What do you do when a Brother makes a mistake?
 

I was wondering, theoretically....

What would your Chapter do to a brother/sister that has stole money? and lots of it?

I found out that a Sorority's treasurer stole $300 dollars and was pretty much kicked out. Is that the right thing to do? or is there a better alternative? In another situation, another Sorority treasurer spent over $10,000 on clothes and accessories. On my campus, a certain Frat's eboard was caught in a money laundering and drug trafficking case. What would your organization, chapter, or nationals do to the brother/sister? Please be specific, if possible? Thanks.

A mistake is misspelling the chapter president's name in chapter documents.

Stealing $300 is not a mistake. It is a crime. Kick his sorry a** out and call the district attorneys office to file criminal charges.

Also, get him officially expelled by your National.

Cosign. If we can stand for anything, we can stand for the proposition that stealing is bad. It's just never justified.

Also, take some steps to protect yourself. Require that all checks be signed by at least two officers, require that the treasurer fully disclose all activity in the fraternity accounts each week to the eboard, and for God's sake, never deal in cash -- never take dues in cash, never pay anyone in cash. Create a situation where it'd be impossible to cover up theft and theft will not happen.

In addition to what LaneSig said, I'd initiate civil proceedings against the guy to get the money back.

This is why I love Billhighway. I get access to all of my chapters' accounts and can view all the cash in and cash out. And checks can't be printed unless they're signed by two officers.

I was shocked to learn in a Risk Management workshop I recently attended, that (at least in my org) money problems is the number one RM issue. I don't think students should be treasurers, I think it is something advisors or student life should take care of.

It depends on what you think the purpose of your organization is. I'm personally grateful for having been able to serve as treasurer. It wasn't much fun at the time, but for me and anyone else who served as a treasurer (and didn't steal), it's always a great experience -- hounding people for dues and basically being solely responsible for the financial success of your organization.

With appropriate oversight from the executive board, the membership and alumni as well as by adopting certain accounting practices, a lot of theft issues can be averted.

Having a treasurer is part of the fraternal experience. It's an opportunity for collegiates to get a little taste of what it's like to run a business.

I totally agree. As a member of an advisory board where everyone lives at least an hour from campus, we can't be responsible for the day to day expenses. What we can do, however, is look over the budget carefully, email and phone a great deal, and expect the same from our treasurer.

Perhaps even more important is what occurs during elections. We discuss the position of treasurer a great deal and make sure the sisters understand the expectations. They always seem to choose a sister who is perfect to be treasurer--very attentive to detail, above reproach in respect to values and ethics, and who has a good mind for business and math.

Plus, we take major steps to avoid problems--like the others have said, no cash, two signatures on checks, all reimbursements must have the proper paperwork completed (and must have itemized receipts!!), and every exec board member and her advisor looks over the budget very very carefully.

There was a running joke during my UG days that the newly-elected treasurer always seemed to get a new car shortly after taking office. Nothing hinky happened (it was strictly a timing thing), but we always kept a close eye on our checkbook.

If someone's stealing from the chapter, they s/b prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and automatically bumped to alum-in-bad-standing status. There's no place for this sort of activity in a GLO (or any other organization, for that matter).

That's the problem. There isn't always one of those. And sometimes there is, but he/she doesn't want the responsibility.

Well, in that unfortunate case, our financial advisor would have to step in and work more closely with that sister. If the financial advisor was unable to do so, I guess another advisor would. Luckily, the girls also work with a CPA, so that person would probably notice (I hope!?!) if something majorly shady was going on.

I've heard the examples of what a mistake is, and how stealing isn't a mistake... it's a crime.

I brought this up because like someone above me said, it's actually a big problem. Who knows how often it happens? The main issue I was wondering is... how do you deal with that person?

My philosophy of a brotherhood/sisterhood is to make them better people. By kicking them out, you never really showed that unconditional love. I thought a better resolution would be to educate that person on why it is wrong and how much they've hurt the fraternity/sorority and its individual members. Lastly, I'll give a strong, but reasonable, sentence to that person. Does anyone feel this is to idealistic of a process?

Thanks for all the replies.

You should call them on it and get your advisor (or Alum) to take the proper procedures to have him removed from your fraternity. That is NOT cool AT ALL!! I'm sure your Alums can point you in the right direction.

Great minds think alike.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the sorority treasurer who stole $300 is a friend or your girlfriend.

Dude, she stole money that wasn't hers. If the WORST thing that happens to her is that she gets kicked out of her sorority, she's pretty lucky. If she did this at her job, she might be facing jail time.

Actually, no. I'm sure at some point, you've heard that fraternal operations, before anything else, are businesses. Businesses do not tolerate theft.

