[LXA grits]

A Chapter or Colony in "GOOD STANDING" with the General Fraternity has successfully achieved the following Operating Standard (along with others):

Constitution and Statutory Code. Article IV, Section 3-a.

"Membership, Active and associate must be equal in number to the campus average for fraternities, or 40, whichever is smaller, but in no event fewer than 20."

So, at General Assembly, chapters and colonies with a membership of below 20 men are not in "Good Standing." This means they are subject to discipline. That's the answer for all of the "Accept the answer if it's on paper" folks out there.

Now, for my internal reasoning.

I agree with LifeSaver's quote, "It is HQ's belief that a chapter under 20 men is not getting the full Lambda Chi Alpha experience." If your membership is 20, then over half the men are officers, and carrying a workload greater than that of a smooth operating chapter. This means that either the membership will probably be working too hard or too little to keep Lambda Chi afloat on their campus. Don't you think that negatively affects grades/social life/recruitment? As a former ELC that conducted approximately 120 chapter/colony visits over the past 2 years, about 35 of those visits were with chapters with a membership at or under 20 men. HQ has been making a big push to improve the quality of those chapters by providing extra support (individual one-on-one meetings with recruitment coordinators at conferences, extra ELC visits, assistance with monetary/reference campaigns from alumni, campus support for the Greek community, improved communication to encourage year-round recruitment, etc.). Chapters that still have trouble/lack of desire to improve their manpower sometimes need the extra push of "required growth." This can come in the form of Chartering Standards for a colony or probationary terms for a chapter. When these standards/terms aren't met by the chapter/colony it can show an unwillingness to improve in the necessary manner, or perhaps a compromised environment for a Lambda Chi chapter. After appropriate pro-active support has been given to the group by the General Fraternity, it might just be time to force a chapter to improve its condition or be declared inactive.

I've heard a lot of members defend their chapter's low numbers because of many different reasons. The most common are (1) lack of motivation in the membership to recruit, (2) bad campus environment, or (3) a lot of members dropping out.

1) If the membership is lacking motivation to recruit, then they won't recruit with the necessary enthusiasm it takes to motivate a non-member into Associate Membership. Men don't show up at events, the Delta does all the work, and not enough planning goes into the recruitment process. This usually means the chapter hasn't even thought of a year-round recruitment model, and can result in few or no Associates. Through GF discipline, a chapter can be motivated into improving their recruitment model by attending mandatory Recruitment workshops, submitting their yearly recruitment calendar to HQ, sending in Event Planning Forms for all recruitment events, or even submitting monthly reports of their efforts. It could be hard to meet these terms, and a chapter might become upset with mandates, but in the end, the men now understand how to create event calendars, have recruitment skills, Associate more new members, and are motivated to recruit in the future.

2) If a member says, "Our chapter has a hard time getting guys to join, because our campus just isn't good for recruiting," then it's very easy to begin to wonder, then why is Lambda Chi on that campus? Brothers might say, "The college administration hates Greeks," "We have a bad reputation on campus," "IFC doesn't do a thing to help out with rush," or "We've always sucked at recruitment." If that is the case, shouldn't we re-think the effectiveness of having a chapter on that campus? It might be better to use the General Fraternity's efforts at campus environments with positive relationships with Greeks. If a chapter member considers it impossible to stay afloat due to campus environment, he might be right. If there's truly nothing Lambda Chi can do about it, then maybe it's time to close the Zeta and save the men the trouble of dealing with that campus. If, however, a member is solely using environment as an excuse, then ELC evaluations, IFC aid, Greek Advisor meetings, and Recruitment conferences might be able to point the chapter in the right direction. It's better to evaluate the chapter's true purpose on that campus (see the Mission of the Fraternity), rather than solely trying to be "the best fraternity at XYZ University."

3) If membership numbers are low due to many members joining and then becoming inactive before they reach alumni status (i.e. expulsions, transfers, resignations, etc.) then the chapter members need to consider why they are in the fraternity. Most likely the chapter morale is low (which makes it harder to attract someone to the chapter), and the officer core is oftentimes switched around. This makes it difficult to plan an effective recruitment model. So, the chapter can re-think it's effectiveness as a Zeta. If it seems that the membership just isn't having fun, and things aren't organized enough to be enjoyable, then Chapter Management needs to be improved. Setting up brotherhood events can do wonders to improve internal chapter relations. House-cleanups, retreats, all-chapter philanthropies, and Pre-Initiation week all have the opportunity for members to remember that feeling they got on Bid-Day when they received Lambda Chi Alpha. Sometimes, the chapter just needs a little kick in the butt to remember how to act as a brotherly Zeta. After ELC's share ideas, and members discuss proposed events, and "maybe-event-ideas" are tossed around, and nothing is ever done...it makes members bored. Instead, have a happy chapter, and members are less likely to resign or cause disciplinary problems warranting expulsion. The General Fraternity knows this, and sometimes will require a chapter to conduct brotherhood events to improve morale or maybe a membership review to ensure all members are "on-board" with the direction the chapter needs to head. Another way a chapter can be disciplined into improvement.

The end justifies the means? In many cases, YES! If a chapter goes through years and years of struggling numbers, it sucks for each individual (whether they admit it or not), the Greek Community, the General Fraternity, and the would-have-been perspective member. But, then, if a chapter receives discipline, is required to improve, and then begins to turn itself around...it makes for a chapter on the rise. Then the brothers (both on campus and up in Indianapolis) can be happy while enjoying better chapter operations, and getting the true Lambda Chi Alpha experience at XYZ University.

I’d rather see a chapter get disciplinary action for a year (which could lead to improvement), than see a chapter continue to struggle because of no fraternity intervention (which could lead to a dormant Zeta). Unfortunately, sometimes the General Fraternity needs to close a chapter when it doesn’t/can’t/won’t meet Operating Standards. Those are my thoughts on why it is sometimes necessary to discipline a chapter, specifically with low membership. What do you think?