Cameron Schilling has been a member of Sigma Chi since the fall of his freshman year. He has always been a dedicated member of his fraternity, but this year, he’s moving up to become a leader in the larger greek community.
Schilling, now a junior majoring in biology, was elected University of Minnesota Interfraternity Council president in late December. In this role, he plans to address issues stemming from binge drinking and work more closely with individual greek chapters.
Schilling got his start on the governing body for University fraternities when a former IFC leader, Connor Evarts, recommended he become the IFC’s academic coordinator.
Evarts said he knew Schilling before suggesting him for the role and admired the way he handled authority.
“He weighs all the options before making a decision,” Evarts said. “You can always trust that when he makes a decision, all the different sides [are] addressed.”
As president, Schilling oversees all 29 IFC fraternities at the University. Some of his responsibilities include advocating for the greek community and maintaining relationships between the IFC and all greek organizations on campus.
Last year, Talia Saville was his counterpart as academic coordinator for the Panhellenic Council, the governing body for University sororities. Together, the two created the Gerald D. Rinehart Scholarship in celebration of the former vice provost for student affairs and dean of students.
Saville also moved up to become a president this academic year when she was elected to lead the PHC in December. She said she’s excited to continue working with Schilling.
“Cam is literally my rock — he’s amazing,” Saville said. “He’s exactly what you’d want from a fraternity gentleman.”
Schilling said he wanted to run for IFC president because he wanted to give back to the community that saw him through his time at the University.
“The greek community has given me a lot … of my personal growth and personal experience,” he said. “The highest of highs to the lowest of lows — they’ve all been within greek life.”
Schilling said behavioral issues caused by binge drinking are among his biggest concerns. He hopes to address these issues by raising awareness among members of the greek community.
“Culture change isn’t going to happen overnight; it’s not going to happen within a year,” he said. “We hope education and showing the consequences [will be helpful].”
Evarts said he trusts Schilling to handle behavioral issues fairly for all parties involved.
IFC member development coordinator Max Hendrix was one of two men who ran against Schilling in the IFC election. He said Schilling is one of the best presidents the IFC has had.
“He seems very prepared and organized and ready to take on tasks,” Hendrix said.
Since being elected, Hendrix said, Schilling has begun to create a closer relationship with Arkeo, the greek community’s self-policing group.
One of Schilling’s goals while on the council is to work more closely with PHC, the Multicultural Greek Council and the University community.
Schilling said having greeks live together in the 17th Avenue residence hall will bring fraternities and sororities closer together. He said he also wants to put on an all-greek philanthropy event.
In addition to his broader goals, Schilling wants to help fraternity chapters at an individual level.
“I think we can do a lot more in regards to helping chapters through struggles,” he said. “Whether it be putting on a philanthropy event or internal leadership issues … I’d really like to step up and help individual chapters.”
