It’s 1 a.m., and Donald Abels is working. He’s not in his office writing up conduct reports or Community Standards actions. He’s helping advise organizations on how to be their best selves.
In the early hours of the morning his colleagues, like Carter Brown, often find him hard at work. “He sends emails at one in the morning. He’s approving events on Saturday at 11 p.m. So, he cares. He’s working a lot and he’s working long hours. He cares a lot about this work, this institution, and the safety of these students,” said Brown.
As Assistant Director of Student Involvement, Brown works closely with Abels on event approval and student organization training. Brown elaborated on the importance of Abels’ position as Director of Greek Life. “[Sewanee] is a community based place and Greek Life is a fabric of social life in a lot of ways. I think [Abels] has made a commitment to do that work because it’s fulfilling and he deeply cares about it. He’s interested in following trends and current events related to Greek Life. He has a network at other places. His office is always open. I think Greek Life in general can be a daunting office to walk into, but that’s certainly not what we want here.”
Some of what makes the Greek Life office appear daunting may be connected with Abels’ tenure at LSU. In an article written by The Purple in 2022, then Editor-in-Chief Amelia Leaphart covered allegations of entrapment that were alleged against Abels at LSU. While Dean of Students Erica Howard confirmed that Abels left LSU in good standing, many others were concerned about Abels being hired at Sewanee.
Abels shared Brown’s concern that students find the Greek Life office as something scary to enter. But, students who work closely with Abels didn’t seem to fear the office (or Abels) at all. Vice President of Recruitment for the Sorority Council Emma Kate Temple (C ‘25) said, “Donald is surprisingly funny. He’s easy to work with. We have a lot of our meetings at Clurg which I think is fun. He’s definitely not scary.”
Abels believes that much of the fear comes from misunderstanding. While he’s involved in Greek Life policies like making membership rosters, reporting members, and educational requirements, he’s uninvolved in the University’s other policies. “Anything else outside of [Greek Life policies], like University policies, event policies, recognized student organization event policies, and The Code of Conduct, I don’t have a role in. I do provide support on the back end though,” he said.
