True Brother Initiative

[ZetaPhi708]

Originally Posted by JonoBN41

I woke up this morning fully prepared to support the TBI, now I'm not as sure. It's hard to believe this initiative has been in the works for two years and has been kept such a secret. Just one month ago (July 3, 2007) I wrote the following in an email to a brother who was planning on going to Memphis. "I'd like to know more about this program. Is there any way you can summarize it for us alumni who won't be able to be there? I really have no clue what it's about. And, is it for alumni too, or just actives?" He wrote back with as much vagueness as in Biff's article in the C&C and did not answer my final question.



I question the wisdom of a bottom-up approach as opposed to a top-down approach, missing the opportunity to elicit the support of approximately 100,000 living alumni who now feel (except for a privileged few) that they are being left in the dust.

A "we'll get to you guys later" attitude was a very poor choice, but I guess it's too late now. Maybe it's too late for us anyway.

Now whenever I ask anyone if the True Brother Initiative applies to alumni, they say, "Sure it does!" They just don't say how.

I agree, Jono.....we are being left in the dust...dust in the wind....

All kidding aside, why in the hell can they not give to all of us as a WHOLE? We alums are brothers too....but I guess in the eyes of IHQ, we alums should be put out to pasture with all the other old cattle gone by the wayside. My guess is that they want the program in the chapters first to boost the membership totals.

[JConleyWCU]

Well as an undergrad im totally for our alumni to get put to pasture... jk

All kidding aside, I think the reason there is not a solid answer to how TBI affects alumni is simple. Before they implemented the undergrad phase they field tested it at different chapters of different sizes and locations. How can you field test alumni? There are so many differences between alumni you want to make it effective for all of them not just a minority. Just my thoughts, we are waiting to get some more solid information on TBI, anything I get I will be sure to relay to our post-graduation brothers lol.

[GammaZeta]

Jono, that is exactly it. You hit the nail on the head.

"We'll get to the alumni later"

Ok, now maybe the ALUMNI will get to their CHECKBOOKS a little bit LATER. Now maybe the ALUMNI will VOLUNTEER a little bit LATER. If that's the way HQ feels about us.

Is this program so divisive and elite that alumni cannot be involved?

[JonoBN41]

Originally Posted by JConleyWCU

Well as an undergrad im totally for our alumni to get put to pasture... jk

Gee, I was out at my observatory tonight, which is "kind of" in a pasture, looking at Jupiter. Does that count?

Love you guys.

In ZAX,
Jono
(beer monkey or scotch gentleman? Choose one)

[GammaZeta]

I chose beer monkey. In a way, I feel that the True Brother initiative is kind of a slap in the face to the present and past membership.

Like we were not good enough to uphold the values of LXA. That we now need to look for better brothers than we had before. That we as alumni were previously subpar and LXA was only settling for what they could get.

[EM1843]

I'm trying to remain optimistic, but I still haven't seen anything from IHQ that tells me what this is all about. At last GA I heard great buzz words but I was told that it was getting tested out over the next year so I assummed by now there would be packets and papers available online. How can I, as an involved alumni, possibly help my chapter implement TBI if I still don't know what it is.

[texaslambdachi]

Well, you've succeeded in dragging me into this discussion group!

I'm a bit shocked by all the negativity. I really don't see how True Brother is a slap in the face to alumni.

From what I've read here, it seems people are upset because:

1) The Fraternity launched this without consulting them (and over a
hundred thousand other alumni), because their main focus is the
undergraduate chapter.
2) They feel that they are the type of person that would not be
sought-after under the new suggestions for recruiting.
3) There's no new programming geared toward alumni.


So, my response is:

1) Duh! The primary focus of the Fraternity has always been the
undergraduates, as it should be. As for all alumni being consulted
on the matter, that's obviously not practical. Were you upset
about the launch of LEAP or Impact? I doubt that more than a
handful of alumni knew about those before the first Leadership
Seminar workshops.

2) The core values enumerated in the True Brother program are nothing
new. I have a 1948 edition of the Paedagogus that has a very
similar list of ideals. The revised statement was clearly derived
from research of the primary documents of the Fraternity (rituals,
creeds, and constitutions of LCA & TKN, early writings of the
founders, etc.) To be blunt -- as far as I'm concerned, any alumni
that object to those values should never have joined this
fraternity and are quite welcome to leave.

3) This goes back to the principle the Fraternity's primary
constituency is the undergraduate chapters. As was explained,

there is more to come, and that will include material geared toward
alumni. The people putting this together wanted to

wait until it was complete to begin the roll-out, but there was
strong pressure to accelerate development and release the first
portion right away.


From what I can tell (and, btw, I am not one of the architects of the
program), TBI in essence is:

1) Publicly enumerate the core values of the Fraternity.
2) Align all programs and publications of the Fraternity with those
values.

That's basically it. The rest is just organizational detail. I would suggest that we try to be patient in waiting for some more of those details to be explained.

In ZAX,
Ed Miller
(GGZ alumnus)

[Tom Earp]

Brother Miller, I cannot disagree with you on all of your points except:

As Almmnus,

We are supposed to be Members of LXA for Life!

We are not asked about much of anything except about donating money. Considering the time and money that each of us may spend other than doating is very big and time consuming for us but with love for what we beleive in.
I have brought this up many times and one voice agreed with me, but not a lot seems to have been done so far.
So this new step in your words I beleive goes back to the "original principles" of LXA.

So, the question is why if it is already in place?

If it needed to be updated then why? Easier language to understand?

As you said, there are 1,000s of Alumni. Who are these people, well, Brothers such as myself and many others!

I am not upset as some, but there are members in the Alumni community who care enough to ask these questions and care.

I care enough as some of the others on here do, to question the why for and where ofs.

Is that wrong?

I know how close were were to being in financial problems, ergo, that is why changes have been made.

We are one of the most forward thinking and inovative Fraternities and hopefully will always be, but it does cost money to give the services that LXA does compared to others.

Off of soap box!