Lester Coghill, the assistant director of campus activities and student engagement at University of Maine, will take over as director of Greek Life at Binghamton University on Jan. 2, despite a poor on-campus interview that nearly pushed him out of the running.
Several Greek council presidents on the search committee said Coghill’s interview was the weakest of the three finalists, but Interfraternity Council President Zach Stein, a member of the search committee, said Coghill’s résumé was the strongest.
“I think he’s very qualified for the job,” Stein said. “His interview didn’t go great, but on paper he’s a great candidate.”
Milton Chester, assistant dean of students and the chair of the search committee, declined to comment on Coghill’s performance in the interview or the other search committee members’ criticisms, and merely said Coghill stood out as a the correct candidate.
“It was clear that he was student-centered,” Chester said.
In order for Coghill to be successful, Stein said, he must earn students’ trust before making sweeping changes, something his predecessor, Sunni Solomon, failed to do. Stein criticized Solomon, the former assistant director of Greek Life, for his lack of communication with students, his stubborn resistance to working with them and his readiness to hand out quick, reactive sanctions.
“No one ever wanted to go talk to [Solomon] for fear that whatever they said would be used against them,” Stein said. “He just tried to do too much without the trust of the students.”
But Coghill doesn’t expect sanctions to be a major part of his job; rather, he thinks his role will be similar to his current position at the University of Maine.
“I’m going to be there in more of the advocate role and the office of student conduct is going to dealing with any problems that actually occur in terms of what sanctions might be there,” Coghill said. “[At Maine] I’m kind of here to advocate for the organization and figure out how to overcome [violations] and where they went wrong in terms of where they are supposed to be as an organization.”
Stein said the efforts of April Thompson, the dean of students and Coghill’s direct supervisor who took over many of the director’s responsibilities while the position was vacant, should serve as an example for Coghill.
“Dean Thompson has been Downtown giving out water bottles and sandals. If someone is willing to do that for us, it shows that they are very committed,” Stein said. “He just has to show how committed he is and how trustworthy he is.”
Coghill, for his part, seemed more than willing to venture Downtown and lug around water.
“There really are no time limits to the work … so if that something that is being successful, I will definitely jump in there and take part in that,” he said
Stein said he is glad a candidate was finally chosen and he is eager to begin working with Coghill, although the two have not spoken directly since it was announced that Coghill had the job.
“I’m very optimistic about him coming to work with us students, and I hope he’s not an asshole,” Stein said.