At The Crossroads - My Chapter SUCKS
 

Sorry, this is going to be long.

I'm pretty much at the crossroads at this point.

I love Delta Sigma Phi. Period. I love the ritual, the tradition, the fact that I have bros all over the country. I can basically name every active chapter, and make an effort to talk to Delta Sigs from many chapters.

My chapter, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. I thought things were finally turning around, but this evidently is not the case. We initiated 7 great pledges, but I know we could have gotten more if more people had been involved; 6 people in a chapter of 28 do 95% of the work, while the rest just slack off and don't really believe a fraternity is for anything but partying. We never show any interest in philanthropy, and normally just show up with "enough" people to take part. And some members claim that philanthropy, community service, and many other things that we, as greeks, are obligated to do, is "IFC bullsh*t".

Many of the guys just have this "laid back" attitude, and it doesn't bother them that we're the smallest IFC fraternity, that sororities constantly dog us, and the rest of IFC talks so much smack. And they have every right to say it because everything they say is true: my chapter is apathetic and unproductive. I mean, I have SIX, count em, SIX positions in the house, and I do them all to the best of my ability not because of the chapter, but because I love Delta Sig as a whole. But it's so disheartening when members don't even know anything about the ritual outside the founders, don't really care to set up social events (The one exchange we had this semester was set up by me) nor do ANYTHING ELSE.

Nobody understands that we should be the best chapter we should be because we are representing Delta Sigma Phi; they think representation like cheering and yelling and chanting AND KNOWING THE RITUAL is, well, in their words...."gay".

There's nothing I can do to get these guys to work for anything other than themselves, outside the few guys that actually do care. I'm honestly at the point where I'd rather see my chapter closed than in the state we are in; Gamma Alpha is an insult to Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity and damn near 60 years of tradition at SDSU. I'd rather go to Convention every two years and hang out with guys that actually care about the fraternity than see Gamma Alpha just rot the way it's doing.

I know some of you are in this situation, and giving me any tips on how to boost motivation or production just will not work: I can't get these guys to do anything but party, which we suck at as well.

I mean, there's a reason SAE, Phi Psi and KA all are huge chapters and very popular on campus; yeah, they throw awesome parties (which I wish I could be let into, but because I'm a Delta Sig........), but they also do community service, work on campus, and basically, everything else a Fraternity is SUPPOSED to do.

What makes it even worse is that if we throw ONE, ONE good party, the chapter throws its hands in their like "oh, they know Delta Sig now"......"our prescence is so strong"......It's like they purposely get miopic in order to cloud their own illusions.

I also realize that we have a VERY, VERY, VERY superficial greek system where popularity is picked over presentation (otherwise we'd have gotten philanthropy next Spring instead of the house that DID get it, who even TOLD me they didn't want to do it. But I'm at the end of my rope.

I sat there, one night, and told myself that the rest of the house can go screw themselves; if ONE person had to set up EVERY social event (i.e call the sorority to actually ask), maintain our website, plan EVERY alumni event, AND go to every scholarship meeting (I dropped Greek Week chair), then fine, I'll do it...not because of our chapter, but because I love Tonsor, Boesky, 1899, CCNY, and everything else about Delta Sigma Phi. I'll call every sorority, I'll call all the alumni, I'll do everything I can to make sure we're doing SOMETHING besides sitting on our (collectively) fat asses. I'll be the guy who represents the ideals that one jew and one christian founded back on December 10, 1899.

But on the other hand, why should I keep doing this when I'm not getting ANYTHING out of it? When the rest of frat row thinks we're a joke, when almost every sorority walks by our house during walkaround and doesn't even acknowledge our presence?(Thanks KD and Sigma Kappa BTW, you make my Sunday nights). And most importantly, why should I keep doing this when the rest of Gamma Alpha doesn't share the same passion for this fraternity that I do?

I just really don't know where to go from here. I realize that I shouldn't worry about the other greeks, and that I need to stop bitching, but what else can I say/do when you're the smallest and least popular house, and people keep bullsh*tting themselves into thinking otherwise?

I really don't know where I'm going with this, other than I'm just tired of it all, but I can't leave because I love those three letters just too damn much.

