Alums and alcohol in chapter houses

[33girl]

Originally Posted by James

Plus it was summer . . .

JINX BUY ME A COKE.

[James]

If we can pour some rum in it and drink it at your sorority house . ..

Originally Posted by 33girl

JINX BUY ME A COKE.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Sorry for the interruption, but what's a PITA?

Pain In The Ass (Or a lovely pocket bread)

Dammit, didn't refresh.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by James

If we can pour some rum in it and drink it at your sorority house . ..

I like this plan very much, especially since I'm off beer for a while. At least till the next Pirate game.

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by skylark

My thoughts exactly... a warning = SA's ego deflated. It sounds like SA thought she was the sh*t with her GLO because she "saved" a chapter and everyone should be so grateful for her self-sacrificing GLO spirit

I agree 100%. Unless the scolding took place on the front lawn with the whole chapter watching, there was no need for the initial admonition to blow up into what it did and become a public matter.

Either SA has an inflated ego, as you suggest, or perhaps this was used as an excuse for an exit strategy. The older I get, the more people I run into who create an excuse to drop a committment rather than just quit. Very cowardly behavior.

As for the alcohol issue in general, I seem to have a view in the minority.

I am an advisor for my chapter and also an officer on the Housing Corporation. My GLO does not have a fraternity-wide dry house policy, nor is my chapter's house dry.

And yet, I do not drink at the fraternity house. I did have a beer once back when I first took on the advisor role, but since that time I have had nothing. Yes, I will drink and have a blast at off-site alumni events, but never at the house.

This is the price an advisor or alumnus in a key guidance role has to pay in my view. We are not due nor have we earned special rights- if anything we have to live by even stricter standards when on chapter property.

My fraternity has been at my alma mater for over 120 years and never shut down- we have the longest continuous existence of any fraternity here. Thus, we have an incredibly good Risk Management environment and the odds of something going wrong are very tiny.

But there is always that "what if" out there- and what if something happens when I am at the house and I am drinking and/or drunk?

Advisors and alumni who are actively involved in chapter support are there to provide guidance. But our most critical task is to "be there" on those extremely rare occasions when the unthinkable happens.

And you can't "be there" if you are drinking on site. It is not about following state laws or acting within IHQ guidelines- it is about being completely above reproach when at the house.

This is the small cost that goes along with the great personal reward of being of service to your chapter as an alumnus.

All offered IMHO.

[RU OX Alum]

i would say "to hell with you all" as well

[UGAalum94]

I agree that it might not be common knowledge.

I had no idea that there was a blanket NPC, insurance driven ban.

I knew that we couldn't have alcohol in our house back in the day, but I wouldn't have realized that it was a property based rule rather than an alcohol serving rule (like, having to employ bartenders who checked IDs or something).

Since I don't think there's anything weird or bad about people who are legally old enough drinking wine at dinner, I don't know that I would have known.

(On the other hand, I think someone else who served on a house committee would have known and mentioned it at the time, but who knows? Some people are freakily anti-confrontational.)

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by 33girl

No, it is not "common knowledge." The scenario in the original post was an older alumna. She has a 27-28 year old daughter, so I'm guessing she's at least 50 or pushing it fast. The alcohol rules were not as big of a deal back then, especially since many states still had an 18 or 19 year old drinking age. And even if they were in place when her daughter was in school, her daughter may have never thought to mention it to her. Not to mention, I have no idea of the school but they may not have HAD a house when mom or daughter was in school.

If she was as involved in the chapter as the OP indicates, then she should most definitely have known. Anyone highly involved in a chapter should be knowledgeable of the risk management and other things going on, especially something as forefront as that.

[Titchou]

It's not an insurance driven ban. MJ could certainly provide coverage that would include allowing of alcohol...but who could afford it? And how would it be monitored? And it's just been in the past 10 years or so that all NPC groups went with MJ. Some were in FIPG with some fraternities. It's the litigious society that we are living in these days that is driving this issue. Along with rules for men in the house and pets. We just can't afford to take chances.

[SAE_Alumnus]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Yes, they should automatically have respect, unless they do something to show that they don't merit it. Maybe the guy who "perpetuated a stereotype" gave $5000 to his fraternity's philanthropy or helped a brother who was in emotional trouble, but didn't feel the need to wave it around just so he could hear everyone say what a paragon of Greek virtue he was. As you said, be careful about making generalizations.

You don't bitch someone out in the rudest way possible who was simply trying to do something nice for someone, if they just didn't know the rules. Especially if the rules are pretty freaking ridiculous, antiquated and sexist to begin with.

In regard to the alumni I made a reference to, I was not making a generalization. I was referencing alumni whose actions I personally know of. One example I will share is this: an alumnus of my chapter has sponsored the chapter's philanthropy for several years. However, he also tries to perpetuate poor conduct (including hazing) in the chapter - something the chapter has worked to eliminate in the past several years. As great as it is that he gives, it is inappropriate for him to perpetuate such behavior (I have approached him about it and he at least seemed to see my point of view). To me, good intentions do not make up for bad behavior.

However, I do agree that alumni should be given a certain level of respect until they do something that does not merit respect. I did not articulate that thought well in my previous post. In regard to the respect issue, you are absolutely right 33girl.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by fantASTic

If she was as involved in the chapter as the OP indicates, then she should most definitely have known. Anyone highly involved in a chapter should be knowledgeable of the risk management and other things going on, especially something as forefront as that.

It sounds like her involvement was mostly from her checkbook, rather than working with the chapter during rush week and things like that. If you're not there day to day, and it wasn't an issue when you or your child was in school...honestly, you really aren't going to think about it.

I'm not saying she should be excused from knowing the rules, but I don't think she purposely flouted them in a "I can do whatever I want, I pay the bills" sort of way - it seems like an honest mistake. As opposed to the guy SAEAlumnus mentions who thinks that writing the checks entitles him to push the fraternity to do things they shouldn't be doing.

Obviously this is all speculation, as we don't know the people involved or whatever their personal feelings/agendas may be.