Paul Horner of Delta Upsilon was elected president of the Interfraternity Council on Wednesday evening.

Horner said as council president he plans to improve the greek image on campus and improve relations with the University community and future fraternity recruits.

“We need to work cooperatively to further our goals,” Horner said. “I would like to see us become a larger group on campus. Right now, people don’t know what we do. We need to show people we are the leaders on campus.”

The council president is the official spokesman for the board. He is also responsible for building relationships with the city and University on behalf of fraternities.

“The president is responsible for ensuring the success of the council,” outgoing Interfraternity President John Kokkinen said. “Ultimately, they are held accountable for the success or failure of the council.”

The eight-person council, elected to one-year terms, is the governing body of men’s social fraternities at the University.

The council is intended to unite the fraternities and the University through scholarship and community service and maintain fraternity traditions, Kokkinen said.

Recently, the council pushed to increase student involvement, especially from fraternity members, with the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association. The goal is to break down traditionally tense relations between student-tenants and neighborhood residents.

Several fraternity members recently attended a neighborhood association meeting to oppose the historical designation of their

fraternity houses.

Each presidential candidate was given five minutes to articulate his views and plans for the council’s future. Each of the 20 participating fraternities had one voting representative.

The newly elected president will take office Dec. 2.

“The new president will take office in December, but I will be around to make sure things run smoothly for a few months,” Kokkinen said.