Student Association, the greek and university community will lose a prominent member April 9.

Joseph Oravecz, dean of students within the Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning, announced his resignation from his position Monday after advising student leaders in the SU community for almost three years.

Oravecz cited personal reasons for leaving his position to return to his home in Connecticut. Despite his resignation’s abrupt notice, university officials didn’t express frustration.

‘There isn’t any normal time,’ Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw said. ‘For example, I announced 15 months before I am leaving. Often academic deans will announce a year. But the reality is that the situations are different each time. His is somewhat abrupt but I’m sure his reasons are good.’

Shaw said Barry Wells, the dean of students, will be in charge of managing and finding a replacement for the position.

Oravecz was the first to fill the dean of students position after the Office of Greek Life and the Office of Student Activities combined in the summer of 2001 to form OGLEL.

Lil O’Rourke, associate dean for advancement for The College of Arts and Sciences, was part of the committee that created the position and hired Oravecz. She said he was hired because of his academic background and approachability.

‘I have an open door policy. It’s rare that you will see me in here alone with the door closed,’ said Oravecz. ‘Over time, students became comfortable to come in if they had a quick question or if they wanted to bounce something off of me. And now, they pop in on a regular basis.’

Laura Madelone chaired several committees with Oravecz, including the Chancellor’s Commission on Alcohol and other Drugs, and Greek Life. She said Oravecz always centered his work on students.

‘He very much wants students to be involved in developing programs, developing policies and implementing programs,’ said Madelone, director of Off Campus Student Services. ‘He’s very big on student activism and empowering students, which is why he was successful when he came into office.’

Oravecz’s support of students rested on more than programming, however.

‘I think he holds students in great esteem and highly respects them,’ said O’Rourke. ‘He is an advocate for students.’

Oravecz said that his close relationship with students is key.

‘I have a lot of student cell phone numbers in my cell phone in case there are any crises,’ Oravecz said. ‘I hope that if anything is going on, they’re going to be the first to know.’

SA President Drew Lederman, Comptroller Maggie Misztal and Oravecz, SA’s adviser, sat down for coffee once a week to discuss SA and OGLEL’s relationship.

Prior to the creation of OGLEL, Oravecz said he sensed tension between greek organizations and the university.

‘They just were not comfortable with having a person from the administration either in their chapter house or at their meetings,’ he said. ‘I knew that had to be addressed immediately.’

The hallmarks of his approach to fraternity and sorority governing organizations, such as the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association, were trust and independence.

‘He really believed that we should be the ones running IFC, not OGLEL, not the university,’ said Tom Toole, a senior finance and accounting major and former IFC president. ‘That was something a lot of people appreciated.’

Oravecz set up ‘town meetings’ with each chapter to get OGLEL and each organization on the same page.

As a result, greek life gained more structure and respect from the university, Toole said.

This helped IFC members reach a better position to compromise when members had concerns with a university-proposed social policy that placed tougher regulations on fraternity and sorority partying.

‘IFC and Panhel and all the social fraternities and sororities came out with a list of recommendations based on the situation,’ Toole said. ‘Dean Oravecz really backed us up on that and worked on getting what we wanted.’

Oravecz, though, credits the students’ maturity in realizing their responsibilities.

‘We’re at a good place of students understanding how we can help but also understanding the accountability factor,’ Oravecz said.

Toole said that Oravecz’s leaving will be a loss to the university and is concerned that the next dean won’t be as supportive.

‘I don’t think people realize what Dean Oravecz brought to the Greek system,’ said Tom Toole. ‘He was only here two years, and that’s not a lot of time to get things done, but he did.’

Published on April 1, 2004 at 12:00 pm