|
Quote:
This will be a tough fall for this chapter but I hope it doesn't result in a tough fall. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
And, no other Pikes have seen fit to post so I appreciate and am thoroughly enjoying your company. |
Quote:
Quote:
|
Well...yes.
I still couldn't figure it out so I went back and looked at the front page and saw the little lighted flag. I guess that indicates that there is a recent post. I was a political science and advertising major. We tend to be really good looking but not real bright. |
Quote:
First of all, yikes. Second of all, I am pretty sure most colleges and universities have a minimum number of students required before they will recognize a campus organization. That number for general organizations tends to be between 10-15. Sometimes, in the Greek world, that number is either lower for GLOs or or is waived in the case of culturally-based GLOs. In the case of Pike at Howard, the minimum number that your fraternity requires is WAY TOO HIGH. There is no all-male fraternity at Howard with numbers like that. From what I recall, Howard only requires ten people to recognize an organization. That's all I was saying. Didn't expect you to respond to anything else but the numbers. |
"That's all I was saying. Didn't expect you to respond to anything else but the numbers."
OK. Our national fraternity has an average chapter size of 68; that's the highest of all NIC fraternities. That's our choice and I support it. Other fraternities also make a point of encouraging all their chapters to try to be the largest on campus, or one of the largest. In the IFC culture, it's very difficult to maintain continuity and strength with fewer than 25 members. There are IFC chapters at Ole Miss, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, FSU and Auburn with 200+ members. There are also major schools where the strongest IFC chapters have far fewer. At the University of Virginia, for example, I don't know of any prestige fraternity chapter that has more than 50 members. It's a matter of the campus fraternity culture. As you said (or, somebody said here today) the HBGLOs and the multi-culturals often have very small numbers. You know that their intake process is very different, as is the culture. They generally don't have big houses to maintain, and their competition doesn't have the numbers to overwhelm them. And it should never be discounted that the HBGLOs especially, see their identity and their role very differently than do members of the IFC chapters. I wasn't really aware of this: ("...most colleges and universities have a minimum number of students required before they will recognize a campus organization. That number for general organizations tends to be between 10-15."). It makes sense. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
1. They "shouldn't" have 50 members. If they want to plan out acceptable goals for themselves, that's fine. But as a chapter, you shouldn't be hard on yourself for not having 20+ members more than any other chapter on campus. "Domination" isn't necessary at this point. Evaluate where you are, where you're going, and where you want to be... and establish goals based on that. 2. Getting a good house should not be a priority right now. Getting good members should be. Without brothers, you won't be able to support a super duper fantastic house! 3. Having two pledge classes can work... and sometimes it doesn't. I've seen it go both ways. If you're going to do this, map out a solid plan to make this work. And don't overwhelm yourself! If you think it will be too much work right now, just focus on one class. 4. Greek life isn't about "following the leader". It's about collectively coming up with the best solutions to your problems. Don't just rely on the rush chairman to do everything for you. THAT's how you guarantee that no one else will step up to the plate. 5. Replacing each graduating member with a new member isn't "psycho-babble"... it just makes good sense. Hell, it makes sense to try and recruit two people for every guy who leaves. How else are you going to get above a chapter of 17? I'm not saying that EVERYONE should be recruiting hardcore (some people just aren't good at it), but use your best members to get more good members. 6. PLEASE don't pick a "theme" for your house! This is the worst possible thing that you could do! If you do this, only a fraction of the campus will be interested in looking at your chapter at all. Be as well-rounded as possible! 7. Don't pledge an entire sports team. If it happens, it happens. But don't make this your goal. Because the guys who pledge who aren't on the team will feel left out. Or again, you could be limiting who is looking at your chapter. We had it happen at my school. When I was active, a chapter was down to only 7 members (basically all soccer players) and closed. It was opened again a couple of years later, but at the time they had inadvertently "excluded" most of the campus, and then even the newer soccer players didn't want to join. "Follow one person?".. "There's no such thing as getting better slowly?".. MAKE your alumni get you a house? Um... Really? Quote:
|
""Follow one person?".. "There's no such thing as getting better slowly?".. MAKE your alumni get you a house? Um... Really?"
