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Chapter Operations Share plans, ideas, and brainstorm problems related to chapter operations. Topics also include parliamentary procedure, national programs, innovations & etc.

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  #9  
Old 11-26-2010, 01:57 AM
Firehouse Firehouse is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 780
You've gotten solid advice from these posters. An underlying theme is that this is a complicated issue. No doubt there are elements unique to your chapter and school; you should seek guidance from someone who knows fraternities and who is really familiar with your chapter.

Since I don't know your chapter, here are some basics you might find helpful.

Always keep the demographic in mind. You are dealing with 18-21 year old, boisterous, social young men. What they want isn't necessarily always what the Greek Life types or the National Office wants. The success of your chapter depends on how you feed the needs and wants of your members.

Part of that involves crafting and promoting a specific chapter identity. When you see a fraternity chapter that enjoys the support of generations of loyal alumni, that chapter almost always has a strong identity or personality that remains constant over time.

Your chapter wins things and that's important. "Brotherhood is another word for friendship, and friendship is enhanced when you're on the winning team." But...dorms and non-Greek clubs also compete to win things. There's a whole world of non-Greek intramural teams. But none of those ad hoc organizations have the emotional structure of a fraternity.

The thing that makes a good fraternity different from those groups is the emotional connection to the chapter's identity or symbolic personality. Remember: 18-21 year old males. The point is that while winning a philanthropy is good, it may not be enough to keep membrs involved, especially if they don't buy into an overall chapter theme or image.

Young men want respect. In this demographic, a fraternity that is popular with sororities and competitive in sports is very often more highly regarded by its peers than a fraternity that gets blue ribbons from the Greek Life office.

The other posters have already given you good advice. As a fraternity grows to 90 and more members, it become even more necessary to connect the members to the chapter through a strong, definable group identity.

As far as fining members for missing chapter meetings, that works well for sororities but it's a non-starter for fraternities. In large chapters, as long as things are going well there doesn't seem to be a strong impulse to go to meetings. It's expected that a good executive committee will do the heavy lifting. Individual officers are responsible for motivating the Brothers to supply the manpower for their projects.

Once you grow from 40 to 90, the personality and the theme - the image - of the chapter must change it you are to sustain strength.
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