You need to round up chapter alumni, explain the situation, and then plan the course of action. This project should be started by you, since you're the one at wits end, but not led by you. You are to close to the chapter to effectively lead reform. You need to be the "good cop" to the alumni's "bad cop." Also, keep your HQ in the loop. They may know things that are relevant, that may have escaped you.

You cannot be a one man chapter. As terrible as it is to say, if the entire chapter rests soley on you, it is destined to fail either through your sheer exhaustion of the real fact that you will graduate and move on. If by contantly being "johnny on the spot" and taking on so many responsiblities, regardless of your good intentions, you in essence support their apathy. If no one wants to be involved other than the six of you, then you are better in my opinion being a six man alumni org than an active chapter.

Ditto to the advice to seek both alumni and HQ advice and support.

Your dedication and ehtusiasm is well apparent but you cannot, nor should you be expected, to maintain the chapter.

I really don't know where I'm going with this, other than I'm just tired of it all, but I can't leave because I love those three letters just too damn much.

You will never leave your letters...regardless of what you do.

Stan,
Are your alumni and HQ aware of just how bad its getting there? Has a leadership consultant been out to visit the chapter this year? I know when I was on our alumni advisory board and my chapter got like this, the alumni decided to do a reorganization with National HQ. We went from 35 men to 6 overnight, but it was the best thing for the chapter in the long run. I don't think we would be here today if it weren't for that (and we're doing pretty well I might add). I would notify the alumni and get them involved, and I would call HQ and demand a consultant come out ASAP (and preferably with very short notice so the chapter doesn't have time to perpare and gloss things over). I hope this helps, good luck and have a good break!

I don't know much about how fraternities work, but I just have one question: What are some of your brothers doing in your fraternity, if they think it's so "gay?" Why not just go alum instead of bringing the whole chapter's morale down with their negativity?

From being a founding father... this is what I can give you... and i hope it is helpful. Like many have said, I would seek help from your alumni's and national HQ. Maybe your small chapter needs a house cleaning, from what I've heard... i have the exact same passion for my house, and honestly we all should. Also you metioned 5 other guys... utilize them. Have you guys already rushed all of your friends? I stress the importance in informal rush. Maybe you six should start a new wave, a wave of passion for the letters you wear on your chest. You rushed 7 guys this past semester. SO hopefully u have the original 6 plus the new 7 which gives you 13. I know you have a lot of positions but maybe you guys should focus on the major things. Have someone who bleeds your letters be the new member educator, so you have new brothers who share the same passion. Have the e board set the example, and lead by actions. Sounds like you have a few guys who don’t care anymore... maybe they should be deactived or alumnied early. Get them out of the house before they infect the other brothers. Being a small chapter, means everyone person is vital and important. To become strong, it takes strong leadership from the top all the way down. One word of advice that I strongly give you, and if your only willing to listen to one thing from me then this is what I suggest... DONT DO IT ALLOW! You’ll get burned out... trust in the alumni, HQ and the brothers that care.

Good luck....

James

the three W's always works.

I have to agree with rounding up Alumni that want to see the chapter strong.... not relive their "party days". Have them come around and let them see the state of the chapter, hopefully the justified outrage will be a kick in the pants to some of the slackers.

As for IHQ, I would contact them and ask for support, specifically chapter involvement and recruitment. If you can't save the seniors from themselves, hopefully you can minimize the damage to the new guys..... they are the future so if you can set them on the right course you have a great step in saving your chapter.

Have you tried giving up a position or two to one of the new guys who you think is interested and responsible? That could take some pressure of you and allow you to focus on membership standards and involvement. The most important thing to remember is to take baby steps, and raise the bar slowly..... and if that doesn't work i'm sure your IHQ will lower the boom.

All in all good luck!

Re: At The Crossroads - My Chapter SUCKS
 

Ask your national office for advice. And if they ignore you, keep talking to other people until someone listens. If they have to come in and clean house, fine that's acceptable. They'll come in do some interviews, kick out the guys that are bringing the house down, and inject resources to build up the chapter from that point. That is what I recommend. I don't think most bad apples change and if they do you have a short time to spend at college - it's not an eternity. I really do feel for you though and if you want more specific advice, PM me because I ran into several chapters like that and saw them either fold or do better.

