Like techzbt said, have ritual in a special place. My chapter holds their initiation ceremonies in the chapel on campus. It gives it a whole different feel than doing it in a conference room, or at a sorority house. It's much more open, and has more of a ceremony-type feel to it.

Another thing that they started this past semester is to have at least one business meeting per month in badge attire. The girls would continuously attend meetings in not just jeans, but sweatpants, and they decided that they should look more presentable. If you feel better about yourself, you tend to feel better about what you're doing.

Also, look at recruitment. Who are you recruiting? What are you teaching these students before they even consider joining your organization? Granted, you can't tell them the details about your ritual ceremonies, but you can tell them that they are a part of your organization, and you can inform them of why they are important to you, and to the chapter as a whole.

And when they are pledging your organization, teach them your motto, your creed, etc. and include more values-based education in your new member program. And teach ritual! So few groups do this, yet it is one of the things your organization is based and founded on. It is the one thing that you do, and that future members will do, that your founders once did years and years ago. The same exact thing. That should mean something.

So when your new members see a new ritual, talk to them about it afterwards. Discuss it, even for a few minutes after one of their meetings. Ask them what it meant to them. Ask them if they were nervous, and why. Have them write a short paragraph about why they think it's important.

It shouldn't be a chore to do ritual. It should be something you want to do. Learn about it, teach it, and enjoy it

Along those lines....if you have to wear whites for initiation, once you are in the sorority (I know as a rushee there can be some scrambling to get anything) get ones that are nice. You don't have to look like you are going to a Hollywood premiere, but wear something flattering. I had POS whites as an undergrad so I was never too jazzed about attending white ceremonies.

I wish that the NPC would partner with a company to offer flattering, reasonably priced, ritual-appropriate white clothing. It would solve SO many problems.

This applies to guys too - if you need to wear a suit or a sport coat, get a NICE one, not something from the bargain bin that looks like it belonged to Paul Bunyan and is puke green.

YES!!! I've thought about this too. I even wondered how hard it would be to have them made.

I had a pretty decent dress when I was an undergrad just because of the styles at the time and buying one for rush, but not everyone did and they just had to put stuff together.

I went to an initiation somewhat recently, and while I completely understand why throughout the chapter were wearing what they were wearing, it could had the potential to be so much better for the people being initiated if it weren't quite so random.

Why not have some kind of timeless dresses? (I know that's hard, but they could even be something like the Longwood jumpers*; they are what they are. No one else is going to see you in them.) Or something a lot better, who knows? That could even be passed down in the chapter?

It might even make the occasion better overall if you buy into dress affecting behavior.

*ETA: okay, I'm laughing at myself. No one is going to say "jumpers? OMG, we'll look awesome." But at least there'd be a sense of tradition.

http://www.marianncallais.com/services.htm

I suggest that you and/or your Greek Life Office get this wonderful speaker!

Uh...a little confused here...
 

What?:confused:Is that something each chapter gets to choose to do? Because for us, every chapter meeting is badge attire required, except in cases of Dollar Dress down nights for our local philanthropy...
I'm still fairly new in the group...but I just want to know why this wouldn't be a uniform rule across the board?

If there isn't anything about meeting attire in your national bylaws, it's not uniform. Over the years national bylaws, chapter bylaws and "tradition" tend to get a little mixed up as to which is which.

If you have questions, I would go straight to the source - your procedural handbooks from your HQ.

Um, I am pretty sure that we require 4 business meetings a month to be in pin attire.

When I get home (I'm away right now) tomorrow, I will check my copy of the Constitution and let you guys know.

We always had one PACE meeting (informal) a month, and the rest of the meetings were badge attire.

Ok, Thank-You :) I thought for sure that there was a rule that pertained to this...like you have to have a certain number of business meetings a month(business meetings meaning badge attire) versus months when there are 5 Sundays and we might only have announcements or a paper meeting...

Right, that's what we do as well - 4 BM no matter what, then if there are 5 Sundays we'll throw in a paper meeting, or make up for a snowday or something.

Aaahh! That means something totally different to me! :p

Two of my good friends in college were Phi Mu's and I always had to laugh when I saw "BMs" scheduled on their calendars. I KNOW it stands for Business Meetings, but it's not what I immidiately think of. (my favorite was when one left the other a note on her door whiteboard that said "we have a formal BM tonight").

Honestly, that might even be a national rule that you have to wear badge attire at all meetings. But sometimes, rules and rituals get lost, and you have to revive them. My chapter has started to look more presentable at meetings, but I'm not sure if that's required nationally.

After reviewing our National Handbook, I couldn't find anything...but my edition is kind of old {1990} so I don't know.

We do two things to keep ritual relevant. Firstly, we have something called ritual proficiency. Any member, alumnus or active can learn the ritual and be tested on it so that during a formal ceremony they can be called to take that place. Testing is every few months and it's a nice way to keep brothers active, together and focused on something other than Iota Tappa Keg. It gets to be a competition and its very important in the fraternity. If you get a certain level of ritual proficiency, you get a certificate, and often this happens well after graduation, so alumns get involved.

The other way ritual becomes important is that its spiritual. We have certain signs, tokens, passages, etc used in the ritual. If you are initiated, you learn the value of these metaphors and it means more than the words in the book. It's like at church how if you're not baptized, Holy Communion is a chance for a drink of wine, but a baptized member has a spiritual reaffirmation. To us, ritual means more than a mere chore.

Something else we do is require that respect be shown during the meetings and that there is a traditional method of recognition and transferring of the floor, so it's not like you just stand up or shout across the room. Sometimes things get boisterious, or in a very long meeting we choose to dispense with such pleasantries, but they're a nice touch in a short, efficient meeting.

Thomas