Steering Change with Heart: Erin Lasher's Leadership Journey in Washington State University's Greek Life

Written by Maggie Rasch

Amidst the recent need for transformation at Washington State University’s Greek life, Erin Lasher weaves her day with various roles – mother, breadwinner, advisor, sister, wife – into creating a life that resonates with bravery, leadership, and a profound commitment to change. At the core of WSU’s Center of Fraternity and Sorority Life (CFSL), she acts as a compass to aid the Greek community through difficult times. At home, she is the cornerstone of her family, balancing motherhood with the demands of a career to help shape young minds and well-being. 

Due to the WSU Greek life's reputation of alcohol overconsumption and tragedy, the university sought to rebuild leadership roles to guide students. The WSU CFSL oversees 60 organizations and approximately 10,000 students in Greek life on campus. Advisors from the CFSL work as mentors to support the elected councils of students who lead Greek life: the Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, and Multicultural Council. Lasher, the Assistant Director for the CFSL, acts as a recent addition in 2022 as the primary advisor to the Panhellenic community of 14 sorority chapters. 

“The largest part of my job is focusing on preventative education and risk management for our community,” said Lasher. “It is not a secret, Greek life is a risky lifestyle. My job is to steer them in the right direction.” 

In addition to the Panhellenic Council, Lasher works with six fraternities on campus as an advisor for leadership development, crisis communication, and other various sensitive topics. 

The Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council recently placed a temporary pause on all events with alcohol for Greek life on campus due to an increase in medical calls from substance abuse in March 2024, which brought more attention to the leadership involved with the executive order decision. 

“We make hard decisions as a department, but when it comes to things like the executive order, the elected student councils are making the decisions,” said Lasher. “We just help them execute it.” 

Since Lasher joined the CFSL department, the WSU Panhellenic Council received four national awards for accountability, collaboration, and innovation from the Association of Fraternal Values, which advises all Greek life in the United States. 

“Erin is truly the rock of the Panhellenic Council,” said Avery Marbut, Vice President of Standards and Accountability on the Panhellenic Council. “She always goes above and beyond for us. She is the perfect role model of love kindness and compassion all bundled into one. We wouldn’t be where we are today without her.”

Roots

Lasher grew up in a family that valued high education and a love for small towns. Her father, Mike Lasher, taught at the University of Idaho for many years before her birth before taking the role of deputy Superintendent for the education service district in Pendleton, while her mother, Debra Lasher, worked part-time as a nuclear medicine technologist for cancer patients at the local hospital. 

Lasher grew up in Pendleton, Oregon with her older brother, Alex, and parents, but she was born in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The family moved from one small town to the next for her father’s job. However, Mike and Debra took every chance to travel out of their rodeo town, and offer their children a larger experience than Pendleton could offer. 

Every four years, the Lasher family would travel abroad while taking the children out of school for a month. Lasher recalled her first family vacation in Scandinavia at age seven. 

“Growing up, international travel shifted my brother’s and I’s perspective immensely,” Lasher said. “It was so powerful to get that cultural exposure at such a young age.”

Lasher had visited nine countries including Sweden, Norway, France, and Italy before she entered high school. 

“When we weren’t traveling, we were playing outside or camping,” said Lasher. “I don’t think we ever sat around, we were always doing something.” 

Alex Lasher announced his sexual orientation as homosexual in 2005 during Lasher’s freshman year at Pendleton High School, where conservatism and Christianity were the norm. The Marriage Equality Act surrounding same-sex marriage did not get passed until 2011. 

Both the Lasher children acted as altar servers for their local Catholic Church in 2005, which caused tension in the Lasher household regarding religious beliefs. Debra Lasher practiced Catholicism her entire life, but the local church requested the removal of the Lasher family once the news circulated in the town. 

Classmates often bullied Lasher at school by mocking her brother and vandalizing her locker. 

“In high school, I was so upset with Alex for being flamboyant and essentially himself,” said Lasher, “But as I matured, I quickly realized he was brave and a champion.”

From Rhetoric to Reality

Lasher graduated from Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in speech and rhetoric, with hopes of writing speeches for political campaigns in the future. However, she decided to stay in town for two years as an admissions officer for Linfield.  

Lasher quickly changed career aspirations to a teacher and acquired her substitute teacher’s license from the state. After teaching for a year in Pendleton, she began a job hunt in higher education. 

The College of Idaho offered Lasher an admissions role in 2016, and she moved to Boise, Idaho. Lasher climbed the ladder to the director of student involvement after three years in the admission job, but she would have to also accept the role of COVID-19 coordinator in 2019 for the university. Lasher accepted. 

Lasher oversaw all student organizations including Greek Life as the only employee working for the Office of Student Involvement. While an employee, Lasher also received her master’s in education at a discounted price. 

“I’ve never been so overworked or stressed in my entire life,” said Lasher. “I started getting older and wondering if there were more opportunities similar to this with more than just one-person departments.” 

New Beginnings 

The city also challenged Lasher with a new obstacle – online dating. Seth Elaine asked Lasher on a date in January 2018 through an online dating app after she tested him with a loaded question. 

“He texted me to confirm our plans for the date when I mentioned how I had just got done with the women’s march,” said Lasher. “Depending on his response depicted if I was going to go on this date tonight. He told me ‘That’s awesome!’ and we’ve been together ever since.” 

Elaine and Lashed moved in together a year later, and he proposed to her in 2020 with promises to follow her wherever they went. 

“Seth and I both agreed how great it was to grow up in a small town since he was from a tiny farm town in Idaho,” said Lasher. “We wanted that for our future kids.” 

As a result, the couple packed up their apartment in Boise and drove to Pullman, Washington to begin a new life. 

Lasher began working for Washington State University in 2021 as the assistant director to the conduct office where students are brought to discuss responsibility regarding university standards. Lasher was quickly disappointed by the lack of face-to-face interaction with students since all the meetings were orchestrated on Zoom. 

“I felt disconnected from students when that's always been my bread and butter,” said Lasher. 

Lasher met the director of the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life at WSU, Dan Welter, at his weekly conduct meetings in spring 2022 where he searched for a new panhellenic advisor to oversee the council of sorority women on campus. 

“When I met Erin, I wanted to hire her on the spot,” said Welter. “She was exactly what our department needed.” 

“I felt like I had been waiting for this job my entire life,” said Lasher. “But the same day I found out I got the job, I also found out I was pregnant.” 

Motherhood

Lasher began her dream job as the CFSL advisor while pregnant with her first child. Immediate doubt overwhelmed Lasher as she dreaded telling the news to her new boss. 

“I only ever felt joy for her when she told me,” said Welter. “I was willing to do whatever it took to keep her on my team while she went through her own milestone in life.”

Lasher started working from home in the fall of 2022 due to the physical and mental drain of early pregnancy. She returned to the office in January 2023 until the week before the birth of her daughter, Siena, on April 4th, 2023. Elaine volunteered to stay home with Siena as Lasher continued pursuing her professional career.  

“The new obstacle was fear of missing out from those big moments when you have a kid,” said Lasher. “What if I miss her rolling over for the first time? What if I miss her first steps? I haven’t missed anything and I couldn’t have done it without Seth.” 

Lasher now takes her daughter to daycare on campus every morning to stay close to her in case of emergency or to drop by on lunch breaks. 

“Being a mother will always come first,” said Lasher. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”