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I have resisted posting anything on this subject, but the True Brother Initiative deserves better than it is getting on this message board. We run the risk of misinforming the Associate Members and prospective members who read these posts.
I have watched over the last two years as some of the best and brightest in our Fraternity have devoted countless hours and untold sums of their own funds to a selfless effort – an attempt to develop programming that will set our Fraternity apart. Wayne Gossard, Drew Hunter, Mike Smith, Elgan Baker, and all the others are among our most experienced High Pi’s and each has vast experience in working with undergraduate programming. They aren’t idealists – they’re realists who deal with our above average, average, and below average brothers every day. Each has experience with LEAP and Impact and all the other efforts that have met with limited success in the past, and they have resolved to get it right this time. This initiative is based on some of the most successful character and leadership development programs in existence today, but it focuses on the real individuals who are really joining our Fraternity today. When previewed for senior university administration at some of our test chapters we have received reactions like “Finally, a fraternity that gets it.”
True Brother is not about homogenizing our membership. It isn’t about black or white, rich or poor, gay or straight, useful or useless, drunk or sober. It is about finding men with a commitment to ideals like honor and integrity and helping them find ways to develop and demonstrate them, but only if they want to. These are characteristics that transcend superficial distinctions of race or class, and they apply just as much to the party animals as to the bookish types. Indeed, if the initiative is truly successful we may find that we have the most diverse membership of any organization in the Greek world, but all still committed in their own way to the same lofty ideals we have already sworn to pursue.
As many of you know, I serve as a volunteer at the National level. Any volunteer or staff member who shows up at IHQ with an idealistic notion that Lambda Chi Alpha is, as Jack Mason envisioned, an “Order of Knighthood,” is quickly disabused of that belief. They are exposed every day to thousands of undergrads who will find every way possible to press the edge of the envelope. I’ve got a son who just graduated from University of Denver, and his experiences as a brother at Alpha-Pi Zeta warmed my heart as I heard stories that reminded me of my own quasi-criminal behavior in the early 70’s. But having said that, our Fraternity is and should be more than partying all night and commiserating with each other the following day. For those members who are looking for that something more, True Brother will help them find it.
This last Leadership Seminar had the largest attendance of any Lambda Chi Alpha event in the last 20 years and the most consistently upbeat mood I have seen in a long time. Something is working. Be patient as the information is more broadly disseminated, and make every effort to understand every aspect of this initiative. You may complain about the pace and format of the roll-out, but there comes a time when we have to stop planning and start doing. We have 9,800 undergrads we have to touch before we roll it out to the rest of our alumni membership. If it doesn’t work I’ll be the first to apologize publicly for my misplaced faith in the talent and good intentions of the brothers who put it together. In the meantime, I will offer them my complete support and my thanks for stepping into the arena to do something positive for our Fraternity and its members. If they fail, they will have failed greatly.
With that, I will retreat back behind the curtain and allow the conversation on these boards to continue. Thanks for letting me interrupt.
In ZAX,
Lynn Chipperfield
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