-Rudey

Thanks everyone again. I've contacted some alumni, and I think they might be able to help us. Thing is, I don't want them to help us, and they DON'T WANT to help us, unless we help ourselves, and I don't know if the majority of the chapter will rally aorund it.

The only problem is that I don't want to seem like the "traitor"; the guy who ratted everyone out, because I have my own problems that they can throw back at me. The biggest thing is that I complained so much about the chapter that no one takes me seriously anymore, and going to the alumni will just make my status even worse, because should the house be cleaned or whatever, I'm obviously going to be blamed.

There's just problems all over the place that have been decaying since we've rechartered, and I really don't see us changing anything without some type of huge fallout.

Hey man, hang in there.

I think every GLO out there, at some point, has had some kind of "falling out" so to speak. My SAI chapter went through that for a few years, actually. Our membership was tiny(like 7 girls), and I was the one who did ALL THE WORK because our president never did anything she was supposed to do. I was the only one who really cared.

I honestly thought about going inactive, but like you, I just loved everything my GLO stood for and couldn't bear to quit. I chose to hang in there. And we finally recruited some wonderful girls and now our chapter is still small, but very strong because of our dedicated members. Our chapter is growing. We just had a bad few years really.

Maybe if you hang in there too, it'll help. And it might not. But either way, I wish you the best of luck. :)

Crack some eggs and make an omelette. Who gives 2 shytes about how some guys who are screwing things for everyone are feeling. The other option is to get others involved and slowly make it into a 2 man chapter, then 3, 4, and so on. You do that by saying "Hey bill can you help me set up for..." and not "hey bill can you do this." How many more years do you have before you're out of there? I wouldn't just ask alumni because the alumni can only help but they don't run things - your national office does run things.

-Rudey

That's a very good point. The five that actually do care have to utilize the 7 new JAs, cause I know most of them care too, and they're becoming dangerously close to being apathetic as well.

We had a guy from Nationals come visit to investigate an incident that happened before school started, but everyone avoided him, so he never really got to see how we "really" are.

Once we know Nationals is coming, or an alumni is starting to be concerned, it seems like there's some plan of action to BS him and keep him out of the loop till he's gone. The thought is that these guys can't help us.....well, we're obviously not faring better by ourselves.

That's probably why I hate it so much: guys try so hard to NOT do anything and want it to stay that way. They think the way any other house operates is "making clones". As long as we're the Animal House, we're never going to get better.

I have one year left after this Spring (hopefully), and I'd like to see AT LEAST have an exchange with a panhellenic sorority or even pref before I graduate, but apparently anything shirt and tie and requires us to stay sober is "gay".

Hence why I got laughed at when I suggested feeding the homeless one Sunday afternoon.

DeltaSigStan
 

It's 11:45 pm on Christmas Eve, Stan. Your passion and dedication are commendable, so here's an early present for you. Here's how to accomplish what you want to do.
1) Stop complaining to the brothers. Say nothing negative to them about the chapter, about them or anything else. Say only positive, encouraging things no matter how they respond to you.
2) Drop all your offices immediately and become rush chairman. Rush (recruitment) is the key to everything. Who controls membership controls the chapter's destiny. A good rush chairman can literally build his own chapter in his own image. Stay rush chairman. No other offices or responsibilities.
3) Gather around you a corps of true believers. Every chapter has leaders; some lead for bad and some for good. You be a force that inspires others to follow you. Make them your desciples. Seek out men like you and pledge them. Pledge as many as possible and do it all year long. Have two or three classes each semester if you can. Passion counts for a lot, but you have to know what you're doing. Otherwise you're a gerbil in a wheel.
4) Never try to accomplish anything in chapter meeting. In a weak chapter, these meeting are largely where complainers spout off, dampen the enthusiasm of good men, and throw up roadblocks to achievement. JUST GO AHEAD AND DO THINGS. As you are successful, others will back you up. never get in an argument with a loser in chapter meeting. In fact, it's probably not possible but you'd be better off never addressing the chapter at all. Remember, if you are going to be effective you have to go ahead and make decisions. The chapter as it is constituted now will NEVER 'vote' to make the needed changes. Realize that it's not necessary for the chapter to reach a consensus on any of your issues. You don't need to get rid of guys, just go aroud them. You drive ahead. You control the vision. You just have to accomplish this by force of will. Fortunately, as you succeed you will become credible and valuable and more men will follow you.
5) Spend 50% of your time as rush chairman rushing the chapter. I mean, go from room to room talking with brothers individually about the fraternity. Remember what I told you: never be negative and don't trash the brothers or the chapter. It's not that they don't deserve it; it's that negative talk/negative attitude will have results counter to what you want. Talk about your vision and what Delta Sig should be, and how you are going to make that happen. Make them see the big picture that you see. Don't ever cloud that picture with dark talk.
6) If you embrace these things and pursue them with enthusiasm and intelligence, you will succeed. If you decide to move forward, let me know if I can help.
Merry Christmas, Stan. You deserve a good turn.

