Unusual Brotherhood Issue

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Oh, and make sure that the same people aren't running everything year after year.

I agree with everything 33girl said, but especially this. Be sure to engage all of your members in active participation. Chapters of any size seem to have a core group of involved individuals (let's call them the "leaders") and a periphery group of "just members." The problem you have is that you have a significant population of "just members" who won't get anything out of the fraternity experience if they don't contribute to it. Build up your committee system, and don't let brothers double up on committee chairs or serve on more than two (arbitrary number, use what works best for you) committees. By doing this you bridge the gap between "leaders" and "just members" as well as creating more "leaders" and a group of "actively involved members" who will grow into "leaders." You aren't going to eradicate the "just members," but the goal is to minimize them.

In regards to brotherhood events, you can plan as many as you want, but I've always found that the strongest bonds are built while doing work for the improvement of the chapter - so get all of your members actively involved! Good luck!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Gusteau

Chapters of any size seem to have a core group of involved individuals (let's call them the "leaders") and a periphery group of "just members." The problem you have is that you have a significant population of "just members" who won't get anything out of the fraternity experience if they don't contribute to it.

Not only that, then they graduate and no one else has a clue as to what they're doing. This is one of the things that killed my chapter.

[Preston327]

My chapter (well colony, we charter in less than a month) has sort-of the same problem; we've got guys that do everything and truly bust their asses for the fraternity, guys who pull their share and then people who you're lucky to get to show up to chapter. I suppose this is common in every group but here's a few things we've done:

• Remind them of their obligations as a member of your organization. They swore an oath to their brothers and part of upholding that oath is coming to chapter and taking part in chapter activities.
• Sanction non-attendance. "Can't come to chapter? Well then you're obviously too busy to attend the social with XYZ this weekend." People should get the message.
• Address the factionalism in Chapter. Remind your guys that whatever their cliques and tastes, they're brothers of your organization first and foremost. You don't have to agree on everything but you do have to show each other some mutual respect.
• If you're having serious problems with chapter attendance then start fining people. I'm sure most brothers would rather sacrifice two hours of their time than $20.

Once you get people more involved on a basic level I think the problem of the same people running everything will solve itself. Naturally some people are going to see things they want to do differently, and work to try and implement them.