If someone does not know that stealing is wrong, I'm afraid that they're well beyond the help of mortal man. They are ethically flawed. The only hope for this person is that their bad behavior lead to some real consequences -- painful ones. Otherwise, the only lesson you teach is that they'd better be more careful next time so as to not get caught.

In this case, in my opinion, you have to look out for the whole before you can look out for the parts. This person betrayed the trust of your organization in just about the worst way possible. The only way for you to respond is by booting them, getting the money back. If you want to be fraternal, fine, don't report them to the D.A.

Are you being too idealistic? Nope. An idealistic person would realize that the only way to remain true to their organization's values would be to get rid of this person.

If you feel like you don't want to be the "bad guy" here, perhaps you should convene a committee to decide the issue, so that the whole process looks a little more impartial?

No haha, it is not my girlfriend.

I was just asking with no one in mind. :) I just wanted to know how other organizations and its leaders would deal with such a problem. Is it safe to say that the right decision is a decision made altogether by a whole group (no matter what the penalty is)?

Thanks for everyone's concerns. This didn't necessarily happen in my organization. I just wanted to know what others thought.

There has to be a reason that you asked and I would say not so hypothetical.;)

But what it boils down to stealing from your fellow members.

Granted, everyone has a tough time but, they are still either your Brothers/Sisters and it short shrifts them and the chapter.

Stealing that kind of money is a felony and a hardship on all of the others.:mad:

LOL 33girl.

Jaynu, I generally support the other comments posted here- but wanted to address your question about being supportive and trying to change the person who stole the money in the scenario you presented.

The reason rush is so important is that a chapter of a GLO can make a positive impact in a person's life- but that person has to come into the chapter with a certain basic set of acceptable values and maturity to begin with. We don't create good people, we just provide an avenue for them to better themselves.

The same holds true in a corporate setting. A great company can do great things for employees long term- but again, those employees have to bring certain basic values to the table.

This all goes to trust. As Kevin pointed out- you have to let a chapter have a Treasurer who is an active and who runs the money. At Beta, self-governance is one of our key principles. There is no reason for a Beta chapter to exist if it does not provide its active members with an opportunity to lead and take charge of the chapter's management.

To steal money from the chapter violates that basic trust- just as it would in a corporate setting. It destroys the foundation on which the entire organization can function, and an organization cannot function if it is populated with people who cannot be trusted at all to support and care for the very organization that provides so much for them individually.

Consider these two different scenarios,

1. Fraternity member goes out one night, gets drunk with his friends and breaks a picture window at the house of a rival chapter. It will cost $250 to repair the window.

2. Fraternity member steals $250 from his own chapter.

In the eyes of the law, though the specific laws broken vary, this guy is on the hook to someone for $250 for actual damages. Leaving aside everything else- these two scenarios are the same from the very pure moral perspective of "theft".

But if you were that person, which one would you rather do? Which one would you rather be accused of?

Let's say you have $250 and we are in scenario 1 above. You pay the other fraternity to fix the window and life goes on because we all know that kids sometimes get drunk and do foolish things. Some people may be a little more leery of you in future, but for the most part this is forgivable as a youthful indiscretion.

Let's say you have $250 and we are in scenario 2 above. You go to chapter meeting after the theft is discovered, and pay back the money. As in the above outcome, the "victim" has received full restitution- but how would anyone in that chapter ever trust you again?

The difference in the intent and what is suggested about the general moral character of the perpetrator in these two different scenarios is huge even though the actual damages are the same.

That is why the person in your scenario should be thrown out. And in my capacity as a financial advisor to my chapter I would not only see to the member's expulsion, but- provided I got clearance from the chapter's legal advisor- I would notify the University as well that one of its students had stolen from a student organization. There are too many people working their tails off to get into a good college to let a criminal in the making take a precious spot on the student rolls.

As for preventing this, I just do a monthly bank reconciliation. Takes about 30 minutes each month. I make sure all the checks written and cashed were for appropriate purposes, and I also compare the list of dues collected to the deposits in the bank. I would probably miss a $20 indiscretion, but I follow up with guys late on their dues- so I would catch any significant theft pretty fast.

^^^^^^Very well said, presented and posted.

you would throw out someone over $250? wow, thats brotherhood

My Fraternity preaches Family > Organization. If this were to happen to us, as it has been done to many of the orgs on campus (except it has recently been put in the public eye), then while I would want that person kicked out, the more acceptable "punishment" is education. Find out what is wrong with the Brother and see if there's anything the Fraternity can do to help him. If not, then he would probably kick himself out the Fraternity.