Yes. Really. No disrespect intended. You're correct that there's no one-size-fits-all solution. But, yes: Give one man the authority and let him lead the chapter to success in rush. If they're down to 17 men and it's not the result of a large graduating class, then it is the result of poor leadership in rush. And yes, fraternities that don't get competitive quickly generally don't get much better. And yes, there are some tasks that the alumni must do; undergrads generally don't know how to secure housing. I don't know anything about Linfield other then remembering that they were a pretty good chapter at one time. So, in the last hour I did some quick itnernet searches and found out more. There are four fraternities at Linfield: Pike, Kappa Sigma, Theta Chi and Delta Psi Delta, the oldest local fraternity in the Northwest still in existence. The original poster - the newly elected Pike president - says that 70% of the new initiates have left the chapter. That's not a good sign. He says that his competiting fraternities "exceed 30 members". That number turns out to be low. He says that the house was condemned, but they are trying to raise money to rennovate. It tuns out that the Linfield Pike alumni have a very active facebook page, and planned an alumni work party at the house for July 17 (don't know how it turned out). They also are appealing for contributions from alumni to rennovate the house; I asume that is in order to "un-condemn" the house. Delta Psi Delta alumni raised enough money through a capital campaign to pay off their house. The chapter photo shows a large chapter, over 40 men. Kappa Sigma owns a house that holds 24 men. The 2010 chapter composite shows 53 members. Can't find out how many members Theta Chi has, but they won a Chapter Excellence Award from their National in Spring, 2010, and members hold the Presidency and vice-presidency of Order of Omega. My Pike chapter needs to grow to competitive size, and on this campus that appears to be 45-55 men. Their alumni seem to be in position to help with the house, and that should be their job. Here's a revealing thumbnail look at the chapter's numbers. Our national magazine publishes chapter membership figures in every quarterly issue. These numbers were reported for Linfield: Summer '10 17 members Spring '10 15 Winter '09 10 Autumn '09 35 Summer '09 33 Spring '09 33 Winter '08 47 Autumn '08 47 This chapter's membership has dropped like a rock. I don't know why it happened, but I know this chapter needs to catch fire and quickly. If they only have 17 members, you cannot count on all of them to be there, especially if morale is a problem in the chapter. They have strong competition that is twice, even three times their size. They need bold action. They need success quickly that will inspire and motivate the members. The alumni Facebook page appears to offer some hope for the house. It's an old chapter; one we do not want to lose. But they have hovered between 10 and 17 members for a year. They cannot survive with those numbers against that competition. |
Quote:
Whatever happened, there is also IMO the possibility that "did you hear Pike HIRED someone to run rush because they're so far in the toilet?" would get scuttlebutted about. And I can't see that being a positive. It's kind of like the equivalent of a struggling chapter of a sorority bringing in members from one of the superduper chapters - which, if you read rush stories on here, doesn't fool rushees for a second. I will say however that O of O offices and national awards don't necessarily mean a chapter is desirable to the STUDENTS on campus. Not a rag on OX there, just saying that it doesn't prove they are doing things the students want - it might just mean they're better at filling out paperwork. |
I think they've had that house for a long time. From reading their alumni facebook, my guess is that it's "condemned" but it can be fixed up to be in compliance.
We can always find a reason to not do something, like paying one of the members to make rush his job for a semester. But, its obvious the guys have to do something or they're going to die. On a small campus there are few secrets. The other fraternities will probably know what the Pikes are doing. But, what does it matter if they're successful? It's going to be tough enough to re-build as it is. Might as well go all out. And, there are worse things than the chapter dying. If they remain barely alive at 10-17 members and degenerate into the permanent campus bottom-feeder, that is worse. They had 47 memebrs just two years ago so their general chapter psychology might still be OK. They might still think of themselves as a good fraternity with a low membership crisis. You can work with that. What you cannot turn around is the small chapter that has been bad for so long that they fanticize their weakness as a virtue. If this chapter is going to make a run at success it's going to have to happen quickly. The good news is thay can probably do it with the right help. |
I agree with Firehouse.
It's not as 'shocking' to some of us who have seen Rush Chairmen spent an extraordinary amount of time rushing new members. To have them paid, whether by a commission level, or by expenses and free summer lodging does make sense. As a parent, it would not be appalling to me in the least if the Rush Chair was compensated because it is a job! In fact I can think of several rush chairs who listed what they did on their resumes for job hunting when they graduated. The only thing I can add is that PikesOnce might want to also concentrate on the area's Alumni as well as look at why the trend is going downward. The Area Alumni are important as they are a source of legacies as well as other recruits and resources for the chapter. I'd stress that heavy. PikeOnce can get a list of the alumni in the area from National, and he can also ask National to send a Chapter Consultant to help. As for the Howard discussion, I share Firehouse's view. I also did not agree with the colony simply because it was not a fit nor did it show a possibility of sustaining growth. It always puzzled me that Howard would even allow the colony. |
Quote:
I also disagree with paying members to bring in new members. Membership is a privilege and having a role in bringing in new members is a privilege. I know all about membership intake as a fulltime job both as a collegiate and as an alumnae. But, it is a fulltime unpaid job, most of it voluntary (even when based on necessity), that is part of the privilege and hardwork of being a member. I don't think we should get paid by our chapters unless it is an organizational policy to do so. If people want to get paid for such things, they need to apply to work for their local/regional/district/national offices of their GLO. They accept applicants. |
Quote:
|
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:10 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.