I agree with Rudey. Start by making it a 2 man chapter, and progress from there. Try getting your JA's in on the action ASAP. Right now they are still riding the wave of motivation and excitement of joining Delta Sig. They will be more eager and willing to volunteer or agree to do things than the already apathetic ones.

Contacting your alumni was a great idea. Many times alumni are more than happy to assist the chapter in activities. Perhaps if some people in positions aren't doing anything at all, an alumni who previously held the position could help out and guide the present position chair.

Congrats on being so proactive and taking the initiative to begin a major (and beneficial) change! :)

Re: DeltaSigStan
 

Firehouse is right. The only thing I'd add is maybe if he can't just became rush chair, that he still rush and become active on the comm. I'm a true believer that often it's numbers that fix things up since they indicate how successful and determined you are.

-Rudey

I want to shed a little light on this subject, I was in a similiar situation like yourself but no where near as drastic as yours, WOW. My situation was that I was in charge of Publications and needed pics and other things from the Historian for our display case each month to make a long story short I'm Historian now and the job will get done. As far as leadership, things were lacking and I felt we weren't getting things done and I was questioning whether or not I should go inactive. Things are better now and I hope that our new President gets the job done, he will he's a cool guy. I was appauled at the fact that your fraternity was that slack and that you hold SIX of the positions in the frat. All I can say is POWER starts at the head meaning the President, if he doesn't show any pride and love in his org and doesn't have HIS ish together then he needs to check his priorities and his dedication to his org. On that note I encourage you to hang in there and continue to do what your doing no matter what's going on. Continue to hold your head up high and rep your frat despite what others say, you lead by example, if they see you doing good in the name of Delta Sigma Phi then hopefully that recognition will rub off and motivate the other brothers to get off their a$$e$ and start working. You joined this org for a reason and if you let that reason die then you wasted you time. Reevaluate your views and talk to the other active brothers and see where they stand on this issue and decide what to. So I hope I've inspired you to keep on going and to do what you have to to turn this situation around. The alumni won't help you unless you help yourself so do what is in your power to make things better. Firehouse was right about rush chair, recruit men who share your vision and mold them into willing, working men who will bring life back to your org. Maybe you should possibly look into running for President as well since you show so much intiative and drive. That's all for now I have more advice if you need it.

Re: DeltaSigStan
 

Whoa, majorly good post!!!!

I think this is the biggest thing. If you can round up the five guys who really care and get them to get the new guys involved and ready to help change things, that automatically cuts your work load in half.

Everybody else has had some really good advice too. I hope things get better for you.

heres my to cents from someone still active in his chapter ( i think a lot fo your alumns am i right?)

#1 i wouldnt tell alumni. They wont really do anything that drastic to help realistically. If you are asking them for help with things that really boil down to heart, which is what im getting, they are not gonna be to happy. also what they think is helping wont really help that much. also, this happened to us when we werent that great, and a bro went and talked to the alumni and he became chastised from the chapter. if u do talk to alumni try to find a younger one in his 20's from your own chapter or another one that it the area. i would suggest also if past presidents of your chapter are in the area, kep them involved as advisors or something cause they are still young and have a lot of heart.

