Fraternity having problems with "cliques"
 

Hello everyone,

I am the President of a local fraternity. We are currently having problems with members forming "cliques." This is a growing problem because within meetings people are beginning to only agree with members in their "clique" and often arguing to the point of shouting with members in a "different clique." Because of this we are having trouble setting up at events (as members will only show up on time if other members in there "clique" are there on time). My question for anyone who can help is;

"Have you dealt with a problem similar, and how can we solve this problem quickly?"


Any an all help is much appreciated!!!!! :D

First of all, how many actives are in your fraternity? How many men are in a typical pledge class?

No matter where you are, whether it's your fraternity, work, etc. there will always be cliques. From my experience, these cliques start out during pledgeship; if the PC is large then cliques start to form. Your best bet would be to have your Pledge Educator setup brotherhood events to help everyone in the PC get to know each other better. This should help nip the problem in the beginning stages, as pledgeship sets the tone for how the fraternity will operate in the future. Having a large PC adds to the clique problem, as there will be a lot of guys who would only want to hang out with a few of their pledge brothers. Holding the pledge retreats will definitely help out.

Have y'all thought about setting up brotherhood events for the entire active class? These events can range from something small such as going bowling or as large as going on a weekend retreat/camping trip, as well as going over and practicing your ritual so that everyone can hang out with each other and reinforce the true meaning of brotherhood in a fraternity.

Hope this helps.

But doesn't building "pledge class unity" just exacerbate the clique problem?

All the initiated members have a brotherhood event without the pledges. The pledges then have their own brotherhood event where they have an awesome opportunity to form their own clique and complain about how the older members had a brotherhood event without them. Great...

Brotherhood events should include all members, both initiated and pledging.

I don't think so. If a group is very large, events that include all members can be intimidating. Many people come into a GLO having no idea how to work with 5 other people, let alone 50. The purpose of pledge class unity should be to help initiate people into working with a smaller group before they have to wrap their heads around calling everyone their "brother."

The only problem comes if the class stays an impenetrable unit after initiation. It shouldn't, if the bigs of the pledges are doing their job.

I think this is why we see so much, on the sorority side, women wanting to drop 2 weeks after bid day. You can't be BFFs with everyone instantly.

Any time you have a large group of people, in most organizations "cliques" are generally going to form. I think that's where you as president and leader need to step in and make things happen. At my chapter, depending on what we were trying to put together, the president had the last say so, if we couldn't come to an agreement.

I understand what you're saying. Though in my experience large chapters don't often self diagnose a clique problem because they understand that large chapter brotherhood means you can't be close with everyone. (Of course a smaller chapter that has a big recruitment push and doubles in size might self diagnose a clique problem because they can compare.)

In Delta Chi we don't promote activities that encourage "pledge class unity." Of course our rhetoric on the international level isn't always what the chapters are promoting.

I suggest minute to win it games for the fraternity. Pair people into groups that they are not a "clique" in and have them work with each other. This gives them the chance to work with brothers they might not have had a chance to work with before AND it is a great bonding activity. Then, afterwards have a meeting about the definition of Fraternity and what brotherhood is while incorporating how them working together in a group they haven't work in before deminstrates such.