[DeltAlum]

OK, here's the deal as I see it after being on both sides of the equation.

Nationals and insurance companies don't make a chapter good or bad. Size and geographic location doesn't make a chapter good or bad. The size of the school and whether it is public or private doesn't make a chapter good or bad.

The kind of men and women who are recruited make a chapter good or bad.

But, no matter how good those people are, they can't do it all on their own. Well, for the most part, anyway.

With a relatively small number of local exceptions, Nationals make a chapter stronger by giving it more resources than a local can afford. Those things include lower rates for liability insurance (which is necessary whether you like it or not), better deals on other supplies such as badges, forms, educational materials, etc.

How would you like a world where there were no rules or laws and anyone could run roughshod over your individual rights?

How would you like a world where you were forced to pay top dollar for your own insurance with no opportunity to negotiate lower group rates?

How much more would your badge cost if you had to buy it from a jewler in lots of ten or twenty instead of hundreds?

Would you like to have to provide your own legal representation if a member or chapter gets in trouble?

Do you suppose your advisors and other volunteers would work with you if their personal liability wasn't covered?

Who would organize and pay for division, national and international meetings, leadership seminars, etc.?

What would you really do without alumni support -- in terms of time, treasure and talent as they say (advisors, house corps., etc.)?

Who would be the protector of traditions and history?

How long do you think your organization would last without that support?

How much experience and background do members in the average chapter have in running a business -- and I'm sorry, but running a chapter really is a business with income and expenditures, personnel problems at all.

Do you really think that undergraduates have the knowledge, experience and skill to make a national or international organization work? Do they have the time?

How many undergraduates have the skills and intestinal fortitude to step up to a brother and sister and enforce the rules if he or she is out of line?

By the way, even in the locals mentioned briefly above, don't you suppose there is a cadre of loyal alumni helping the actives work through the problems of keeping a chapter running?

In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about rules and laws and insurance and how to keep our chapters running.

It ain't a perfect world.

How many of your chapters have problems collecting dues, paying bills, keeping the house maintained and things along those lines because there is a weak officer or even one who doesn't really have the time to devote to the job. Someone with great intentions, who just doesn't get it done?

Those are some of the things that Nationals and alumni do for the undergraduate chapters.

Unfortunatley, enforcing the rules and the law are part of that job as well.