Risk management speaker to emphasize education, prevention

By: Moira Bonadonna – Staff Writer

Pi Beta Phi and Pi Kappa Phi will be hosting nationally-known motivational speaker, Lori Hart, Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m. in the Kennedy Union ballroom.

Hart is the director of prevention education for the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, and has visited nearly 75 campuses a year to discuss issues related to college students including relationships, alcohol education, and fraternity and sorority life, according to her biography on the CAMPUSPEAK website. Hart has won both performer and speaker of the year.

Pi Beta Phi is a values based fraternity for women, and has been a part of UD since 1989, according to its UD website. Pi Beta Phi’s mission is focused on promoting friendship, developing women of intellect integrity, cultivating leadership through potential, and enriching lives through community service, according to their website.

Pi Kappa Phi was founded on the basis of CLASS – character leadership achievement, service and scholarship, junior accounting and finance major and member Josh Conner said.

“We’re in a unique position, because we’re still new. So we’re trying to stay away from some of the bad Greek stereotypes, and be more of an organization that is involved campus-wide rather than just involved in Greek life” Conner said.

Junior accounting and marketing major Kaitlyn Tunney, vice president of membership for Pi Beta Phi, said she heard about Hart at the sorority’s convention this summer in San Diego where Hart spoke.

“I realized that she had such an impact on the way I thought about risk management procedures, and leadership within the community that I thought she’d be a great addition to the UD community,” Tunney said.

The title of Hart’s talk at UD is “Smashing Stereotypes, Cultivating Organizational Leaders.” Hart will be discussing leadership, implementing risk management policies and issues related to Greek life, Tunney said.

“I know the Center for Student Involvement is very serious about risk management, so I think it’ll be very beneficial for all organizations,” she said.

Hart’s keynote will address issues important to all students, but especially UD students, Tunney said.

“There’s been such a huge emphasis on the high-risk social activity that goes on at this campus, and faculty’s been kind of pushing these things on us rather than trying to teach us what we’re doing and what we could do better,” Conner said. “They kind of jump straight to the implementation, rather than going through an education portion first. I think this is an opportunity for students to go and actually have someone talk to them about why what they’re doing is dangerous, and how they could behave better in those situations.”

Although Hart is affiliated with a Greek organization, junior entrepreneurship and marketing major Shane Jabir, president of Pi Kappa Phi, said the entire UD community is welcome to attend the event.

“We’re looking to include everyone,” Jabir said. “People don’t really understand. They look at hazing in an extreme way, but there are a lot of small things that are considered hazing. So hopefully, her speaking to all the organizations will kind of enlighten all of them on what they can and can’t do.”

Aside from the relevance of Hart’s discussion topics, Tunney said Hart’s affiliation with Pi Kappa Phi was also a reason they decided to bring her to campus.

“We realized this was a huge event, and we couldn’t put it on just ourselves,” Tunney said. “So we decided to partner up with Pi Kapp, because this is somebody from their staff, so we figured it would be a great organization to partner with.”

Tunney said because Pi Kappa Phi is a new organization on campus, Hart would provide an introduction for them to the existing Greek community, and UD community, as an organization.

For more information contact Kaitlyn Tunney at tunneyk1@udayton.edu or Josh Conner at connerj1@udayton.edu.