Whoooeee, can we chill on the personal attacks, both ways? Thanks.
prophet - If a graduate is willing to make a commitment to an organization as serious as the commitment a student makes, I don't have a fundamental problem with that person affiliating with the fraternity.
However, I would personally prefer that the would-be member be actively involved in the life of a particular chapter. We're a national organization, but I think it is the day to day chapter life that gives us the relationships that make the fraternity so important to us. The national organization gives us structure, ways to learn together how to make our chapters stronger, and shared goals and ideals. The chapters are a unique way of bringing those ideas to life, and I agree with you
to the extent that I think that it is important for someone who would join our fraternity because of a love for our cardinal principles (or, before initiation, what they take our ideals to be)
also to spend a few years bringing them to life through
some sort of constant participation in daily life in the chapter. I can't commit to saying that undergraduate membership is the
only way, though I am sure it is the best way.
Mu chapter, my own, is chartered at a small private college of about 1300 students, and has active student membership consistently in the range of 20-30 members. Its constitution and bylaws, consistent with the Constitution and Statutes of Phi Kappa Tau, permit the initiation of non-students, but only if the individual is a member of the faculty or staff of the college. It is an implied requirement that the person be actively involved in chapter development. I don't think it's been done since the mid-1960s, when they initiated a professor who was involved with the house and offered to serve as a faculty advisor. There were no Phi Tau alumni on the faculty at the time. (There is one now, and he's going to retire soon.)
I'm drafting papers in preparation to propose a Graduate Council for Mu Chapter. There is presently no provision for alumni initiation in my draft constitution and by-laws. I thought about it for a while. I don't think I can justify it for the kind of organization it's going to be if it's approved - an organization of mostly far-flung alumni trying to help the house through some changes in campus life (again, it's designed to be directly tied to the chapter). I think it's a lot easier to justify initiation of someone who isn't a college student if that person is actually and closely involved in chapter life, including physical presence. Then, it would make sense to have that person in a graduate council member's role. But like I said, this hasn't come up in my chapter for decades, and I don't expect it to soon.
Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm older and come across someone who I feel would make a wonderful Phi Tau if only he had had the opportunity. I'm only 25. But I still don't think I would feel comfortable presenting a non-student for initation unless he were committing to contribute to the college life in a particular chapter on a close personal basis, and were already doing so at the time of initiation. The commitment to college and chapter is right in our
creed, only one sentence after the commitment to our ideals. Perhaps that also colors how I see this question, and members of other organizations (and our own) might reasonably disagree.
I'm curious to know what prompted your concern on this issue. Feel free to PM me.
________________
Mu Chapter of Phi Kappa Tau
Lawrence University (Appleton, WI)
init. '96, LU '99.