Question
 

Do any organizations change Executive Board positions each semester? This means having elections each semester for each position (President, VP, Sec, Treasurer) of the chapter. Our chapter is investigating changing this from holding the position for one year to having it change each semester.

The brother says that Beta Theta Pi does this.

We elected officers every semester in my APO chapter and it worked out OK. Usually, the same people ran for a consecutive term so there was continuity. In my sorority chapter and professional GLO, officers held their positions for a year. That worked out well because there was at least one national convention or training session in their term and they learned so much. If we held elections every semester for those orgs. then the spring president may have missed out.

i must say that is crazy! if you change every semester, you will have a hard time with continuity and goal achivement. if you have someone new come in every 3 months and that person has a different vision or goals for their position than the previous person, how can that office really achieve much if the goals are always changing? It could also lead to members not listening to the ideas of a person b/c they know they will not be around for long, so why change for them if that person may not even be there in a couple months? It's like the lame duck syndrome. one semester is not much time to be effective in an office position and I think it is not a great idea.

Beta may do this at your campus, but they do not at mine.

I remember the Sigma Chis did this when I was in school. I think it's a good idea if you have people who have internships or are graduating in fall instead of spring - that way they can participate.

Ours change yearly, but we utilized committees that changed semesterly. So one semester you might serve on the Spirit Committee and help make posters and banners for general use, and noisemakers for Homecoming, and another semester you might serve the Scholarship Committee and help plan a Professor Dessert and help manage study files/keep the library clean. It was a good way for members to be actively engaged in chapter life, support the officers and learn more about possible leadership positions they might want to pursue.

My chapter elects officers each semester. Some people run for the same office the following semester, others don't. It works out all right.

I think you have to be careful with this. Continuity and training are issues you are going to face if you have semesterly change over. When I joined in Spring 01 we had semester positions and so we were constantly training and by the time people were comfortable with Nat'l reports and their duties, it was election time. Additionally, we would have Seniors graduate and take knowledge with them. After years of frustration and goof ups we made the President a year term, Spring to Spring. That way an out going senior didn't leave us high and dry becuase something wasn't communicated to the new pres. It also made it clear who was responsible during the summer for misc business that came up. Additionally, it took pressure of seniors to not have tons of sorority stuff to worry about when they are looking for jobs/grad school/etc. The chapter has added a couple other positions that are year terms since I graduated. All staff positions are semeter, except when we have a reunion year, then some will be year long. Nat'l wanted us to have all exec be year long, we rebelled, but it has helped general organization for the chapter to have some continuity. The chapter would allow someone to give up a year long position after a semester if it just wasn't working, or they got accepted to study abroad early, etc.

I tend to agree-- I think it takes time to get settled into your position, and that is the advantage of annual officer positions in addition to maintaining continuity. But by having semesterly office transition, you avoid burnout and give more people the opportunity to try out chapter leadership. I guess each GLO does what is best for them and it is a continuing work in progress.

Something we should probably remember when answering this is GC Maxim #1: Boys Are Different Than Girls. :)

If you have a National, I suggest you check with them. It is not a Chapter decission but a higher level!:)