As the school year ends, Billy Molasso finds himself nostalgic about his last recruitment, his last Greek Week and his last year as the assistant director of Student Life.

“If I look at the last five years as a whole, the thing I’m most happy about is that the community has come a long way,” Molasso said. “And I’m happy about that, but I’m also not satisfied, because I think the community still has a lot of distance that they need to go.”

Molasso plans to resign on June 7, partly because of the demand of a 70 to 90-hour work-week. He will be a graduate assistant at MSU for the next two years while working toward his doctoral degree in higher, adult and lifelong education.

Officials said they will look for a replacement, but have not begun a search.

Molasso came to MSU in 1997 as the first coordinator for greek life in 15 years. He keeps files and calendars, plans educational programs and advises students. He also is the adviser of the greek judicial board.

“When I decide to do something, I jump in with two feet first and I fight and I work my tail off to make sure it’s going to happen,” Molasso said.

Greek officials presented his challenge by setting goals to improve academic performance, decrease alcohol abuse and increase the number of house directors. Leaders also wanted to increase membership and diversity levels.

When progress of the greek community was analyzed by the Department of Student Life in 2001, all of the goals were met.

“A lot of the change in the community can be attributed to him,” said international relations junior Paul Hage, president of the Interfraternity Council. “It’ll be sad to see him go.”

But Molasso said it has been a difficult ride.

“No decision that you make or no opinion that you articulate will ever make everybody happy,” he said.

Lee June, vice president of student affairs and services, said Molasso has made some positive overall impacts.

“I think he’s made some valiant efforts,” he said. “But there are still some challenges, and we will continue to work with the greek system on other dimensions.”

From 1997 to 2001, there were 17 membership reviews and four chapter closings because of risk management policy violations. There was one known membership review and one chapter closing from 1993 to 1997.

Molasso also handled the punishment of Pi Kappa Phi members who wore T-shirts to Mason and Abbot halls cafeterias that mocked gay men April 1-2.

“From a personal standpoint, it has probably been the most challenging incident that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” he said. “As a gay man, whenever students that I work with closely engage in behaviors that are inappropriate based on issues of sexuality, it does hit close to home.”

But Molasso said despite occasional problems, he is proud of greek accomplishments.

One of those successes is Greek Week, which has moved from alcohol-centered events held mostly in bars, to completely alcohol-free events on campus. Since the switch, attendance has more than quadrupled.

Chris Braverman, director of Greek Week, said he’s glad he had the opportunity to work with Molasso.

“One of the things he’s had to battle is years and years of tradition,” the general business administration and pre-law senior said. “It’s hard for groups who have been doing something for over 100 years realize that it might not be the correct thing to do. He’s made us see past that.”

Molasso said now it’s the community’s turn to see past those traditions.

“The thing that frustrates me the most is the difficulty in overcoming misconceptions,” he said. “We really are a different community than we were five years ago and my sense is that faculty, staff and other students view us not for who we are but for who they think we are based on popular media, things that happened 20 years ago and based on other campuses.

“We are not other campuses.”

But the greek community still has a long way to go, Molasso said.

“I think that the single biggest piece of advice I would give to students and the person who replaces me is to make decisions based on what’s ethically right as opposed to what may be considered good PR,” he said. “If you always make the right choice based on who you want to be that everything else will take care of itself.”