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Hi,
As a founding father myself, I know what you are talking about. We had a 39 FF class, which made us the largest chapter on campus at that time, and even though we were less then half of what you got, we had the exact same problems. First of all, You are right, Beta goes for quantity over quality when starting a chapter. They get the quality by trying to find people from all over campus. Our colony was prided on our races diversity and how we had theatre majors, econ majors, pre-med and english majors all mixed together. We had ALOT of fighting. ALOT of discussion. Five hour chapters about one topic. Alcohol was a huge issue. We wanted to have a party, but others thought it wasnt the image we wanted... while others joined for the social aspect. It was a battle sometimes between Values VS Brotherhood as if they cant go together some how.
But you know what, that comes with the territory. You need these discussions! You need to duke it out (civilized of course). The AO set you up, and the best way to make the best chapter is just get it out all on the table. Eventually we worked it all out, and yeah it was tough. The people that were less committed quit, which was for the best, and the guys who really wanted to work on making AH the best chapter in Beta are still around. Now we are EXTREMELY succesful and we this was only 2 years ago.
So yeah, the AO dicked you over, I agree. They do that. They think they know whats best but the AO is made up of people from the "special" chapters, and they keep it that way. As far as your advisors go, they are volunteers, so really they want what is best. Keep that in mind, but remember, your chapter can tell the advisors 'no' sometimes, and the advisor/chapter relationship is better for it!
But mainly, just suck it up, and stick it out. Remember, part of the undergraduate experience is growing and making yourself a better man, but being a founding father is building and establishing a strong chapter. Both tasks are hard to do at once. My advice: think what is truly valuable for yourself, stick with that, listen to what people have to say and take time to think about it, and THEN choose to reject it or not. Voice your opinion, but allow others to voice theres as well. Try to make positive change, but remember you cant do it all over night, and you know what, you arnt going to win every battle, which is for the best, because its a collective experience.
OK, I SO LECTURED, which i bitched at someone else for doing... but you pushed the right button here
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