The new Panhellenic Association and Interfraternity Council leaders say Greek communities are changing at Northwestern and nationwide.

“This is definitely a time of change for the Greek community,” said Phil Ordway, president of IFC.

Ordway and Peggy Yu, president of Panhel, were elected in early February.

Ordway, an Education junior, said he thinks his experience as a former Delta Chi president helped him win.

“That was one of the biggest reasons that I ran,” Ordway said, adding that it has been a few years since an IFC president was a former chapter president.

Yu, a Speech junior, also has experience in the Greek system as a former president of Kappa Alpha Theta. She said her presence as a minority president was “certainly pretty rare,” although she isn’t sure if she was the first.

Yu said she especially likes the office of president because her strength is dealing with vision rather than details.

“As president, you always see the entire picture, the whole picture,” Yu said. “My job is to make sure we’re working together as a cohesive unit.”

Communication will be a focal point for Ordway during his term. He said it is important for chapter presidents and members to know what goes on in IFC, and that this currently is not the case.

Since IFC has met only twice since he took office, Ordway has dealt mainly with executive rather than external issues. He said the vandalism that occurred in the Fraternity Quads during Winter Quarter is not exceptional for the fraternities.

“That kind of thing happens every year,” he said, adding that the issue usually is handled within the fraternity system.

Ordway said he expects to face some issues from outside NU during his term, such as the national trend of fraternities “going dry” because of perpetual problems with alcohol.

As Panhel president, Yu said she will focus on providing the campus with a truer view of NU sororities.

“What frustrates me the most is the misconception,” said Yu, describing what many NU students believe a sorority member should be like. Yu said such stereotypes objectify women.

As the largest organization of women on campus, Yu said the sorority system does “worlds of good” and brings about change because Greek leaders are involved in organizations across campus.

Yu said she and her executive board are working to address the needs of the sororities as they plan events for Spring Quarter and next year.