Yeah, regional offices is a dream of mine. Imagine having 3-5 full time staffers just servicing chapters in the Northeast? They would know the chapters and their needs.

"they outright didn't like us because of past transgressions well before I was alive"

Don't fool yourself. HQ has and does hold grudges. Even though there is a high turnover rate, the grudges and prejudice get passed down from master to apprentice for many employment generations. People talk and gossip. Someone who has a personal agenda can easily defame a chapter while hanging around the water cooler to compensate...

Of course the ELC wouldn't admit it. That's like asking David Duke to give you a history lesson. (this is not to imply anything racist, simply to illustrate the point that their reasons and answers may be skewed and not unbiased.)

We all should bury the hatchet then. Find someone to put up the money for 255,000 shots of Jamison and we can make a toast.

Yeah, I wish it were that simple. I should have also mentioned that it is a two way street. Some chapters just don't trust HQ as well.

We're all human, it's going to happen.

I generally refrain from quoting entire long posts, but this one deserves it. It seemed to read well at first, then I mowed the lawn and realized someone could copy and paste it into the history books as to why Gamma Zeta failed.

"Umass-Amherst was a little 'unique'."

Every school is unique.

"The recruiter did EVERYTHING in their book (what did you do?), cold called people (did you?), spent days just randomly going up to guys and started talking (did the chapter?), make little cards (did you?), and on and on." On and on what? Nowhere do you say what you or the chapter did. "He did a great job trying to recruit. However, we didn't get a single guy from his 2 weeks trying to recruit."

He did a great job and you didn't get a single guy. What did you do? Just sit there watching him?

"But having a mixture of prissy Long Island guys, stoned out hippie men, Massholes, and kids from Southie Boston, all of whom never had any intention on joining a frat in the first place, is not the group you randomly go up to on their way to class and turn on the southern charm."

At my school in Florida 90% were from the north, 75% were from the northeast, 25% were from Long Island, and our High Alpha was from Southie Boston.This arguement is not the least bit valid.

"About 90% of the people I witnessed him go up to thought he were hitting on them (Umass has a big gay population)."

Oh, so you did just sit there watching him for two weeks.

"It's not HQ's fault."

You got that right. Never on these boards have I seen you take responsibility for your chapter's demise. You're very good on blaming it on everyone else and everything else, however. Blaming a failed recruitment on "Coming out Week" is nothing short of laughable.

"It's almost impossible to apply a generalized theory primarily aimed at campuses of 50-75% greek from the South or Mid-West and apply it to a 2% greek university in the Northeast."

This is a curious statement in view of the fact that LCA (and other GLOs) are doing well at:
Boston
Connecticut
Cornell
Maine
MIT
New Hampshire
Polytechnic
Rensselaer
Worcester

"When I was active, we really never got any "leadership" from HQ. We got orders, rules, books, notices, phone calls, evaluations, and on and on. But we never got LEADERSHIP."

Well, boo-hoo. Leadership comes from WITHIN. Within the chapter, and within you. You can get up and do something, or you can sit on your butts and whine that no one's giving you leadership. It's a bunch of bs.

"We never had anyone outside of our chapter to inspire us."

Double boo-hoo. You poor children. Do you think that other chapters get monthly visits from the entire Grand High Zeta, the executive vp, and the entire staff, who give us all hugs and warm fuzzies? Get real. This is just more nonsensical whining. Inspire your own self.

"Honestly, I don't know what, if anything, could have been done to change that."

I do! Should I spell it out? You could have gotten off your asses and kept your chapter going instead of blaming everyone and everything - except yourselves.

"I'm just telling you how we feel."

Me too.

I suppose now you'll either lay into me for speaking my mind, or say you were just kidding. "Haha, did you think I was serious?" Yes, I think you were serious.

Have a nice weekend.

Standing ovation.

All I can say is WOW.......I have never seen Jono respond like that......Kudos Brother Jono

Pardon the Interruption
 

:::::::::::::applauding from the peanut gallery::::::::::::::::::

I was serious about the 250k shots of Jamie..... Any takers?

Jono, remember what they say about ASSuming. Maybe you could get your head out of your ass and actually read what I posted.

We went along with the LXA recruitment program. It didn't work. We did cold call people. We did go up to random people. We did everything he advised and then some. We went word for word by his playbook. Guess what, generalized LXA recruitment methods DON'T work everywhere.

"This arguement is not the least bit valid."

Oh yes it is. I didn't realize that you actually went to Umass-Amherst and recruited guys. How come you never stopped by the house? I'm sure you knew that our campus was segregated. I'm great that you are able to make sweeping generalizations about the Umass campus considering your unique knowledge of it by going to a school in FLORIDA. Could you tell me something else about the Umass-Amherst experience that I didn't know? I forgot that you actually recruited before on the campus.

