Younger Members

[miller11386]

Hello everyone!

I have looked to this forum for ideas before, and hopefully someone can help me out now.

I am a member of Lone Star Fraternity at the University of Akron. We have been a local chapter for over 125 years. (since 1882)

Our chapter has always been about bonding and being a close knit group of guys.

we have found it to be very difficult in the past few years to recruit members. Many of my brothers attribute this to the "i don't want to pay for my friends" idea that has been projected through mass media. The other portion just seem to "not be interested" or just don's see any benefit.

We set up a "meet and greet" BBQ, but were not impressed by the number of new members we got from that event.

I am determined to get us heavily involved in Greek life, but I fear it could be too little, too late. We already have a core group that are mostly over 21.

I guess my question is, How do we attract younger members? How do you advertise in the dorms?

Any tips are greatly appreciated

[33girl]

Do you have any members who are RAs?

Does your campus have any sort of mentoring program for freshmen? If so, brothers need to get involved in it.

Are there still members living on campus, or has everyone moved off campus? If it's the latter, make sure your members are seen on campus - at the dining hall, student center, library, whatever. I know that when people get older too often it becomes "off campus house, building where I have all classes in my major, bar" and you're not walking around campus a lot.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Do you have any members who are RAs?

Does your campus have any sort of mentoring program for freshmen? If so, brothers need to get involved in it.

Are there still members living on campus, or has everyone moved off campus? If it's the latter, make sure your members are seen on campus - at the dining hall, student center, library, whatever. I know that when people get older too often it becomes "off campus house, building where I have all classes in my major, bar" and you're not walking around campus a lot.

Co-sign.

Aside from just being seen, you also want to make sure your members are involved. Branch out to groups outside of Greek life -- Student Government, Student Programming, etc.

My university also has a Freshman Move-In Day about a week before school begins. Members of different organizations (including GLOs) assist families with moving belongings into the dorms. Doing something like this makes you the first thing the freshman sees while also leaving a good impression with the parents (who are often reasons why people don't join GLOs).

Also, be seen at the different campus events. Sporting events and university traditions (ex. my campus has mud volleyball and "Bedraces" each year) typically have high freshman attendance, so being at events like this will help market your organization.

Hope this helps.

[miller11386]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Co-sign.

Aside from just being seen, you also want to make sure your members are involved. Branch out to groups outside of Greek life -- Student Government, Student Programming, etc.

My university also has a Freshman Move-In Day about a week before school begins. Members of different organizations (including GLOs) assist families with moving belongings into the dorms. Doing something like this makes you the first thing the freshman sees while also leaving a good impression with the parents (who are often reasons why people don't join GLOs).

Also, be seen at the different campus events. Sporting events and university traditions (ex. my campus has mud volleyball and "Bedraces" each year) typically have high freshman attendance, so being at events like this will help market your organization.

Hope this helps.

Yes we also have a freshman move in day that we participate in every year. Although, other than talking to some of the kids that we move in, we are not allowed to apporach them about joining during this period. Approx 5,000 move in and usually we are comissioned to help the ladies move their stuff rather than the young men we are looking to have join.

I have been pushing for more of a campus involvement, and wearing shirts around campus, but the only thing we have going for us is that we have "Lone Star" on the shirts rather than our greek letters (because we are local)

All of our fraternites have seen less and less members recruited every year. I was just curious if this was a sign of the times, or if we are an exception.



I was thinking that we need to start soliciting new members in the dorms. Although our campus can be quite restrictive on what we can pass around in a dorm setting. I think this is our next tactic we are going to try, but I don't know how sucessful we will be there.

:Crosses fingers:

Thanks for all the tips so far!

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by miller11386

Yes we also have a freshman move in day that we participate in every year. Although, other than talking to some of the kids that we move in, we are not allowed to apporach them about joining during this period. Approx 5,000 move in and usually we are comissioned to help the ladies move their stuff rather than the young men we are looking to have join.

I have been pushing for more of a campus involvement, and wearing shirts around campus, but the only thing we have going for us is that we have "Lone Star" on the shirts rather than our greek letters (because we are local)

All of our fraternites have seen less and less members recruited every year. I was just curious if this was a sign of the times, or if we are an exception.



I was thinking that we need to start soliciting new members in the dorms. Although our campus can be quite restrictive on what we can pass around in a dorm setting. I think this is our next tactic we are going to try, but I don't know how sucessful we will be there.

:Crosses fingers:

Thanks for all the tips so far!

What does your being a local have to do with you not being able to wear letters? Is it in your bylaws or something? If not, I'd consider wearing shirts with the actual letters on them.

As far as the move-in day, can you request a specific assignment (ie. an all-male dorm)? If you haven't tried, give it a shot.

On my campus, the RAs are very strict with soliciting in the dorms. You might want to try talking to housing to see what restrictions are in place as far as advertising in the dorms is concerned.

Do you participate in formal or informal recruitment?

