Football interview - Ohio State

Ronnie Green Author

10/16/2017 Added

4 Plays

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Ronnie Green and guest Donde Plowman discuss the Greek Vitality initiative and how fraternity and sorority life can be made even better for future students.

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[00:00:00.374](upbeat music)
[00:00:04.470]Welcome back, countdown to kickoff here
[00:00:05.770]on the Huskers Sports Network.
[00:00:06.898]The Buckeyes and the Huskers tonight, 6:35 kickoff.
[00:00:09.668]And as we do each and every week,
[00:00:10.824]a chance to talk with
[00:00:12.117]University of Nebraska Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green.
[00:00:15.480]And, here we go.
[00:00:16.350]Two tough games in a row.
[00:00:17.800]I think it's the first time in the history
[00:00:18.996]of Memorial Stadium that we've had two top ten teams
[00:00:21.046]back to back, come to visit us.
[00:00:22.431]That's a pretty tough stretch of football right here.
[00:00:24.205]Yeah, you bet.
[00:00:25.734]And, we're hoping for the best for our team tonight,
[00:00:28.554]you know, taking on the Buckeyes.
[00:00:30.062]Again, a great night, environment to be playing
[00:00:32.405]in Memorial Stadium.
[00:00:34.573]But yeah, two big weeks.
[00:00:36.203]Yeah, you have a guest with us today as well.
[00:00:38.887]Let's talk about your Executive Vice Chancellor,
[00:00:41.081]Donde Plowman, is with us here today.
[00:00:42.832]Yeah, really pleased to have Donde
[00:00:44.829]join us for today's show.
[00:00:46.776]You know, we were really pleased to have her come on board
[00:00:50.754]with us in a new role, this past January as
[00:00:54.322]Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer
[00:00:57.130]for the campus.
[00:00:58.271]So, she basically runs all of the academic programs
[00:01:01.084]across the university.
[00:01:03.597]And, one of the things that, you know,
[00:01:06.664]we have been looking at really hard,
[00:01:10.183]has gotten a fair amount of attention nationally
[00:01:12.472]in recent years,
[00:01:13.692]is the Greek system and Greek life on our campus.
[00:01:17.177]Always been a very important part
[00:01:19.134]of the University of Nebraska.
[00:01:20.989]Historically, we've been seen as one
[00:01:22.798]of the national leaders in Greek life,
[00:01:25.890]at our university for a long time.
[00:01:28.463]And, you know, some thinking about ways
[00:01:31.845]to enhance the Greek system,
[00:01:34.170]grow the Greek system,
[00:01:35.745]make the Greek system more vital on our campus.
[00:01:39.232]It's an area that I know Donde and her team
[00:01:41.555]have been leading here recently
[00:01:44.057]and are very excited about that.
[00:01:45.966]Donde, you know it's kind of a nice subset
[00:01:48.549]for students to come on campus
[00:01:49.882]and be a part of a smaller group,
[00:01:51.747]Uh-huh
[00:01:52.580]In 26,000 campus, enrollment on campus,
[00:01:55.152]it's good to have that.
[00:01:56.179]And, I know you've been meeting with chapter leaders
[00:01:58.034]around the campus, so what,
[00:01:59.895]tell me about the process that you've been going through.
[00:02:01.886]Well, you know, when I first started my job,
[00:02:04.043]I put together a little focus group of students
[00:02:06.828]that are involved in the Greek system.
[00:02:09.097]And, said to them, just talk to me.
[00:02:10.892]Talk to me about Greek life.
[00:02:12.262]Talk to me about the life you'd like to see.
[00:02:14.211]And, we began to generate some ideas
[00:02:16.900]about issues that need resolving on our campus,
[00:02:20.095]or need attention, I guess you'd say.
[00:02:22.144]And, I also came from the background
[00:02:24.607]of knowing so many alums that
[00:02:27.398]for whom their connection with the Greek life,
[00:02:30.581]it still keeps them connected to the campus today.
[00:02:32.634]So, we, this has like multiple purposes.
[00:02:36.074]The first, and most important, is enriching
[00:02:38.660]the life experience for some of our students here.
[00:02:41.390]And, I say some because 20% of our students are Greek.
[00:02:44.640]That's a pretty large number.
[00:02:45.874]But, it's also not everyone.
[00:02:47.086]And, we recognize that.
[00:02:48.445]But, we really want the Greek environment at UNL
[00:02:52.639]to be a place where it's the best place
[00:02:55.244]in the country to be Greek.
[00:02:56.699]But, we know we have some issues to address.
[00:02:58.731]So, one of the things we did was,
[00:03:00.835]out of that focus group,
[00:03:02.090]I pulled together all the chapters on campus:
[00:03:05.527]their leaders, their alumni advisors,
[00:03:07.505]for what we are calling hashtag Greek Vitality.
[00:03:11.233]That's, what that's all about is
[00:03:13.377]asking the Greek organizations,
[00:03:15.447]the leadership themselves to say,
[00:03:17.163]Hey, if we could make this a perfect world,
[00:03:19.184]what would it look like?
[00:03:20.375]How can we improve in some of the areas
[00:03:22.274]that we know need attention?
[00:03:24.564]So, some of those areas, the kinds of things
[00:03:26.828]that frustrate the Greek leaders are,
[00:03:28.837]hey, we do so many good things
[00:03:30.226]but all we're known for is the one or two
