Student Board Member Selected

Barbara Rosier has been named the student member of the National Order of Omega Board of Directors. Barb, whose term began in July 1997, replaces John Hatley, a student at Northwestern State University. Barb is the eleventh Order of Omega student member to serve on the Board of Directors.

Barb is a senior at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She has held several leadership positions in her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, including president, membership education vice president, scholarship chair, reporter/historian, and a member of the National Collegiate Cabinet for the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation. She is a founding member of the Pi Gamma chapter of Order of Omega and a former president of the chapter.

On campus, Barb has served as a student program coordinator, president of Mortar Board, vice president of the School of Education Student Council, vice president of the College of Arts and Sciences Student Council, a Student Government Association senator, and an orientation leader. Barb maintains a 3.875 average in Secondary Education, History, Mathematics.

In her answer to a question regarding the major problem facing the Greek community and the role of Order of Omega in addressing the problem, Barb responded:

"I think that it is very clear that substance abuse and hazing pose an extremely serious threat to Greek systems. It is true that the negative stereotypes often are not totally unfounded. Almost everyone is familiar with the horrific stories of hazing and people drinking to death. There are Greeks on our campu that have been caught cheating, placed on probation for substance abuse, and been accused of hazing. There are faculty at our school who would be more than happy to abolish the Greek system all together. In fact, we had a problem just last fall with an administrator telling the entire freshman class of 6-year medical students and their parents, "Do not go Greek. If you do, you will fail." We had several young men and women drop out of rush and many that stayed faced serious pressures from their family to quit. Hazing and substance abuse have to stop. Our very existence depends on it."

"In order to stop the threats to the Greek system, we need to cultivate strong leaders that have the power and courage to stand up to the few stupid people in each chapter that give everyone a bad name. I believe that Order of Omega can be a powerful tool in this cultivation. Outside of campus workshops, Order of Omega acts as a sounding board for chapter leaders to brainstorm about ideas to better their individual chapters. It is also a support system for leaders who do have the courage to try to change things, because change is never easy and we need all of the help that we can get. In this way, it is helping to make our Greek community a better place."

The student board member is selected each spring from rotating regions of the country. Barb was selected from active Order of Omega chapters in the Midwest. The next student board member will be selected from active Order of Omega chapters in the Northeast. Applications will be sent to active chapters in this region in February. For more information, please contact Anne Forcier (aforcier@advancement.uvm.edu) or Barb Rosier (brosier@cctr.umkc.edu).

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