From pledge to president
 

We are having elections this week. One of the newly initiated members asked me a question. She asked me if there are any written rules that a new initiate, fresh out of pledging, can run for president. I told her no. Then she asked me are there any unwritten rules. Again, I told her no and said it did not matter as long she has the competence and commitment to be a president. I do think this person is very capable. However, I really wasn't 100% confident of the answer I gave her.

Are there any problems that we can run into if this person becomes president or even run for president?

I think this all depends on the chapter.

For very small chapters it can be hard to have enough experienced members to cover all the offices. The chapter of Delta Sigma Pi that I got initated at was very small, and I (along with a couple of the other people I pledged with) were elected to offices after being initated. Even though none of us (new iniates) were President, we still had an interesting time being accustomed to all the new responsibilities that our new offices entailed because none of us really knew what we were doing! We figured it all out though, and it worked out OK, but..

Being President is a HUGE deal... it takes a lot of time, dedication, and work. IMHO, that particular office is probably better suited for a more experienced member who knows more about the chapter dynamics, responsibilites, and things like that.

D, you're sure that your org. allows recent intiates to run for the office of President?

For those running for AGD chapter president, she has to have already served an office that sits on Executive Council and has to have a minimum number of semesters in the chapter, which makes sense because the President needs to know how EC/Chapter Councils/Rituals go.

Girls who have been around in the chapter know that that office is comparable to that of a part time job. That's why we only get a few girls in the chapter who even WANT to run for that office.

Even if a gal is smart, organized, and determined, etc., I just don't think a person who was freshly initiated could be ready for a big responsibility like that.

We actually have a bylaw (or maybe it's in our constitution) that requires a member be involved with the organization for at least a year before running for certain offices.

The biggest problem I'd see with having a totally new person being in charge of things is that it would probably worsen the divide that usually always exists between newer and older members. You need a leader that can bring those groups together.

I would agree. I believe we have similar rules but I really don't focus on that much so I can't say for sure.

i wouldnt say theres anything wrong, per se, with a new initiate running for office, but there probably is something wrong with a chapter that elects a newly initiated member to such a position. chapter president is a BIG deal...and im not just saying that because im about to be one...you are the chapters link to campus, nationals, graduates, media, and everything else. you are the chapters mouthpiece whenever something goes right or wrong.
i just dont think its a good idea at all to put all of this on someone who has just been initiated and who--if your chapter is anything like mine--was kept in the dark everything about the chapter except the most basic knowledge while pledging

Another spin...
 

Well, I'll share my experience...

I was a Spring COB new member and was initiated in August of the following semester (that's when the new member period was a semester long).

Three months later, when officer elections were coming around I was thinking about putting my name in the hat for an executive office when I was approached by the outgoing President to see what I was thinking. When I told her what office I was thinking about she said, "think higher"... well, there were really only two other offices that were "higher" so I said "Vice President?" She said, "Higher".

I was a little freaked out so we spent the next couple of hours talking about it and she convinced me that it was the right thing to do.

My chapter has many outstanding women and we're always at total, so it wasn't a lack of good candidates or that there's anything wrong with my chapter. I guess the President saw in me what she wanted to help continue what she had done. I guess the rest of the chapter agreeed - I was elected President in November.

Now I will say that it wasn't the easiest thing to do. Being President is a hard job for anyone. I did have a lot of learning and spent most of my Christmas Break reading every officer manual that I could find. My Presidency didn't cause any "divide" in my chapter and I was always fully supported by the chapter. So it can be done.

I will say that it may depend greatly on your new member program. I was never kept in the dark, was allowed to attend every chapter meeting, was invited to go to Panhellenic meetings with our delegate, and was introduced quickly to our chapter advisors. If you are preparing your new members to be contributing members instead of making them do meaningless tasks, then a newly initiated member could do well in a high office.

How newly inititated are we talking?

When I was an advisor, there was a sophmore who was head & shoulders more mature than most of the other ladies, and we pretty much talked her into running for President. She served 2 years, and then went on to Panhellenic office. We had to get a waiver, because she hadn't been on the Exec Board prior to her nomination, but in this case, it was the best decision all around.

I think most GLOs have a stipulation about number of terms or being on the Exec Board, and that rule is there for a reason. It should only be broken in extenuating circumstances, IMHO.

It honestly depends A LOT on the caliber of the person and the size of the chapter (that is, if there's nothing in your bylaws about it). I'd hate to say you have to have someone as president who would be terrible at it when there is someone who would be great, whose only negative is her length of time in the org.

One thing you do have to consider though - is this person going to be happy having a lower office or being "just" a member in subsequent years? Most people work their way up to prez - if you start there, you have no place to go but down. You also have to be careful about too many people taking on offices that are the same age - if it turns into in effect the same 5 people rotating, you are screwed when they graduate and no one else has a clue.

Another factor is the age of the new initiate.

If she is an 18-year-old first-semester student, I'd say it would be unwise (on both her part and the chapter's) to put her in a "senior" office -- president, v.p. frat ed/membership/recruitment. She's barely got her feet wet.

OTOH the new initiate may be a junior who's served in leadership positions in other organizations, on campus or off. Or she may be a non-traditional student whose pre-college life/career included elective office, volunteer service, administering a staff, etc.

AGDAlum

As someone who went from being President to holding no office at all (on purpose, I didn't run for one)... I have to second this. It's HARD. And even though it was my decision to not run for office, I was very resentful at times about my new role.

I really do think it's unwise for someone who has been freshly initiated to be President. As so many have said above... it's like a part-time job. Just the paperwork alone is overwhelming... I think it's best to start in a different office, get used to how the officer system works, and then work up to a larger role.

Like many of the other groups that have posted here, we do have rules that prevent a new initate from holding office. We have two tiers of offices... Lower and Upper, Upper being Exec Board. You have to be initiated at least one semester before running for lower office, and you have to have held a lower office before running for Upper.