[00:03:32.651]bad behavioral incidents that show up in the newspaper.
[00:03:35.630]So, one issue is how do we reduce high-risk behavior?
[00:03:40.018]That's one of the things.
[00:03:40.851]And, let's let them solve their problem, help us solve it.
[00:03:43.894]Also, how do we develop leadership better?
[00:03:46.319]What should the living experience for Greeks be?
[00:03:48.342]So, really what this is,
[00:03:49.626]is kind of a bottom's up effort to say,
[00:03:52.668]how could we make Greek life here the best in the country?
[00:03:56.652]It sounds like you're off to a really good start.
[00:03:58.024]Where do you see it moving from here?
[00:03:59.848]Cause, a lot of times you pool these ideas together,
[00:04:02.379]and then they sit there.
[00:04:03.212]They don't go anywhere. Exactly.
[00:04:04.128]Where do you go from here?
[00:04:05.269]So, we've come up with some action plans.
[00:04:07.451]So, we've got several recommendations.
[00:04:09.874]When we pulled all these kids together,
[00:04:11.337]they all served on a task force this summer.
[00:04:13.812]So, for about six weeks, they worked on various topics
[00:04:17.141]and came up with recommended actions.
[00:04:19.417]Ronnie and I met with them for five hours
[00:04:21.448]this summer in one day.
[00:04:22.735]And, we voted and we prioritized what we think's important.
[00:04:26.954]So, the next steps now are putting all that
[00:04:28.967]into an action plan and beginning to take a look
[00:04:31.192]at some of the things we need to address.
[00:04:33.454]For example, one of the things is
[00:04:35.204]how do we get students to police themselves?
[00:04:38.858]And, we want out of that business.
[00:04:40.193]Sure.
[00:04:41.026]Ronnie and I want to be about the business
[00:04:42.265]of educating, learning, and growing.
[00:04:43.812]And so, we're in the middle of conversations
[00:04:46.773]with fraternities and sororities
[00:04:48.437]about how to move in that direction.
[00:04:50.130]So, right now, we're putting together operational plans
[00:04:53.930]to begin making some changes.
[00:04:55.495]And, I'm impressed by the work that they're doing.
[00:04:57.875]It doesn't mean, we have certainly
[00:04:59.365]not solved all the problems.
[00:05:00.871]We've gotta, what we want to do it stay out ahead of it.
[00:05:02.551]We don't want to become a campus where the president
[00:05:06.060]ends up thinking, like at Penn State,
[00:05:08.016]do we really even need this system?
[00:05:10.049]So, I think I'm optimistic because the quality
[00:05:12.934]of the leaders, the student leaders, has been great.
[00:05:15.353]And, I think a lot of people would feel like,
[00:05:17.094]Chancellor, that the system currently is fairly healthy.
[00:05:19.550]I mean, I think a lot of people
[00:05:20.789]would look at UNL's Greeks and say,
[00:05:22.303]this is a pretty healthy part of the campus.
[00:05:23.800]Oh, absolutely.
[00:05:24.633]I mean, we have over 30 Greek organizations on our campus,
[00:05:28.189]between sororities and fraternities on the campus,
[00:05:30.979]and you know, what you hear about, as Donde said,
[00:05:34.132]are the ones that make the newspapers
[00:05:35.805]for less than desirable things that happen.
[00:05:39.341]But, that's the minority, by far the minority.
[00:05:42.400]And, you look at the campus
[00:05:44.232]and the leadership of the campus,
[00:05:45.829]and where the student leaders come from,
[00:05:47.795]not all are Greek, but many are.
[00:05:51.005]And, the positivity of that experience
[00:05:54.915]is something that we see as being critical in the future.
[00:05:59.043]And, we just want to have a more vital Greek system
[00:06:03.333]long term for our campus.
[00:06:04.896]Couldn't be more excited about it.
[00:06:06.792]Should mention just, you know, she would never say it,
[00:06:09.878]but, you know, last Friday,
[00:06:12.208]we had this huge celebration on campus
[00:06:15.453]the night before the Wisconsin game last weekend,
[00:06:18.950]celebrating the new business facility
[00:06:21.440]we talked about on this program.
[00:06:23.873]You know, a real testament to our alums,
[00:06:27.396]to the alums of the college,
[00:06:29.550]Donde led that effort during her tenure
[00:06:32.149]as the Dean of the college, up until this year.
[00:06:36.092]Almost 1,500 donors who made that facility there,
[00:06:42.477]and be the great thing that it will be for long term.
[00:06:45.506]So just couldn't take this opportunity
[00:06:47.346]and not thank Donde here publicly
[00:06:50.076]for what she did to make that happen, and her team.
[00:06:54.194]It was a real evening to remember there
[00:06:56.688]in that gala celebration last week.
[00:06:59.387]I'm glad you did.
[00:07:00.220]And, Donde you do deserve Thank you.
[00:07:01.837]a lot of congratulations on that.
[00:07:03.061]And, I hope you are enjoying your new role here
[00:07:04.640]at the University, as well.
[00:07:05.997]Most days, I just love it.
[00:07:07.248](laughing)
[00:07:08.444]It's great.
[00:07:09.299]That's great, great to see you both.
[00:07:10.530]Yeah, go Big Red!

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Football interview - Ohio State

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