Quote:
Originally posted by 33girl
Actually, yes, it's a great deal of difference.
You were hired specifically for your knowledge of Greek life. You probably have a degree in student affairs in higher ed. If someone asks you a question you can't answer, you defer to their national HQ or NIC/NPC.
I see no evidence that these SARFs will do any of those things. They just seem like the garden variety grad assistant - and that's another thing, these people are still students - except they stick them in Greek houses.
I think what CC means is - for example, our membership program is called Advantage and you have to do certain things to earn the required "Advantage points." If they asked one of these SARFs "will doing a car wash count for Advantage points?" they would not know, unless they were a sister. I would not want a nonsister saying "yes, you can use that" and have the chapter think that was the same as an advisor who was a member. Many groups have very specific things they need to complete and they need to go to members first, not a random grad student.
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Then I guess we're thinking of this differently. Some of these grad students may be working on their Master's in Higher Ed...some may want to be Greek Advisors (or Res Life Coordinators) someday. I can see where this would be valuable experience for them. I can't see how someone who is working on a Master's in Physics would want this to be their assistantship (it would have little benefit for them in their job market). That should play into the selection process. I'm also reading this article (which really doesn't give us all the detailed info...but anyway...) with Eastern Illinois in mind (an AST sister there is working on her Masters and lives in as a Housing Director for 2 fraternities) and thinking that these students would be smart enough to know what questions they can and cannot answer. I'm also thinking that the chapter members would be able to figure that out as well (i.e. the SARF could answer questions about university policy, and maybe FIPG policy if they learned it, but it would be obvious that they wouldn't know org-specific questions).
I guess it all depends on how the program is set up and managed. Could be a great thing...could be a disaster. Guess we'll see...
PsychTau