I'm sure you knew that fraternities at Amherst have been discriminated against. I'm sure you knew that freshman from day one are brainwashed by the town, administration and upper classman to not join a fraternity. See, it's not just Gamma Zeta that has failed, the entire greek population at Umass has been failing since 1997. I'm sure you knew that Umass-Amherst recently bought and tore down 7 fraternity houses, or that the Town of Amherst recently denied renewing or giving zoning regulations allowing for fraternity/sorority house.

But you are right and I'm wrong. Every single new student at Umass has the intention on joining a frat, they simply forget when they arrive. Because a 30,000 student campus which only has less than 1.5%-2% greek population is just TEEMING with students wanting to go greek. It's just that they never got around to it. That must be it.

I didn't blame the failed recruitment on "Coming Out Week", moron. It was a funny story. Going up to guys at the campus center on sidewalks written in pink chalk advertising gay pride and coming out while saying "Hey there, what's your name? I have something to tell you about". Yes Professor Jono, that didn't freak anyone out or make anyone uncomfortable. Thank you for your knowledge.

I'll take responsibility for my chapter's demise when I am responsible for it. It couldn't have been the town closing down chapter house after chapter house for minor safety violations 3-4 times a semester. It couldnt have been the town forcing us to replace a $500 window because it was an 1/8 of an inch off. It couldn't be because Umass wants to discontinue the greek program. It couldn't be because 3/4 of all fraternities that were there when I was are now gone. Gamma Zeta was the exception, right? It wasn't enough that we had a president fail out of school trying to make the chapter better.

That's great that all those chapters are doing well. You are right, in fact, by your logic, we should have chapters at Tufts, Boston College, Dartmouth, Hampshire College, University of Vermont, Brown, Yale, Southern Conn., William and Mary, Springfield College, Clark, Brandeis, Bentley, Northeastern, Simmons, Saint Joseph, Trinity, Weslyan, Quinnipiac, Keene... Because by your logic, every campus will support a greek system. So how come we don't have chapters at all those places? After all, if MIT can support a chapter, then every campus in New England can support a chapter.

Oh ok, we should inspire ourselves. Got it. Maybe if you actually read my posts you would have found out that we did depend on ourselves. That was my whole point, that some chapters find LEADERSHIP WITHIN, and NOT from HQ.

And Jono, I hope your chapter never closes. And I am going to lay into you. You are absolutely clueless, period. I would never tell you why your chapter is successful or not. Because I wasn't there. You don't know the kind of sacrifices we made to do everything in our power to keep it going.

So to say what you said. Fine. You are right. Chapters only fail because of the membership.

You are right. We did just sit on our asses. You are all knowing.

If you want to say we never did anything, fine. Go fuck yourself.

Have a nice weekend.

Oh yeah, I also love how you are obsessed with me. You need a life. I relate my opinion and experience and here comes Jono, out of the blue to criticize again. Keep it up, but I still won't go out with you.

Well, since I am no longer a MOD, I do want to say to much anymore!

GammaZeta, while you have had many good points at times, there are others who also have good points.

Jono usually hold back and tries to make good points and he usually does as in this case.

IHQ has the best interest at heart as many of us have seen and not as you have seen is the true bigger picture.

You and I have discussed this many times and if I did not settle your ire, then am I at fault?

I think @ 98% want to be positive towards LXA IHQ.

They may not be perfect, but, they are working with a huge amount of Members and with a buget to get us back on track.

We overall have one of the finest programs for working with Zetas.

The realization of lworking with Alumni is becoming more in vouge as it should be as we are the back bone of LXA!

Changes are in the wind and do not come easily!

No Tom, you are right. Jono makes good points, I just love how every "point" he makes comes from the blue and is directed at me or my chapter.

Maybe I should start making some "points".

I forgot that our fraternity is perfect. Well, beside the fact that our own founder was a crook, or the rampart racism within our organization, or the incompetence that plagued our organization for decades, or the fact most other greek organizations don't respect us. There are a lot of points to be made.

I understand that some people hold it against me because I haven't swallowed the "Lambda Chi Kool-Aid".

I guess it boils down to who you are. There are two typs of brothers. There are brothers that Lambda Chi Alpha needs, and there are brothers that need Lambda Chi Alpha.

Brothers that need Lambda Chi Alpha are usually the pathetic, loser in high school and college. They were never able to fit in or develop any social skills. They join LXA in the hopes of becoming part of something, anything. Their identity becomes the fraternity, following every word. They are the sheep that follows the shepard. Unquestioning, willing to go along no matter what. A lemming. They need an organization to form their identity. When someone questions the organization, they take it personally, because they are indirectly being questioned. Many times the only friendship they ever formed was at band camp, or at the chess club, or the Science-Fiction Fair. It is their one chance at becoming something more than what they were. When they do get some power in the frat, it goes to their head. Most of the time, it is the only time in their lives where they have any power or influence.

