MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A new position at West Virginia University meant an advancement for a longtime student life leader.
Corey Farris, dean of students since 2010, became associate vice president and dean of students July 1.
He’s joining WVU President Gordon Gee in pushing for a cultural change on campus. Farris was a frequent spokesperson last fall when a freshman died from alcohol poisoning after a fraternity initiation event. The same semester, at least three Greek life groups faced action by the university or the national organization.
“We’ve got some students that are just bad actors and hooligans. That’s not the behavior that’s becoming of our students nor do we want them on our campus,” Farris acknowledged. “Fortunately, we know that’s not many of our students. It’s just a handful. But they certainly take a lot of our attention.”
Farris oversees the newly-reorganized Office of Greek Life as the associate vice president.
He indicated continued work to fulfill Gee’s mission.
“We will teach leadership skills to our students and our student organizations. We will hold students accountable from day one as we have done in the past. But, we’ll impose maybe stricter sanctions as appropriate,” predicted Farris.
Farris earned a bachelor’s degree from WVU in business administration and a master’s degree in student personnel from Ohio State University. He started his professional career at West Virginia in 1991.
“It’s an honor to those that were in my past and certainly I want to build that legacy for someone else who’s going to follow in my footsteps to see great things that are done that hopefully I’ll have an impact on,” he said.
Aside from Greek life oversight, Farris is responsible for helping manage Student Engagement and Leadership, the Student Government Association, Campus and Community Life, Student Legal Services, the Office of Student Conduct, the Veterans Resource Center, the Daily Athenaeum and WWVU-FM.