This semester, the Office of Campus Life and Student Development launched a new management system for both on-campus and off-campus events.
The Presence App, also called Terrier Hub, has overtaken the planning and execution of both on and off campus events.
Most noticeably impacting the weekends at the Stewart H. Johnson Greek Village, the Presence App allows all campus leaders to take attendance at meetings and events.
“I think it’s especially important for event management and determining who is at what (fraternity) houses at the (Stewart H. Johnson Greek Village),” said Matthew Lopez ‘25, vice president of judicial affairs for the Interfraternity Council.
This tool has had mixed reviews by campus organizations, likely due to the copious amounts of malfunctions in its short time of use.
The Interfraternity Council, Associate Dean of Students Ashley Owen and Eison security team are all aware of the minor technical issues that the app has had.
Wofford’s IT team is working with those who work in campus life to ensure that those issues are resolved.
According to Lopez, all of the fraternities have been cooperating with Wofford IFC and their efforts to utilize the Presence App when entering the Greek Village as well as each individual fraternity house.
Cannon Murray ‘25, member of IFC’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon has seen the impacts of the Presence App at the Greek Village, most notably being the slowness of the lines when entering the Greek Village.
“It’s not their fault that there’s been a slow down, and they’re working very hard to move the lines as fast as they can while keeping everyone safe,” Murray said.
For individual fraternity members, signing in through the Presence App has seen some benefits for them in terms of event management.
“I feel that signing in has been made much more effective in each individual house and it also helps our (sober party members), as they don’t have to write names or even create a guest list,” Murray said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this little number of people who go to another school, which is undoubtedly helpful for us, as there’s less liability walking between our houses.”
James Moon ‘25, an officer on the executive council for Sigma Nu fraternity and also serves as the LEAD chairman, which is Sigma Nu’s membership development program. Additionally, he serves as an IFC delegate.
Given his heavy involvement in fraternity life, Moon was notified about the change in mid-August.
Moon says that he has seen many benefits to the use of the Presence app, including allowing Sigma Nu to be more selective with who they let into their house.
“I like the Presence system because I want to be more strict about letting people in the row and specific houses, and whenever I am an SPM I feel like Presence allows me to command more respect than I used to,” Moon said.
Overall, Murray and Moon believe the Presence app provides many benefits to safety and management of the Greek Village and recognize that these benefits extend beyond just the realm of Greek Life.
“There’s many beneficial aspects to Presence: registering events and finding other organizations’ events has never been easier. It also helps all organizations, not just Greek ones,” Murray said. “All in all I’d say it’s not bad at all. It may just have a few kinks that need working out.”