#2 someone said that dont bring it up at chapter meeting. they are definetly right, i would suggest calling off meeting and instead circle up the chairs and have a roundtable where all the brothers sit and talk about the problem, its what we do and i think it actually works

#3 i think that a brotherhood retreat would be an awesome idea. go out in the woods with a keg or whatever, get shit housed and bond for awhile, tell the new ja's stories about the house to get them more amped and bring some love back to the old guys

#4 i personally wouldnt do rush chair, it seems like you got to much stuff on your plate. grab one of your bros you can count on, help him do it and do something really unique for rush in the spring, i cant think of anything right now but you know what i mean. think of what you guys offer that others dont and utilize it.

#5 dont be so down on yourself, theirs been times when ive hated my chapter more than anything and wonder how we ever get anything done, but some how things worked out. Take your twelve guys or whatever it is and put your name out as much as possible, rock in the philanthopies this spring go insane for greek week and put your name on the board


im out

word....
the last thing you want is an alum to step in and do nothing but make your life hell because you ccontacted him. i talked to an alum who is young and a good friend of mine this semester. hw didnt help me in the way i hoped, and there are guys in my house who dont like/trust me anymore....kinda a shitty situation. anyway, everyone here has been giving you good advice. when i get back to sd on sunday hit me up...let mw know if i can help you with anything. i know that the begining of this semester when i would get fed up with the bull shit in my house i would go and party with the guys from IFC exec. it helps to have a social outlet that will help you forget the crap that is stressing you out within your house.

I think everyone's suggestions so far are great. However, I am going to try to give you a slightly simpler route. THere is a fraternity on my campus that is in the SAME EXACT position Delta Sig is in on your campus. However, as far as I know, the guys here don't want to change their status. That said, I'd like to congratulate you on at least seeing there is a problem and being willing to "fix" it. I can understand you're problem with seeing HQ and your alumni about the situation, because some of your brothers may point fingers at you. However, new members are the future to your chapter, and getting guys who are willing to be die hard brothers will be your greatest asset. Usually, fraternities have a few girls that hang out with the guys on a regular basis. If you have a sweetheart, maybe you could enlist her help and any other (trustworthy) girls in finding guys that would be beneficial to the chapter. I know that here a lot of fraternities use the help of girls to recruit. And like someone else said, definately do some informal recruiting. Sometimes formal recruitment just catches the guys that want to join a fraternity for the parties, and informal cuts down on that just a little. In any case, your position is a tough one and I wish you and your chapter all the luck in the world!

Stan,
Man I can understand completely!:(

The old adatage is really true: 90-10! 10 % do and the 90 % dont.:mad:

We have had the same situation and it has drug our Chapter down to almost being at the point taht i would contact hdq and say Hey, we need help there!

Of course, that is a no-no!

A alot depends on Your Alum Base also. Are they willing to coime in and work with you, not tell and dictate like the good old days?
Our group with a lot of dedicated Alums hold a mentoring session each Semester to work with the Chapter. Sometimes it helps and then at times it doesnt. If, it gets so bad, then there can and will be a major problem.

I dont know what actually happened to the SPE Chapter at My School, but just found out recently that Alums and Hdq. people came down and cleaned house! Left them with 3 Actives and 2 new Associates. Moved out of their House.

As much as I hate to think about it, it may jsut Kiill them, but help us, as we are fighting to rebuild. I have also mentioned about a House cleaning. Those that do not pay their bills, out, those that do not keep grades out!

Everyone gets very nervous when I say that!

Maybe it is time for Your Chapter! The Dead wood will do nothing but drag you down! Numbers are not everything!

Bro. all I can do is wish you the best of luck! It does take more than one strong heart to make something work!

If interested, PM me and will give you a Ma Bell Call just to chat and kick stuff around!:)

Do not close all avenues, jsut think about possibiliteis!:cool:

Stan, I don't think this is going to help much, but anyway,
In the time I've lurked/posted here, two things have been apparent to me:
1) Your house has struggled for awhile (which has NOTHING to do with quality, necessarily)
and
2) You love being a Delta Sig. Really though.