I got a chance to check out your website. I remember when I was an interest, I gauged several of the fraternities on how up to date their websites were (if they couldn't take the time to update a website, they were probably slacking overall). Your website doesn't really have much information on it, which is strange considering how long you all have been around. You should really look into getting someone to update/maintain it.

[miller11386]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

What does your being a local have to do with you not being able to wear letters? Is it in your bylaws or something? If not, I'd consider wearing shirts with the actual letters on them.

As far as the move-in day, can you request a specific assignment (ie. an all-male dorm)? If you haven't tried, give it a shot.

On my campus, the RAs are very strict with soliciting in the dorms. You might want to try talking to housing to see what restrictions are in place as far as advertising in the dorms is concerned.

Do you participate in formal or informal recruitment?

I got a chance to check out your website. I remember when I was an interest, I gauged several of the fraternities on how up to date their websites were (if they couldn't take the time to update a website, they were probably slacking overall). Your website doesn't really have much information on it, which is strange considering how long you all have been around. You should really look into getting someone to update/maintain it.

We have always chosen to wear Lone Star rather than our letters. There are no rules against it, we just choose to do so.

Fraternities on our campus don't have much "formal recruitment." Greek Life sets up some events, but once again, we never really get much interest there either. Many of the members have been disillusioned with the greek admins and their events. So we are much more informal with our recruiting methods.

I am curious as to which site you looked up? We are currently developing a new web page, and yes, it should be maintained better than it is currently. If you are looking through Uakron's page, that is more of our alum's stuff than ours.

I know some RA's in the dorms that may be able to help me out. Hopefully we can pull some strings.

Thanks for the help!

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by miller11386

We have always chosen to wear Lone Star rather than our letters. There are no rules against it, we just choose to do so.

Fraternities on our campus don't have much "formal recruitment." Greek Life sets up some events, but once again, we never really get much interest there either. Many of the members have been disillusioned with the greek admins and their events. So we are much more informal with our recruiting methods.

I am curious as to which site you looked up? We are currently developing a new web page, and yes, it should be maintained better than it is currently. If you are looking through Uakron's page, that is more of our alum's stuff than ours.

I know some RA's in the dorms that may be able to help me out. Hopefully we can pull some strings.

Thanks for the help!

The lack of visibility with the letters may be one reason that there's not much interest. Several interests that I've spoken too (throughout the years, not just around rush) seem to like seeing the actual letters rather than phrases or spelled-out names. For some, a GLO's appeal is being able to wear the letters. If interests don't see letters, they may not associate you with being a "real" Greek organization (the only other organization that I know of who uses a name in lieu or letters is FIJI, but they have a much larger footprint).

Search the threads for some ideas on fraternity recruitment. A barbecue is nice, but if that's ALL you're doing, it's not going to attract many people (as you've seen).

Does your campus newspaper allow you to post events? My university allows all GLOs to post free ads about upcoming events, as long as there's a 3 day lead time. Check with yours to see if you can do that. Also, try posting banners around campus or putting a rush schedule on Student Union televisions (if you can do that). One chapter of my fraternity got the IT department at their school to put their rush schedule as the wallpaper on every campus computer. That's another option for you to get the word out.

The website I saw was [ http://www3.uakron.edu/lonestar/ ]

[miller11386]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

The lack of visibility with the letters may be one reason that there's not much interest. Several interests that I've spoken too (throughout the years, not just around rush) seem to like seeing the actual letters rather than phrases or spelled-out names. For some, a GLO's appeal is being able to wear the letters. If interests don't see letters, they may not associate you with being a "real" Greek organization (the only other organization that I know of who uses a name in lieu or letters is FIJI, but they have a much larger footprint).

Search the threads for some ideas on fraternity recruitment. A barbecue is nice, but if that's ALL you're doing, it's not going to attract many people (as you've seen).

Does your campus newspaper allow you to post events? My university allows all GLOs to post free ads about upcoming events, as long as there's a 3 day lead time. Check with yours to see if you can do that. Also, try posting banners around campus or putting a rush schedule on Student Union televisions (if you can do that). One chapter of my fraternity got the IT department at their school to put their rush schedule as the wallpaper on every campus computer. That's another option for you to get the word out.

The website I saw was [ http://www3.uakron.edu/lonestar/ ]

Due to our informal recruitment methods... it has made it difficult to "get the word out" Also we have very strict guidelines for "university sponsered" events. we dont exactly enjoy being restricted in that fashion, so we dont have many events. We are trying to get some more stuff together, it is just difficult as many of our memebers have become so disillusioned that they wish to do nothing with the Greek admins.

It is going to be an uphill battle i think. hopefully they will come around.

Thanks for all your help!

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by miller11386

Due to our informal recruitment methods... it has made it difficult to "get the word out" Also we have very strict guidelines for "university sponsered" events. we dont exactly enjoy being restricted in that fashion, so we dont have many events. We are trying to get some more stuff together, it is just difficult as many of our memebers have become so disillusioned that they wish to do nothing with the Greek admins.

