LCA fez on Ebay. Wow...

[Ottor 246]

Originally Posted by PiLambda1

Until then, UGs won't go...and I'm betting they aren't really wanted.
I'm sure they'd just say we'd get in the way or break something.

Undergrads are definitely welcome at IHQ. At our recent 25th anniversary banquet, our founder showed slides of our founding delegation's visit to IHQ on their way to GA. He had a picture of hiself sitting in the executive director's chair with his feet on the desk. How much more welcome can you be?

The didn't find as warm a reception at the TKE headquarters, when they posed in front of the big "Tau Kappa Epsilon" sign in their Lambda Chi letters. He said they heard later that someone from TKE's HQ had called someone at our HQ and asked them no to let us do that anymore.

[Tom Earp]

Brother Jono is totaly correct about the "glee" that was seen on the faces of undergrads who took the opportunity to fill the school buses to drive/ride for 20-30 minutes from the hotel in the rain!

He and I were dissapointed int the amount of history that he and I were expecting to see. But, that is us only. The many donations that have been given by many is not really shown as those who have been there can attest because of space.

It is a working IHQ with little space and is set up as best as can be. There was money used to refirb the Building as it was needed.

Cost of expansion of the building as I said takes away from the true expansion of building LXA as a Brotherhood. It is not cheap by any means and we have so much more than other GLOs.

Would I love to see a full wing for historical items, you bet!

Brandon, I type the way I type as all or most Brothers know it is called Earp Speak!

I use CAPITALS for emphasis!

I also typo very well and have clutchy fingers! I was not an English major!

But I have the same thing in common as all of My Brothers, "THE LOVE OF LXA"!

For those Brothers who may not go then maybe they should and see the IHQ!

If Brother Mike Raymond says He is received well, I will say that anyone who comes to IHQ will be received the same way!

I have never heard of anyone turned away.

We are LXA as Brothers.

If anyone wishes to look on GCs ee how much action is on LXA Thread!

Huge, cause we are The Best!

[GammaZeta]

I think that there are many schools of thought on this topic.

There are some brothers/chapters that really embrace the national fraternity/HQ/history of the entire fraternity attitude. Usually that same attitude carries out to the whole chapter.

Then there are other brothers/chapters that embrace a more localized approach. A lot of the New England chapters fall (or fell) into this category during my time. At Gamma Zeta, we were always more concerned about our local history. Of course, we did have a long history so it was easier to get excited about it.

Some brothers view HQ as "Mecca", while others just don't care. I appreciate LXA history in several ways, first I am a history freak and love early 1900 historical items, secondly I love local history, I have studied the local history of where (Amherst/Springfield) I live and it just so happens LXA is part of it.

I guess part of it is being from New England. Everyday we drive to work or go shopping, and most of the time we pass by dozens of historical sites. We can actually be where the Revolutionary War started, walk the Freedom Trail, see where the Pilgrims landed, and on and on. History to me is being in the place, feeling the items.

After the 20's and 30's, when LXA history shifts from the New England area, I am just not interested. Most brothers will never make it to HQ. It doesn't make them any more or LESS of a brother than those that have made it.

I think it is important not to judge other brothers by their love, or hate of our history.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by GammaZeta

I think that there are many schools of thought on this topic.

There are some brothers/chapters that really embrace the national fraternity/HQ/history of the entire fraternity attitude. Usually that same attitude carries out to the whole chapter.

Then there are other brothers/chapters that embrace a more localized approach. A lot of the New England chapters fall (or fell) into this category during my time. At Gamma Zeta, we were always more concerned about our local history. Of course, we did have a long history so it was easier to get excited about it.

Some brothers view HQ as "Mecca", while others just don't care. I appreciate LXA history in several ways, first I am a history freak and love early 1900 historical items, secondly I love local history, I have studied the local history of where (Amherst/Springfield) I live and it just so happens LXA is part of it.

I guess part of it is being from New England. Everyday we drive to work or go shopping, and most of the time we pass by dozens of historical sites. We can actually be where the Revolutionary War started, walk the Freedom Trail, see where the Pilgrims landed, and on and on. History to me is being in the place, feeling the items.

After the 20's and 30's, when LXA history shifts from the New England area, I am just not interested. Most brothers will never make it to HQ. It doesn't make them any more or LESS of a brother than those that have made it.

I think it is important not to judge other brothers by their love, or hate of our history.

I find this very interesting!

Yes, IHQ is the home of LXA. Yes, many place emphasis on the local basis. But the leadership comes from a central point and that goes back again to IHQ in Indianopolis.

While Indy is not in the center of LXA Zetas, it was back then when the Zetas were closer and fewer along with tax breaks.

Would I love to see it closer to the center of the Zetas, that would bve in Kansas City and I could work with the saved history.

Will it happen, I doubt it.

But, many have gone to IHQ and enjoyed the experience as some of us did!

Would I go back, You bet!

I would want into the Basement and go crazy!

They would have to send the SWAT Team in to get me!

[GammaZeta]

That's just the thing Tom. We always felt leadership didn't come from HQ, but from within our Zeta. We always felt there was a disconnect between HQ and the chapters. Maybe it was because of the physical distance? Maybe we didn't get as much attention due to our size? We never really could afford as a chapter to go to all the conferences and meetings.

We just never thought HQ ever really understood our particular situation. And I wouldn't expect them to, especially with 100's of other zetas, they cannot be specific to each one.

Just remember, some zeta's had the ability and resources to grow close with HQ, while others never had that benefit.