Then there are the brothers that Lambda Chi Alpha needs, like you and me Tom. Tom, you are a great example of this. We are the leaders. We are the ones that make the image of Lambda Chi Alpha. We don't NEED the brotherhood or the feeling of community. We could get that elsewhere. We join because we WANT to be a part of it, because we agree with what it stands for. Tom, you were already in a local fraternity. You were all set, but you took the initiative to become a Lambda Chi. You never NEEDED Lambda Chi Alpha. LXA would not be around if not for this type. This type is usually more successful, the CEO's, entertainers, leaders and politicians, businessmen that donate a lot of their success to the fraternity. John G. is another great example of this type of leadership. He has experienced so much in life, has gone places most of us never imagined, and doesn't need to be part of an organization. John is a leader. I could have joined any fraternity on campus. I was actually given the choice. After finding out we were $30,000 in debt the brothers suggested I join another fraternity because it was unlikely they would have lasted another semester. I didn't give up because I am a leader.

When your existence is based on belonging, it can be dangerous. When you fail to question what you are following, or why you belong, you fail to look at who you really are. When your self esteem or confidence is based on following blindly and not wondering if something can be improved, you will not go far in life.

If you want to be a sheep, that is your choice. But I will not let the whining of the sheep keep me from doing what is right. We are the good shepards, who make a path for you sheep. If it wasn't for us, you would be a lost flock in the wild, destined to be destroyed.

So be a good sheep. Don't think. Next time our fraternity is almost bankrupt, or is run into the ground, don't come crying to us.

Good theory. But what, exactly, have you done that makes Lambda Chi "need you?"

I'm not saying you haven't, but if you have, tell us about it. All we've read from you is how the cruel fates of school administration, townies, LCAP and IHQ conspired to take your beloved Gamma Zeta away from you.

Stop telling us about your leadership abilities and show us something.

Ottor, I'm not saying there was a conspiracy. It actually happened. Not necessarily by LCAP and IHQ, but definately from the administration and the town. Our chapter worked very, very hard to keep it alive. It simply became too much for a group of 18-21 year olds to continuously fight safety inspectors, town groups and the school.

The town of Amherst does not want fraternities anymore. I read the local paper everyday. There has been a major movement to shut down houses for minor safety code violations (whereas no other private student residence is subject to the same standards) as well as the Planning Board taking away and refusing to give the appropriate zoning approval to improve or build any fraternity house.

Umass does not have on campus greek housing. The new $900 million spending plan just approved for the Amherst campus does not mark any of that money for greek housing. So, at the very least, it will be 20-30 years before on campus greek housing is even considered.

I'm not sure if you are aware of what exactly the town of Amherst is. It is the single most liberal town in America. Think I'm kidding? The selectman have just recently BANNED the displaying of the American flag on telephone or light poles. The United Nations flag flies HIGHER than the American flag on the town common. Umass is holding major rallies against Bush's former chief of staff and Mass. native Andrew Card from speaking at graduation. Our library is named after communist W.E.B DuBois.

John Kerry is too conservative for this town. Hillary Clinton is considered a Bush puppet. That is how liberal this town is.

Now, how do you think a town like this will treat an exclusive men's organization, such as LXA?

I guess I should clarify. It really isn't the exclusive fate of just Gamma Zeta, it is the fate of the ENTIRE greek community at Umass. I can't blame HQ or LCAP, because no matter what happened, the greek community is becoming extinct at UMass. We are dinosaurs.

Lambda Chi needs leaders. They need people to put an image on the fraternity. They need me because I show what can be accomplished. I put a positive face on our organization, just like so many of you.

I have done quite a bit of work for the chapter in the last few years. I have been an alumni leader. I don't feel the need to come on this board everyday though and boast about it, but some members know of my work. If you are an alumni of Gamma Zeta, you know what I have been doing.

I don't brag about what I'm doing. I'm not going for an Order of Merit award, or national recognition, or an article in C and C, or a presentation at some conference. I'm not doing it to spread the good word of LXA, or to promote our well-being and welfare.

I'm doing it because we have some damn good men in Gamma Zeta, some great friends and brothers, that deserve to go to an alumni bbq for once in their lives. I'm doing it because I've met some of my best friends through LXA, and I want to keep those connections alive for all 1,500 of us alumni.

Well, I'm gone till Monday. I know everyone will have a great time without me!

GammaZeta, this sounds very much like no matter what LXA nor any other Greek Organization tries to do, it will be of not use.

As I mentioned to you in PM, I am sure LXA would love to come back to U-Mass, but from the sounds of things and the situation with the Un. and the town, it will not happen. It is sad to say the very least as many Greeks graduate from College and go on to do so many good things.

It is their lose if they cannot get beyond thier noses.:(

A Foto of the Fez