There comes a time when you can't do enough. When your house is in a position where things may not get any better or worse, you'll just flounder "in between". I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just telling you I've been there and it would kill me if I knew you walked away thinking your contributions were minimal. Hell, we don't even really know you and we can tell you're a kick ass brother in your house. So please promise us that whenever you do graduate, you'll do it knowing you gave Delt Sig your all.

Another thing I've come to realize is that graduation is not the be all and end all of Greek life. Just look at the board! I'm not sure how popular alumni groups are with guys or Delt Sig, for all I know they could be really GHEY, but with sororities sometimes its better than the college years (from what I've heard.) You know a lot about IFC, you know tons about DSig (the name keeps getting shorter as I post, lol) so how do you know that you won't be an advisor or something once you graduate?? And you might love that even more.

All the suggestions you've received have been great- the purpose of my post was just to keep you from beating yourself up. Props to you for being realistic about the situation and being passionate about something important to you.


And lastly, don't forget- Greek life is crazy. Some reps take YEARS to get over, and some things change overnight. If you absolutely kill in philanthropies, or something else competitive for an entire semester and recruit recruit recruit, you could see results as soon as this April.

Your guys' support has been awesome. I've contacted a local alum from the 80s (when we had damn near 120 guys), and we shared so many of the same sentiments, and I think the spark has been made, and things MIGHT change. The best thing is that he has gone through many of the same things; at the time he joined, the chapter was very small, and his class helped start a reformation that would last until about the mid 90s. He also dealt with the same dumb IFC director. During his time, not only were they the "Animal House", but Delta Sig dominated IFC exec board, did numerous community service, and even created the SDSU Designated Driver program (only for the University to copy the idea the next year).

See, the thing about my devotion is that I don't work within the house because of my chapter. Going to convention, I learned what it REALLY means to be a brother of this fraternity, and I MYSELF feel like I owe it to the 103,649 brothers who came before me. I owe it to the two men who created this brotherhood 104 years ago. I owe it to 54 years of tradition on this campus. So, I gladly oblige to doing my duties as a member of Delta Sigma Phi, not Gamma ALpha chapter. And you're right. I WILL be an advisor. I WILL go to convention every yr it's held, no matter if my chapter exists or not.

But, at the same time, I realize there are more important things I should be worrying about right now, such as school, and well, school, and I'm more aware of what I should be doing right now overall. And right now, the only thing I can do is just have fun when the chapter DOES do things.

Anyways, after today, things seem a lot brighter since I've brought attention to those who know how things SHOULD work. So, let's just hope some good comes out of this semester.

And don't worry the SDSU greeks on this board, my name will totally be kept out of this little "Plan of Action".

Unless the bros come one here, but I'm guessing they probably won't. :)

I'm glad that you found an alumnus who is simpatico with you. Its so much easier to pursue reform with someone else, than to do it alone.

Been in the same boat
 

Stan, first of all I just want to reaffirm to you that this is not a problem unique to your chapter. It is a huge problem with many GLOs. My chapter of Pike for instance, was in a position of having 11 active members. This was before I joined, but I think you may be able to relate to our situation. A year later, through some hard work, our chapter has 21 actives and NOT ONE brother leaving next year. Our only senior is going to become a super senior and hang on for one more year.

As with your chapter, there are a select handful of men who are willing to put forth any sort of effort. This was apparent when I became a brother in Spring 03. Along with my pledge class, most of whom all share my motivation for our chapter, and a few upperclassmen, we have started the change that will turn our chapter around. Like yours, our chapter was the one who used to be great, but became the do-nothing, bad rep fraternity. And with only 4 frat. on campus, image is everything.

There is a theory called the 20/80 ratio. 20% of the people do 80% of the work in most organizations. It has been my effort to disprove this theory. While it was definitely true in my chapter, we began the year with a very serious first chapter meeting. The 7 or 8 of us who had taken leadership postitions basically addressed the chapter in this manner : our way or the high way. We told them what our plan was for the year, presented a well-organized calendar and budget, and setforth guidelines for what our chapter would be this year. Those that objected were asked to leave the chapter room and subsequently go inactive. This was harsh, but the lazy, "in it for the parties" brothers actually got our message and responded.