I also think that at the time before email and electronic communication, there was a communications breakdown with HQ and the chapters. Some of you youngsters have to remember that back in 98 and 97, we didn't have the ability to email or electronically fill out forms.

Today it is so much easier to contact HQ and get the necessary resources.

A Zeta that is not close to HQ is not a bad Zeta. A Zeta that is close to HQ is not a good Zeta. We all adapt to what is available and what is best for our brotherhood, chapter and university.

[dever860]

Originally Posted by GammaZeta

That's just the thing Tom. We always felt leadership didn't come from HQ, but from within our Zeta. We always felt there was a disconnect between HQ and the chapters. Maybe it was because of the physical distance? Maybe we didn't get as much attention due to our size? We never really could afford as a chapter to go to all the conferences and meetings.

We just never thought HQ ever really understood our particular situation. And I wouldn't expect them to, especially with 100's of other zetas, they cannot be specific to each one.

Just remember, some zeta's had the ability and resources to grow close with HQ, while others never had that benefit.

I also think that at the time before email and electronic communication, there was a communications breakdown with HQ and the chapters. Some of you youngsters have to remember that back in 98 and 97, we didn't have the ability to email or electronically fill out forms.

Today it is so much easier to contact HQ and get the necessary resources.

A Zeta that is not close to HQ is not a bad Zeta. A Zeta that is close to HQ is not a good Zeta. We all adapt to what is available and what is best for our brotherhood, chapter and university.

I totally relate on many of those points and at one point did agree them all at some point, some I still do. I was raised to not entirely trust nationals because and I will swear to this, the first week I was an AM LCAP decided kick us out of our house. I know this is a touchy subject around here and I have elaborated previously. I was raised from the start after this very traumatizing event that nationals did not receive our chapter all that well.

Since becoming an officer and having a lot more contact with nationals, and by no means is this trying to contradict you, I have come to several conclusions:
1. If nationals isin't paying special attention you, you are doing something right, or you aren't doing anything all that bad.

2. You can't just expect nationals to telepathically know when you need help, you have to ask. Everyone at nationals so far that I have talked are all great brothers and really truly do want to help or they wouldn't be there.

3. In addition to above, HQ has a bunch of resources to help chapters out, many of which brothers don't take advantage of. Its amazing how much help you can get with a friendly email. Odds are the guys who are there at one point needed help themselves and can sympathize.

Commenting on the technology aspect, I happened to have personally talked to Jason Pearce on the phone a few weeks back about several things. He went into detail about the new website he is designing, and from the mental image I formed it will most likely revolutionize the way brothers, zetas, and HQ collaborates. And based on my knowledge of todays internet, this will be like nothing any other fraternity currently has, that I know of. Picture a world where there is a single website that all Zeta's and brothers will have appropriate access to LCA's database of 250,000+. Everything will be integrated and communication with alumni will be as easy as type, click, send.

He got me pretty excited about it, and you could tell from the way he was talking he was extremely excited about its potential.

[GammaZeta]

Dever, all your points are true. For #2 and #3, it is a little different from where we came from.

HQ is fine for most of the chapters, the larger one's, primarily in the south to mid-west. They have a general plan and resources that are fine for the majority of chapters. It's not an issue of them wanting to help, just sometimes they can't help.

Umass-Amherst was a little "unique". When our numbers were on the low end, we did ask HQ for help and they did respond positively. They sent out one of their best recruiters for 1 or 2 weeks, can't remember. The recruiter did EVERYTHING in their book, cold called people, spent days just randomly going up to guys and started talking, make little cards, and on and on. He did a great job trying to recruit. However, we didn't get a single guy from his 2 weeks trying to recruit.

He was a great guy, but the way he was trained and his tactics given to him by HQ simply did not work at our campus. If he was in Iowa, I'd say yeah, they probably would work great. But having a mixture of prissy Long Island guys, stoned out hippie men, Massholes, and kids from Southie Boston, all of whom never had any intention on joining a frat in the first place, is not the group you randomly go up to on their way to class and turn on the southern charm.

About 90% of the people I witnessed him go up to thought he were hitting on them (Umass has a big gay population). Actually, his first week there was "Coming Out Week" and they had "Queerfest".

It's not HQ's fault. They are in charge of 200 Zeta's. We never expected them to have an individualized game plan for us.

It's almost impossible to apply a generalized theory primarily aimed at campuses of 50-75% greek from the South or Mid-West and apply it to a 2% greek university in the Northeast.

When I was active, we really never got any "leadership" from HQ. We got orders, rules, books, notices, phone calls, evaluations, and on and on. But we never got LEADERSHIP.

We never had anyone outside of our chapter to inspire us. We never had a reason to care who was on the GHZ, or the executive board. It never mattered to us, just tell us where to send the checks and when our next ELC visit is.

We never had anyone from HQ inspire us to reach beyond our own chapter and become a part of the national LXA.

Honestly, I don't know what, if anything, could have been done to change that. I'm just telling you how we feel. Getting the C and C every few months, or a new Paed just isn't inspirational.

The reality is that some chapters, like ours, just will never fit the national mold or image. That is why I will always be a big supporter of regional offices, and dismante HQ to just a leadership board, and give the power to the area offices.

[john1082]

Originally Posted by dever860

I happened to have personally talked to Jason Pearce on the phone a few weeks back about several things. He went into detail about the new website he is designing, and from the mental image I formed it will most likely revolutionize the way brothers, zetas, and HQ collaborates.

But we need it NOW not in two or three more years. Indy has had plenty of time to fix the problem.