By Babatunde Ojo
Currently, Allen White is the Associate Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life at NJIT. However, rumors among the student body, particularly fraternity and sorority leaders speculate that White will be taking on a new position at NJIT as something akin to a general campus life coordinator. The reason for the development of such rumors are unknown.
When asked to comment on the matter, the only information Allen White could disclose was, “the Office of Campus Life will soon be undergoing a transition as two members of its staff move on to the next chapter of their lives. This provides an opportunity to examine all of the positions within Campus Life and to create the most effective organizational structure possible. Many of the details of these enhancements are not yet known.”
Rebecca Cortes, President of the Multicultural Greek Council, shared her frustrations, “If they-[NJIT] – can’t be transparent about it why am I investing my time and money? This is my education. Greek life, with these new councils has taught me so much, but for what? When no matter how much we try we can’t get anywhere. I owe so much to Allen White. He’s lit a fire within me that knows I have something to contribute.”
Director White was more than another staff member to the students involved with Greek life. He was someone the students could look to for guidance and was active in steering them in the right direction when needed. Edwin Escoto, President of Lambda Upsilon Lambda, mentions how much White has contributed, “Greeks are required to fill out a Shared Standards that holds all Greek organizations accountable for their involvement and participation in all 4 pillars of Greek Life: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Brotherhood/Sisterhood. This was implemented by Allen and has guided my chapter, as well as others, towards a better overall level of involvement. Allen has brought all of the experiences from his previous positions and has improved the Greek Community at NJIT.”
It should be noted that White has only spent two years at his current position, but what he has accomplished clearly left an impact on those around him. In fact, during his time as Associate Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life sorority organizations saw a 118.75% increase in members, the highest in chapter History. Fraternities had a 20.58% increase in recruitment as well. White also had a hand in bringing in three new organizations, Iota Nu Delta, Kappa Phi Gamma, and Omega Phi Chi.
Sreya Mukherjee mentions her involvement in the establishment of Omega Phi Chi, one of the introduced sororities. “Allen was the main driving force behind our efforts to start a chapter here. We had been trying to start our growth here since 2012… He’s been working with us since he got here in 2014 to make it possible. It would not have been possible without him.”
“I can tell you right now that our org will miss him a lot. I know without a doubt that the entire MGC community will miss him as well after all he’s done for us. He gave us more representation in the Greek community and always took our concerns and comments into consideration” mentions Kushaal Mehta, the President of Delta Epsilon Psi. He is not alone in his thoughts. Without White, there is a general consensus that the students, especially in Greek life, will not be heard and will once again have their concerns put on the backburner.
