About two weeks ago, Aubrey Frazier, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority life (FSL), turned in her resignation letter. She started working for FSL about three years ago, and has held a tough position that four previous directors couldn’t hold due to personal reasons. It wasn’t easy for her, but it was an excellent opportunity.
Degrees in public relations and advertising, executive experience in Alpha Gamma Delta, and a Masters in college personnel and administration were great reasons for Aubrey to seek improvements in Rollins FSL. Before she came, Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) was kicked off campus and Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) had been on suspension. Regarding this, she said, “There were a lot of things going on, but I’m glad that I was able to come in and rebuild the block.”
Lambda Chi Alpha (LXA) President Michael Kitchen stated that, “In my year of working with [Aubrey], she has worked diligently to improve Rollins’s Greek experience. She has been a driving force for positive change in the community.”
Jazmine Rodriguez, the director of FSL, has worked with Aubrey since she began. She also explained how there were plenty of negative things happening in the area in both chapters from UCF and here at Rollins, and that UCF had put a hold on their Greek life. The bad news had trickled down to Rollins, and the students in FSL were afraid of what could happen here. Jazmine continued to say that Aubrey and her became a tag team, and because she was not associated with all the negativity, her arrival had perfect timing.
Today, there is more Greek involvement at Rollins than at any point in the last four years. At the start of Aubrey’s career, the college only had 22% percent of the student body involved in Greek life. Last year, that went up by almost 13%. The retention rate of Greek students went from 86% to 96.7%. The numbers don’t lie, and Aubrey feels that her time here was a success. However, she stated that, “Unfortunately, I had to look outside of Rollins for my next step.” She believes that she is leaving Rollins with the knowledge that FSL will not be hindered (especially after adding more staff) and that Jazmine has a good hold of things.
At the same time, she cannot leave painlessly due to all of the relationships she has formed these past four years. One specific person is Gabriela (Gabby) Polanco, the director of the College Panhellenic Council (CPC). Gabby says that she is definitely very sad about Aubrey leaving, because she was her go-to person at Rollins. In fact, she says she had an unusual relationship with Aubrey, because Aubrey had seen her potential without being a part of a sorority. Eventually Aubrey had impacted Gabby, and she became leader and now a director of CPC. In fact, Aubrey has impacted many people, ranging from TKE, to SAE, to ADPI, as well as individual students like Gabby.
Although Aubrey will be leaving soon, it seems that the FSL office is ready to take charge. Even though there is some nervousness about the possibility that things could be halted, the new staff is ready. They know that things will slow down, but as Jazmine says, “FSL will continue to move forward. In time with the position soon to be filled, through a search, everything will continue to make progress.” And as far as this very recent news goes, there have been no specific changes to FSL.
A farewell message from Aubrey Frazier
Be open and remember that Rollins values relationships with everyone. For the new person that is coming, everyone, give them the chance and the support—without it, no one will be successful in this role. Students can make the changes to make FSL great. Students, you are the motivation to a positive outcome. FSL staffs, although a spot will be vacant, be positive and help do the work so that we are at our best place for everyone. Everyone is incredible, intelligent, and thoughtful to continue to show the power that FSL in Rollins College has.
A message of thanks from Jazmine Rodriguez and the Rollins community
Thank you Aubrey for your work, you have done incredible work and with passion. As Jonas Payao from TKE says, “…you are a compilation of what Rollins is.” You took on the bad reputation and you helped turned it around. For many, you were their go to person, because you saw potential in each individual. We are sad to see you go, but we are happy for the things you’ll do at the University of Western Florida. We will miss you!
FSL will be having a farewell party for Aubrey on September 13 from 3-5pm in Dave’s Boathouse.
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