Senior Apathy?

[Katmandu]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

A lot of senioritis is distancing yourself from the sorority because it will be easier to deal with the loss upon graduation. Perhaps you could research ways that your alum can stay involved with sorority after graduation. You could invite the local alum chapter and volunteers to help them with the transition from collegiate to alumna. They could talk about alumnae activities, etc.

RaggedyAnn, I think this is a very, very valid point. It is a natural human tendency to distance oneself from something or someone you know you will be leaving soon. It's a protective device. Most sorority programming is geared towards the entry, very little is geared toward leaving/transitioning to a different type of involvement. The same with society.... we are much better at beginnings than we are at leave-takings.

Chapters might take a look at how they help seniors transition and what programming is available. As Benzgirl says, the needs are different, and speakers/alums who present about resumes, job interviewing, grad school applications, what to look for in job offers/benefits, etc. might be well received.

Also, do the actives make it known publically how much they are indebted to the seniors for leadership, legacies, traditions? Does the chapter have "senior spotlights", pass-down ceremonies, senior roasts or awards where all are honored?

It's a great issue to raise for chapters to consider.

[violetpretty]

My chapter changed from school year elections to calendar year elections when I was a collegiate member. I joined in Spring 2004, and we had elections in April for an exec board for Fall 2004, and then elections in February for the 2005 calendar year. Since then, we've held elections in November for the next calendar year.

Pros of Calendar Year Elections:
1. Most seniors are still around to provide guidance if need be for a full semester (spring).
2. No spring graduating seniors (the majority) will have to juggle an executive position with job/grad school/etc related responsibilities.
3. Officer reports are due to our HQ in December, and it's easier to write a report based only on things that you did, rather than try to integrate stuff that the person before you did, especially if they graduated.
4. It works well for schools with a fall formal recruitment, since the VP Recruitment has all of spring semester and the summer to plan for formal recruitment and subsequent COB plans after FMR if need be.
5. It encourages generally the most enthusiastic members (ie younger ones) to hold exec positions, which can be good if there are problems with burnout or if there need to be changes made that the younger members support (i.e. getting rid of hazing, putting more effort into formal recruitment, etc)

Cons of Calendar Year Elections:
1. The housing situation becomes a royal pain in the ass. If you want to be on exec, you have to either live in the house for two full years, or bank on there being space (in the form of sisters going abroad, December-graduating seniors, sisters that want to move out for whatever reason) if you live out of house and decide to run for a position. Also, in my chapter's house, there are two singles, one for the President and the other for the Executive Vice President. They live in the singles during their term, so they have to shuffle stuff mid-year.
2. It inherently says "we expect less of spring-graduating seniors" by not allowing any of them to serve on exec. Some can handle it, some can't, but that should be to the discretion of the member when she decides to run.
3. Calendar year elections are particularly a huge pain for the VP Recruitment at schools with a spring formal recruitment. Because a VP Recruitment elected in November can't be expected to pick up and run recruitment alone, the incoming VP Recruitment shadows the outgoing VP recruitment, and then runs the following recruitment as the outgoing VP Recruitment. Because the VP Recruitment has to be available for 2 formal recruitments, sometimes very qualified sisters have to choose between running for that position or going abroad.
4. There are fewer opportunities for a sister to hold a position if formal recruitment is deferred (and I am the second-biggest deferred recruitment cheerleader, 33girl being first). A member who joins as a freshman in the spring would be able to hold two positions (second semester sophomore year-first semester junior year and second semester junior year-first semester senior year). Members who join as a sophomore in the spring can only hold one executive position. (This of course, assumes the member graduates in exactly 4 years.)

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

My chapter changed from school year elections to calendar year elections when I was a collegiate member. I joined in Spring 2004, and we had elections in April for an exec board for Fall 2004, and then elections in February for the 2005 calendar year. Since then, we've held elections in November for the next calendar year.

I think that when elections are held can have an effect on whether seniors stay active, but I also think that many other things can be factors, as well.

My chapter also recently changed from school year to calendar year. I think that which system is best sometimes depends on your chapter and campus. For example: The calendar year clearly worked better for my chapter. We are a small chapter, at a small Greek-life campus, we don’t have a house, and we have deferred recruitment but no formal system.

Therefore... after elections in November, there are still plenty of committee positions available, or seniors can choose to run for New Member Director, as that turns over every semester. They can also take on ‘Greek Week/Pageant’ a year before graduation (Greek Week = fall, Pageant = spring), which is a position that we still keep based on the school year system. Also, since we don’t have a house, there aren’t any conflicts concerning E-Board members living there. The only problem is deferred recruitment... while we don’t have formal recruitment, we usually have larger new member classes in the spring, and more events. But the girls make an effort in October and November to really get things together as a chapter so that the incoming Recruitment Director will be ahead of the game.

On the other hand, for a chapter that only has E-board members living in, with formal recruitment in the fall, with a larger chapter and few semester-long positions, for example, this might not work as well.

In addition, I think that senior apathy can happen for many other reasons... slowing easing out of school, preparing for graduation/real world, tired and burnt out after 4 years, wanting to party it up the last semester, last-minute internships, taking on an extra job to start paying rent, closer friends in the sorority graduated the year before... the list goes on. For me personally, I wanted to be as involved as possible for as long as possible. But for two of my sisters, each one had served as President for 2 terms, and they just needed a break. They went into alumnae status early, and finished/is finishing an extra semester without being involved much at all. Meanwhile, another sister who is graduating this spring just took on New Member Director and VP, even though she works two jobs on top of school. So it all depends.

I’m sure that you’ll find trends among some specific chapters, but in my experience, I’ve seen different people taking many different routes for many different reasons.

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by Katmandu

RaggedyAnn, I think this is a very, very valid point. It is a natural human tendency to distance oneself from something or someone you know you will be leaving soon. It's a protective device. Most sorority programming is geared towards the entry, very little is geared toward leaving/transitioning to a different type of involvement. The same with society.... we are much better at beginnings than we are at leave-takings.

Chapters might take a look at how they help seniors transition and what programming is available. As Benzgirl says, the needs are different, and speakers/alums who present about resumes, job interviewing, grad school applications, what to look for in job offers/benefits, etc. might be well received.

Also, do the actives make it known publically how much they are indebted to the seniors for leadership, legacies, traditions? Does the chapter have "senior spotlights", pass-down ceremonies, senior roasts or awards where all are honored?

It's a great issue to raise for chapters to consider.

I agree that programing is often geared towards the entry aspect of the sorority experience. Since my chapter was founded with a number of seniors and juniors, we wanted to have some way to recognize a large number of graduating seniors. The chapter developed a special ceremony that was very meaningful and special to each graduate.