photo by: Mike Yoder

University of Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod speaks to students, faculty and staff during KU’s opening convocation Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018, at the Lied Center.

With greek organizations facing criticism across the nation, a new task force has been created to evaluate and strengthen the greek community at the University of Kansas.

KU Chancellor Douglas Girod announced the task force, which met for the first time Thursday, through a message on his webpage.

“With sororities and fraternities under scrutiny nationwide and at KU, we must commit to raising our standards for health, wellness and self-governance and seek new ways to meet the expectations we have for our community,” Girod wrote in his message. “We must strive to set a new standard of excellence by providing university support, community leadership, and an outstanding experience for all chapters and members.”

The 27-member task force is made up of students, parents, alumni, housing corporation representatives, advisers, university administrators and staff.

The group plans to evaluate and submit recommendations on how greek life can be enhanced. The goal is to ensure that a strong sorority and fraternity system continues to be a part of the student experience at KU, according to a description of the group on the Student Affairs webpage.

Girod wrote that no hard deadlines had been set for the group, though he tentatively expected the task force to complete its work and submit its recommendations to him by summer 2019.

He will then evaluate the recommendations and announce the next steps in fall 2019.