It is going to be an uphill battle i think. hopefully they will come around.

Thanks for all your help!

What types of restrictions are you referring to?

[miller11386]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

What types of restrictions are you referring to?

It has to be planned 2 weeks ahead... all activites/ flyers/ notification must go though a board before distrubution.... nothing can include alcohol for anyone (try telling that to a group of 21 yr olds) and things of that nature. IE planning a mixer/ any "party" in the college sence would be near suicidal.

They make sense, they just dont fit in our style. Also we are always under scrutiny as some discribe us as the "outlaws" per say. Some like to remember when our charter was revoked and bring it up constantly, but never mention the fact that the mayor is an honorary, the president of akron childrens is an alum, etc. There are always rumors around us and we tend to get a bad rep. We are trying to improve that, but no matter what we do (ie get great grades, donate more $ per member, turn in more service hrs per member,) we can't seem to shake this image.

it gets fairly disheartening after a while ......but we will manage.... we always have....

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by miller11386

It has to be planned 2 weeks ahead... all activites/ flyers/ notification must go though a board before distrubution.... nothing can include alcohol for anyone (try telling that to a group of 21 yr olds) and things of that nature. IE planning a mixer/ any "party" in the college sence would be near suicidal.

To be honest, a two week lead time is not unreasonable. You should be planning for recruitment, at the very least, during school breaks (summer and winter). If you aren't sufficiently planning events, that could be another reason rush is not going as expected.

Are you saying none of your publications can reference alcohol, or none of your recruitment events can have alcohol?

They make sense, they just dont fit in our style. Also we are always under scrutiny as some discribe us as the "outlaws" per say. Some like to remember when our charter was revoked and bring it up constantly, but never mention the fact that the mayor is an honorary, the president of akron childrens is an alum, etc. There are always rumors around us and we tend to get a bad rep. We are trying to improve that, but no matter what we do (ie get great grades, donate more $ per member, turn in more service hrs per member,) we can't seem to shake this image.

Based on your responses and website, I'm going to assume your organization is more aligned with IFC "style" (for lack of a better term). I'm not sure if any of these ideas would fit you guys, but they're worth mentioning:

- Utilize your distinguished alums. Ask them to attend some of the recruitment events. If interested men see successful men coming out of your organization, they might be more inclined to get more information from you.

- If your charter being revoked was something that occurred a long time ago, you might remind interests that the brothers that caused the problems are no longer around. Of course, you don't want to bring this up, but if an interest brings it up, you can put a positive spin on it.

- If your organization wants to be noted for grades, host a study session or 2 and invite interests to attend. They'll be able to see with their own eyes that you live up to your academic ideals and might be less likely to believe the rumors.

- You can also attempt to host/co-sponsor some type of service event on/around campus. Maybe try doing something with a sorority. This will allow interests to see your philanthropic side and social side.

The latter two may fall outside of the IFC definition of rush, but if nothing else seems to be working, it might be worth giving them a shot.

[miller11386]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

To be honest, a two week lead time is not unreasonable. You should be planning for recruitment, at the very least, during school breaks (summer and winter). If you aren't sufficiently planning events, that could be another reason rush is not going as expected.

Are you saying none of your publications can reference alcohol, or none of your recruitment events can have alcohol?



Based on your responses and website, I'm going to assume your organization is more aligned with IFC "style" (for lack of a better term). I'm not sure if any of these ideas would fit you guys, but they're worth mentioning:

- Utilize your distinguished alums. Ask them to attend some of the recruitment events. If interested men see successful men coming out of your organization, they might be more inclined to get more information from you.

- If your charter being revoked was something that occurred a long time ago, you might remind interests that the brothers that caused the problems are no longer around. Of course, you don't want to bring this up, but if an interest brings it up, you can put a positive spin on it.

- If your organization wants to be noted for grades, host a study session or 2 and invite interests to attend. They'll be able to see with their own eyes that you live up to your academic ideals and might be less likely to believe the rumors.

- You can also attempt to host/co-sponsor some type of service event on/around campus. Maybe try doing something with a sorority. This will allow interests to see your philanthropic side and social side.

The latter two may fall outside of the IFC definition of rush, but if nothing else seems to be working, it might be worth giving them a shot.

Definately.

I have already aligned 2 socials with sororities on campus as well as getting a group philanthropy together with another fraternity.

Our charter was revoked about 40 years ago, because of 2 members poor choices. The charter was restored soon after, and actually it didnt really effect membership of the fraternity.

We are "members" of the IFC board, although it is heavily domniated by the other fraternities.... its our fault we didnt have someone apply for the board, but we didnt imagine a member of lone star would be elected there anyway.

We are collecting some of our older charasmatic alum's for our next recruitement event. And I cant wait.

Also, study tables are a great idea.... maybe I will bring that up at our next meeting!

I appreciate all your help!

Thanks!