Jenny Levering to leave UNC for Ohio

Jenny Levering will leave her position as assistant dean of students for fraternity and sorority life for a job at Miami University in Ohio, she said Thursday.

She accepted the position of director of the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership at Miami University on Tuesday. Her new role will be the equivalent of a promotion, she said.

“They have a strategic plan to build their fraternity and sorority community to build a model community in the country,” she said.

“They want me to come in and lead those efforts.”

Levering has been the subject of controversy within the Greek community due in part to her role in the aftermath of the death of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity president Courtland Smith last fall.

Levering said she was not looking to leave UNC, but that the job in Oxford, Ohio, was too attractive to pass up.

“This was strictly a professional and personal decision that I made,” she said. “I never felt like I needed to leave UNC.”

Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs, said Levering was not pressured to leave.

“Let me be absolutely clear,” he said. “In no way, shape or form was Jenny’s job in danger. In no way, shape or form was she forced to leave.”

She submitted a letter of resignation to Crisp and interim Associate Dean of Students Jonathan Sauls on Wednesday, she said. Levering notified UNC fraternity and sorority presidents of her plans via e-mail on Thursday.

Levering said she was made aware of the opening at Miami University in July and submitted her resume for consideration then.

She traveled to Ohio to interview for the position three weeks ago, said Scott Walter, vice president of student affairs at Miami University, who hired her.

Walter said the members of the search committee selected her unanimously.

“We can’t wait for her to get here,” he said. “She was everybody’s number one choice.”

Asked whether the university was aware of the controversy surrounding Levering in the past year, Walter said the committee “checked references.” He declined to comment further, saying it was a personnel matter.

Levering said her last day at UNC will be Nov. 5, and her first day at Miami University will be Dec. 1.

Controversy around Levering surrounded differing accounts of her contact with Smith the night of his death, as well as her role monitoring parties.

DKE President Davis Willingham said he wasn’t very surprised by the news because of Levering’s tenuous relationship with some Greek students.

“There has been kind of an embattled history,” he said.

Interfraternity Council President Tucker Piner said some fraternity members might be pleased by Levering’s departure, but that’s because of the nature of her job.

“Jenny has a difficult job,” he said. “She deals with a lot of difficult people. Fraternity guys have big personalities.”

Miami University has a Greek system that is twice the size of UNC’s, but shares key similarities that Walter said will optimize Levering’s transition into the job.

“You’re not going to find a more similar situation than that between Miami and North Carolina in terms of traditions, chapters and number of students,” he said.

The department Levering is slated to lead is broader in scope than her current office, with a greater emphasis on leadership development, an aspect of the job that attracted Levering, she said.

Crisp, who knew about Levering’s application since the summer, said he understands Levering’s decision.

“She had a harder time with this decision than I did for her,” he said. “It’s not just about Greek life anymore.”

Chancellor Holden Thorp, who learned of Levering’s interest in the position a few weeks ago, said the prospect of upward mobility motivated the decision.

“She’s in a position where there’s a lot more rungs above her on the ladder at other universities, so it’s not surprising that she would be looking to move up.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.