After years of having no philanthropy or community service projects, we decided to start small. We began the year with our Adopt-a-Highway project and made attendance mandatory. The result was a huge surge in morale for chapter. Just that one event sparked a fire in many of the brothers. Next, we set out to gain a little campus recognition by winning the annual Derby Day(like a field day at the beginning of every year). Although the contest is pretty much a joke (tug-o-war, dizzy bat, mattress races, etc...) we still took first place and instantly the incoming freshman males heard the President anounce "Pi Kappa Alpha" as the winner. That was HUGE. Not only good PR, but it also caused another wave of good morale in the chapter.

My conclusion to this novel: Heed the good advice of the people on here. Take the one's who are willing to show their love for Delta Sigma Phi and use them as examples. Give the remaining guys the ultamatim. *corny metaphor coming up* A good example: Your chapter will become a train next semester. You already have a handful of men who are on board, those that chose not to, will be left behind at their own discretion. No regrets. You take the initiative and make things right. Best of luck to you and your chapter.

Congrats! It sounds like you are on the right track!

[aside] Our Alpha Phi chapter at SDSU is also the Gamma Alpha Chapter [/aside]

Good luck!

I know :D . I was just hanging out with one of them, and my lil bro's big sis is an Alpha Phi.

And I just ran into a Delta Sig from UCLA at the bank

Update

After our 4/20 party, we were put on probation by our nationals, alumni, and the university....TRIPLE SECRET PROBATAION.

With that, we have some sanctions we have to take care of before we're off. The only one I'm concerned about is alcohol on the property. We can't get guys to show up without the promise of booze, so it's hard to say what to do from this point.

On the bright side, we have a new exec board (which includes me) that is very eager to bring in some new, more quality guys. When I say quality, I mean guys that don't just want to drink all day. OUr president is our strongest ever, and he's the most positive about our chapter.

So, on one side, we have an exec board willing to do whatever it takes to make it work. On the other, we have sanctions up the ass that will hinder our operations (Try telling rushees that we can't throw any huge parties for a while).

I'm confident though that we can get some new blood into the house, especially now that the "lets drink and break everything in sight" guys are moving out of the house.

For me, it's hindsight 50/50. When I heard a bro say he'd be proud to know that he was in the house when it got kicked off, and that the ritual is lame, I decided I would stop puting my neck out for this hosue, and only do the duties given to me as secretary, alumni chair, webmaster, and greek week chair. If we lose our charter, I know it WON'T be because I didn't live up to the oath I took; it's the guys who never took the oath seriously.

You may be wondering what these type of guys are doing in my house. Well, they were recruited during our "renegade/let's not do anything the IFC frats do because that's lame" phase. Thank God we're out of that.

We can't kick any guys out, but we certainly can try to get some new guys who want to make a difference. I'm only afraid the party guys will influence them, they'll slack opff when they see how lazy a lot of the guys are, then we're back to square one.

We kid around that this year is our "Farewell Tour". I hope not, but only time will tell.

Thanks everyone for the support. I know you would like us all to be model greeks, but there's only so much one can do.

Why can't you kick these guys out? I know of Sigma Nu chapters who have found themselves in similar situations and decided to "clean house". I know of one chapter that went from 80+ to 17 members and a new President appointed by the House Corporation. Is it for financial reasons that you can't do anything about the types of guys you have?

What I would be doing is trying to get my HQ involved. Maybe get the assistance of a recruitment/expansion guy that has built chapters basically from scratch before. It's an involved process. It sounds like you have the tools. But, in all likelihood, it'll take more than a year to fix your situation. Hopefully, y'all can get the votes to get similar people to yourself on Exec next year and the year after. You've definitely got to avoid a "rebel" Exec getting elected mainly as a result of unpopular things that y'all have done.

Get help. If this may indeed be your farewell tour, you'll need all the help you can get.

We can't kick them out because there's only a handful of guys who care that they break stuff, but they don't care enough to do anything about it.

