Dartmouth SigEp elected Student Body President

Green ’08 says SigEp membership helped him identify campaign issues, win voter confidence.

Hanover, N.H., May 20, 2007 – Dartmouth SigEp Travis Green ’08 was elected Student Body President, the Ivy League college’s first Greek president in three years and its first SigEp one in seven years.

He credited last week’s victory in part to his membership in Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

“On this campus, being a SigEp means something,” he said. “It says something about you, something about your character.”

Green said his affiliation with SigEp also proved key in identifying campaign issues and netting votes.

“SigEp spans campus, so being able to talk with brothers made it easy to find out what people thought of me,” he said. “I could bounce ideas off of people very easily. It was a great place to learn about new ideas, and change old ones.”

As Student Body President, Green will act as President of the Student Assembly and the primary student representative to the college administration, as well as chairing an array of college committees and student groups.

He also rows on the Men’s Heavyweight Crew team, and is majoring in computational neuroscience, a special interdisciplinary major that Green designed himself to focus on natural and artificial intelligence.

Although he will not begin his tenure until September, Green is already thinking about implementing changes. He cited plans to upgrade study areas on campus, unite disparate groups on campus and reform the Student Assembly’s funding process.

“I’m really excited,” Green said. “The first thing I want to do is restructure the organization.”

Despite the ambitious agenda for the time-consuming role, Green says he finds no reason to become less involved with his fraternity.

The brotherhood of the New Hampshire Alpha chapter also includes the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Dartmouth, the captain of the Ivy League and Eastern Springs champion lightweight crew team, the president of the a cappella group the Aires, the president of the Mock Trial Society, the former president of the Green Key junior honor society, the chair of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, the director of freshman orientation trips and the leadership of many other Dartmouth student organizations.

Chartered in 1909, New Hampshire Alpha is a society of leaders that was the first to implement successfully the Balanced Man Program, Sigma Phi Epsilon's award-winning leadership development program, and has won many awards for its community service, academic achievement, and overall excellence. Founded in 1901, Sigma Phi Epsilon is the nation’s largest fraternity. Its mission is to develop balanced leaders for the world’s communities.

Notable Dartmouth SigEps include famous children's author Dr. Seuss (Theodore Giesel ’25); Dartmouth trustee and President of Putnam Investment Ed Haldeman ’70; Technology Crossover Ventures cofounder Rick Kimball ’78; Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Major League Baseball Tom Ostertag ’78; Tony-nominee Broadway, film, and television actor David Harbour ’98; the first secretary of defense of the United States, the late James V. Forrestal ’15; and past presidents of the National Fraternity Whitney Eastman ’10 and Bruce Hasenkamp ’60.