Fraternity/Sorority Elections & Politics.
 

Just as we're entering the political season of midterm elections leading to the general elections for the presidency, many of our groups will be electing national officers during our upcoming national conventions. I'm interested in finding out how this works in various organiztions.(Two elction cycles ago(ie, two Grand Conclaves ago) a member of my grad chapter ran for national president and I got to see how politics works in my fraternity on a deeper level, from making campaign donations, to seeing how camepaign committee are organized and run, to how back room deals are cut. Interesting to say the least!

Question(s): Can anyone run for national elctive office in your fraternity/sorority? Do they have to be nominated?

Do candidates campaign? How? Do they have campaign funds and committees, and how do they function?

What are the venues in which candidates give speeches or officially articulate their platform?

If they "politic" at convention, how do they go about doing it?

What are salitent structural dynamics and how do they work (ie, are there traditional voting blocs on some organizational level,eg, state, regional,etc)?

Are Greek organizations similar or different in this regards according to council (NPHC, NIC, NPC, NALFO,etc), or is there diversity in this matter period?

LOL, sorry, this isnt a Political Election as We know it In Our Govt.

The Exec, or nown VP Job of LXA was Placed and I applied for it. did not get if as You can see.!:(

As Far if I am reading You correctly, National Officers of LXA are Elected by Members as they are Nominated. There are 2 year terms only for one position.

But, the move up can still keep them envolved.

But, The National Officers are ones who have time and are willing to spend some of their own money to attend Meetings and Events.

Say for example, We have one of the High Grands coming to The Pitt in Ap. for a special occasion, He is not paid out of Fraternity Moneys (OURS). He is spending His time and Money to be there.

Remember, even as an Alum, it is not overly cheap still being a Member is You are so inclined. But, How do You compare that to waht You are doing?

Guess it just Love for Your Organization and The Many Young Members who are there and will become Alums in the future!:)

Hell, I would Love to Work For My International!:cool:

Thanks for the insight! Yes, that's interesting! Clarify please:the VP job you applied for is not one of the national officers, I take it ,but a part of the admin. staff at your IHQ? My emphasis is on national elective officers and the process by which it occurs,and the political dynamics surrounding this process. In my fraternity, our Exec. Dir. is not a member of our Supreme Council (executive board);it's considered a "non-political" position, as opposed to to our elected Grand Officers and DRs(regional directors).

Our tradition is that we have full-blown "campaigns" just as in traditional political elections. Candidates raise money which goes towards travel expenses to district meetings where they give campaign speeches or their representatives do so,and at national convention they have campaign workers, paraphernalia and usually a well-stocked suite to meet and greet, to "press the flesh" of delegates and others to sway some voting delegates before the elections.

Without getting into too much detail, we have a nominating process at which time any voting member may nominate women for International Council positions. An elections committee takes those nominations and determine a ballot. Voting members/chapters are sent ballots with biographical information and vote based on that. There is no campaigning allowed. Our elections are done now (ballots were due today), the new officers are announced in advance of Convention, but are installed at Convention. There are qualifications that candidates must meet. For instance, our International President must have served on our Intermational Council in another position for a term. It ends up being the women who have been very involved and, therefore, their names and faces are well known to the voting membership. It is their dedication to Alpha Gamma Delta that gets them there.

Hmm. I can only answer regarding APO. Our National Bylaws are on-line if you are interesting in seeing that they say.

APO has a National Convention every 2 years, on even years. Our National Officers (Pres, Veep, 6 Program Directors, and 11 Regional Directors) get elected there. Other national-level people are appointed.

Chapters comprise the largest group of votes. While alumni have some vote, its very small (12 regional alumni voting reps vs 350 chapters, each with 2 voting delegates. National offices have votes, but that adds, oh, another dozen or so).

"Question(s): Can anyone run for national elctive office in your fraternity/sorority? Do they have to be nominated?"

Any Brother in good standing can run for office. Several people will many times will 'announce their candidacy' prior to our National Convention. There is a deadline for them to submit biographical information that can be sent out to chapters prior. We do form a nominating committee, but the purpose of such is just to ensure a complete slate of candidates. Additional candidates can (and are) nominated from the floor.

"Do candidates campaign? How? Do they have campaign funds and committees, and how do they function?"

The only campaigning I've seen is posters/fliers & buttons. There are no 'campaign funds', other then to pay for those items. Candidates do come around to the regional groups to speak about themselves and answer questions of the actives.

"What are the venues in which candidates give speeches or officially articulate their platform?"

We have 11 Regions. Several regions come together to hear the candidates speak. This allows the candidate to give speeches AND answer questions.

"If they "politic" at convention, how do they go about doing it?"
What I said above.

"What are salitent structural dynamics and how do they work (ie, are there traditional voting blocs on some organizational level,eg, state, regional,etc)?"

Hmmm. Not really. A region or section may be behind a candidate from that region/section, unless that person isn't liked there.

Hope this helps.

AGDEE-
Thanks! This would seem to subvert some possible "dirty politics" that more open systems have. But there is usually a difference between how the various systems work on an organizational chart and how they work in practice.(I may be making too many assumptions here!) Question: Are there "unofficial" means or dynamics by which groups or entities in your system of elections influence voting, not necessarily illegally? For instance, do your members tend to vote according to regional, chapter or other allegiances as voting blocs?

In my fraternity, traditionally authority structures have tended to be decentralized, with the locus of power and "political allegiences" being on the district level. For us, this is where the political dynamics come into play, I think. You have to have a constitutent base is you want to have a successful candidacy. That starts on the district level. If the district does not endorse ones candidacy, you're not going far. A sign of this is that the district will vote to give funds to you for your run. Noone will respect your candidacy if your district doesn't endorse you.
-Le Loup Garou

Emb021-
Yes, thanks! It's seems similar to our system. With this more open system, is there a competitive atmosphere in APO national elections?
-Wolfman

I don't think so. But as I've never been a voting delegate, I may miss that just viewing from the peanut gallery.

There have been some upsets. Some people take the attitude that whoever is put forth by the nomination committee should be the candidates most likely to get voted in. Doesn't always happen. :)

For many years its been almost standard that someone who become our National Vice President, serve for 2 terms, then run for National President, win, and serve 2 terms. We had a bit of an upset of this a convention or so back when a large group of voting delegates wanted another candidate, made sure said candidate would serve, then nominated from the floor and that person was elected president.

As I noted, a lot depends on the chapter voting delegates. If you aren't well liked by the students, you won't get far or get re-elected.

I won't go into specifics about our methods of officer selection, but suffice to say that when it comes to pursuing an ADPi office, we have a firm "no campaigning" rule. At convention, there were opportunities to meet the candidates at appointed meet and greet opportunities, however.

Thanks for the insight! One reason I'm interested in this across Greek lines b/c I have a thesis about all this: that how we choose our leaders says a lot about how we interact intra-organizationally, reflecting the "cultures" of the groups. I think that, how much we may decry it, we have systems that reflect how we interact. In my Fraternity, the "rough-and-tumble" approach is a part of the way we define brotherhood, more cumbersome and with problems but the comraderie and interaction is more important that efficiency.

Thanks for the input! The info. from members of two women's fraternities in this thread so far have painted a similar picture: a "non political" national election process. I wonder if this is the norm, at least in NPC groups?

This is some pretty deep stuff.