Our alumni calls it a "code that you guys have where none of you want to do the right thing and only want to do the popular thing." Given my status in the house and new look on life, I alone am not willing to do anything I won't get backed up on. Besides it always comes down to "He's a cool guy, he pays his dues, he drinks with us all the time, why should we get rid of him?"

Despite a core group of guys eager to do things, they still think nationals is out to get us and don't want to cooperate aside from the sanctions. Unfortunately, we're going to have to do this ourselves because everyone thinks we can do it without outside help. Hell, our prez said if we can't help him, he'd do it himself, which I know he can't. No one can.

Besides, if we have stayed at 20-25 the last four years, and haven't been able to get those numbers up despite only graduating four, what will happen if we kick everyone out and we're down to eight? NO ONE would join. That's just SDSU... it's numbers and pretty boyness.

All we need is a good pledge class and I think we'll be fine. Of course, I've heard that before, but I think we need to eliminate the party guys from the actual operations. Thing is, they believe their partying opinions are what keeps this house going.

Stan, Listen To KTSnake
 

If you ask them, your national office will come in and clean house and leave a solid core group behind. The old guys will be placed on alumni status and forbidden to return to the property. They'll bitch but they'll go and in the end they won't care.
Here's how to do it. 1) Go to the school with evidence of your sincerity; 2) go, travel, to your National office and tell them your story and ask for immediate help.
You CANNOT be successful rushing a good class as things stand because the bad guys will not allow it. They don't want to be shown up. The only way they get attention is from bad behavior.
I've done this kind of work for our National. Trust me. Listen to the advice you're getting from KTsnake. Make a move, let National ditch the bad guys, and free yourself to be successful. A chapter of eight good men who want the right things has a much, much better chance of getting a good pledge class than a large chapter poisoned by self-destructive losers.

Our Nationals will be watching us closely, and I'm thinking a house cleaning is eminent. I've been told though that at this point, no one would be kept, and we'd be expelled, not given alumni status, which would suck for me.

I have a feeling we're gonna see more of the Nationals than the guys are gonna want, but I've talked to some of the guys who used to be apathetic, and they realize our backs are against the wall, and even they're confident we'll do well because they think this time, our situation is different.

Our Prez is strong enough to handle the bad influence if we back him up.

Re: Stan, Listen To KTSnake
 

Agreeing with ktsnake and Firehouse. Strong brothers and alumni can encourage a chapter. We can come in and make you believe that impossible is really possible. When you think you have gotten more rushes than you thought you would get, we can push you for more and get you to be stronger. But there is a point where we can't. There is a point where we sorta are old guys coming around to a chapter without much help and nobody wanting to listen.

Be strong and do what you have to do. If you have a bunch of shmucks then cleaning up is the best option.

-Rudey

I can totally understand the fear of cleaning house, that can really hurt a chapter for years. But I also agree that you can't possibly recruit a solid membership with a bunch of lazy asses who bring everyone done and influence others to be lazy too. It's you vs. them in a battle of coolness and you can't win that way because people are naturally apathetic when they think that someone else will take care of it.

I know that you might have tried this already, but have you really analyzed your assets to the chapter? Who do you know? Who are you connected to? What kind of events, besides the usual blow-out parties, can possibly interest your members? I know that this sounds kind of child psychology-oriented, but is there any way to get them involved without realizing that they're actually benefitting the chapter? Like a brother who's an art major who just wants to sit around and watch anime during spirit events could probably help you design some kick-ass banners or even fliers for your parties. Or you could host a party or barbecue at an off-site location or alum's house to benefit your national or local philanthropy? You could also seek a sorority to co-host the party - trust me, if you ask nicely and bring cookies, sororities like to help :-) The key is finding one that isn't all about the rep. and won't see it as a 'social misstep' if they host one little event with you.

I'm glad that you have an active exec board this year, leadership is really important for solid changes, obviously. You will make an AWESOME officer! :)

I attended the FRMT Risk Management College the other day and was able to meet with and speak to one of the Delta Sigma Phi Expansion Coordinators. Maybe he could be of some help to you.

His name is Brett Henry. He can be reached at 317-634-1899 x414
or by e-mail at henery@deltasig.org

Hope this helps!