EE-BO, great post. Thanks a lot. Hrrrm, I'm still a little bothered by this issue but it's good to see how other organizations would deal with it.

Agreed. I work to pay my dues and my chapter has a lot of fundraisers to make ends meet. If a sister stole from the chapter, she would be betraying our trust in her and our sisterhood, period. I would have absolutely no regrets about reporting that.

Every organization teaches brotherhood.

How are you going to "educate" someone not to be a thief? What education do you think they need? Do you think they thought it was okay?

I am pretty "turn the other cheek" about a lot of things, but I am fiercely protective of my sorority's assets. I have zero tolerance about someone stealing from my sisters. We budget carefully so we can keep our dues as low as possible, and that money has to stretch a long way. If a member decides to steal from us, I believe they are making a parallel decision to give up their membership. :mad:

I think the case is variable. If he repays the money immediately, I would say that the person should be suspended for a certain amount of time, while still paying dues. And that the person should be required to complete a certain amount of community service hours, and contribute a certain amount of money to charity. Then when he's met those conditions, allow him to come back on a probationary state that requires him to show up to social functions but on the condition that he watches the door, whatever "jobs" you're officers are required to do. (except collect money for any reason) then eventually allow him full status that disallows him from being in any leadership positions and on the status that if he violates constitution by-laws or rules again, he's hitting the door for good.

I just reread the OP's request for specific information so I am posting again.

Omega Phi Alpha has provisions in our national constitution to strip membership privileges of members who break the law. It's up to the national board whether to prosecute or not. Unfortunately, when we were faced with this situation in the past we lost no time in revoking the membership of the person who stole from us. What's more, we did everything we could to help the district attorney prepare his case for prosecution... which he won easily.

You say that, but for small chapter whose operating budget doesn't even touch $7,500, $250 can go a long way. But, when talking about brotherhood, I wouldn't want to be associated with a "brotherhood" where theft is condoned.

$250 isn't that big of a deal. Spending a little money on himself is part of the benefit of being treasurer as long as it doesn't get out of control (no, I have never been treasurer, that's how a lot of houses I know treat it though). Occasionally drop the house card on a bar tab, no big deal, just buy me some drinks on it too!

I guess it may be different when you're dealing with a house whose semester budget is about $400k (like it is here) then with small chapters though. We have about 160 active with over $2,000 in dues a semester, so a few hundred here and there really doesn't hurt anything and it might as well be in the budget because you just kind of assume it will happen.

CrackerBarrel;
You seem to either be changing topic of OP or mis-understanding it.
Theft is stealing, not "business use".
OP seems, to me at least, stating that the person used monies for their own use rather than for the house or Brotherhood.

I'm not saying that he used it for brothers stuff. The chapters I'm familiar with it's just kind of assumed that the treasurer uses a little bit of money for personal use. I was saying, not for socials or anything, just at the bar if he throws down the house card the brothers he's with will generally expect a drink or two off of it as well though.

CrackerBarrel;
Do you see any major difference between the above OP and yours below?

I really doubt this is true. Are there many members of elite chapters who don't have their parents picking up their bar tabs? Any members?

I pay my own bar tabs. My parents pay the fraternity bill though, so I think I come out ahead on that one.


And Jon, I see the difference between houses that are buying drugs with the money, but other than that, no. I imagine our treasurer probably spends between $1,000 and $2,000 for personal stuff on the house card. We don't care as long as they don't spend a ridiculous amount. Treasurer is a horrible and hard job to have to do and if that perk motivates someone to do it, so be it. The only difference is in how we react compared to how the sororities in the OP reacted.

Interesting POV.
From my experience: House business is/was always separate from personal.
In my experience: Once the two do get mixed, it turns into a down-ward slope.

If you think treasurer is such a horrid job (and it is) why don't you put something in the bylaws that in effect pays him a salary?* Seriously man, just letting it go like that - sooner or later, you're going to get someone in that office who bleeds you dry.

*I am not saying this in a disparaging manner at all - I think we actually had a thread on here saying this was a good idea since it's such a time consuming and sucky job. Especially for a huge chapter. Especially a huge chapter with dudes.

^^^Very good observation and point.

I dunno what it is, but it's a salaried position as well. I think it pays the same as our president, but is a much harder job than president. I dunno, we always seem to have money to do whatever we're trying to do, so I don't worry about it. Probably not the smartest idea, but we know that we've paid the same for a while, we do the same things every semester, we've always been able to pay for them before, if we can't the problem is pretty easy to pinpoint.

So the treasurer not only gets paid but he gets to pocket some of the Brothers monies as well:confused::eek:
Some places call that kind of action embezzlement.
Or, as pointed out in other posts, can lead to it.