panhellenic President and I sat down with the university last semester and made the necessary changes to make flower-ins safe and enjoyable for everyone involved. They are now going back to what they were about 15 years ago. We had to make changes in order to keep the tradition alive.
HC: If there was one thing you could change about DePauw Greek life what would it be?
JP: Definitely focusing more on improving the community! A lot of chapters strive to do that, but I think sometimes we lose focus of that. Especially spring semester with some much going on. Many professors have connections at some of the elementary schools so getting members involved in tutoring there or helping out at different shelters around Greencastle would really help the town!
HC: That would be great! Thanks so much for spending the time to talk to us. Do you have anything else you want to add?
JP: Everyone should enjoy the semester. Greek life has so many fun events coming up!