We had a discussion on this topic at the West Central Regional Conference and here were some of our ideas to think about.
We decided that typically the people who participate are the ones who end up being the officers and there tends to be a seperation of the exec board and everyone else. At meetings try to have the exec board sit intermingled with the rest of the chapter so there is not a physical seperation so the non-officers don't feel dominated.
Have your participating memebers go overboard to try and get to know the apathetic members. Call them at home, go out to dinner or coffee. Make them feel important and included individually and outside of the meetings.
Get to know that apethetic members and their interests. Everyone has something that they are interested in and good at so try to find a project where they will excel and feel importance in the chapter. Support their efforts and encourage success in the project.
And lastly I would recomend that you try not to ever classify someone in a way that they would find out. You may know who the "apethics" are, but try not to make them feel singled out. I hope maybe some of these ideas will help.
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Sarah Henderson
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