A vision for increased cooperation between Penn's three Greek umbrella organizations was spelled out last night at the annual Bicultural InterGreek Council executive board elections.
The BIG-C is the umbrella organization governing various minority fraternities and sororities on campus and in the Philadelphia region.
"I definitely want to see a lot more unity between the BIG-C and the Panhellenic Council and also the InterFraternity Council," incoming BIG-C President and College junior Enny Peguero said.
The Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc. member will be flanked by Vice President and College junior Cecilia Ramirez, Corresponding Secretary and Wharton junior Preston Lewellen, Recording Secretary and College freshman Malaika Staten, Treasurer and College junior Kiel Berry and Parliamentarian and College junior Patrice Green.
Outgoing BIG-C President and College senior Jerryanne Heath was pleased with the new board.
"I've worked with [Peguero] over the past year," Heath said. "She's the outgoing recording secretary, she's very, very reliable and very responsible."
"There have been occasions where I've needed an executive board member to step into my place and she has always done that gracefully," Heath added. "I know that she's going to be a wonderful leader for the upcoming year."
The BIG-C elections -- which were only open to BIG-C members -- were run according to parliamentary procedure.
After the floor opened with nominations for each position, candidates delivered speeches and answered questions.
Each chapter of the BIG-C was allowed one vote in the secret ballot. The candidate with the majority of the votes was elected.
"It's been great to work with the BIG-C chapters this year," Heath said, citing the growth of the organization as a symbol of its success.
The umbrella organization currently oversees 10 chapters -- twice last year's figure, according to Heath.
Peguero is hoping to continue this trend.
"The BIG-C is definitely growing," she said. "A lot of revamping happened in the last executive board and I hope to keep that going."
Peguero aims to increase the BIG-C's visibility over the coming year.
"All of the Greek-letter organizations within the BIG-C are academic based," Peguero said. "We all do a lot for the community and we want to enhance that. We really want everyone to see that on Penn's campus."
To achieve this, Peguero plans to host more public events.
"We're going to try to establish more annual BIG-C events to cater not only toward the minority community but also the larger Penn community," Peguero said, noting that she was following in the footsteps of the previous executive board.
