When your chapter has a bad president...

[Katy Q]

Made an error in judgment, I apologize. =/

[princessamy]

Originally Posted by Katy Q

So I've been in my chapter for over a year now, and it's great. I live in the house and am a member of the exec board. I've made some great friends and my college experience has been greatly improved by my involvement in my chapter.

Here's the problem. As a part of the exec board, I work very closely with our chapter president. Last year, we had an amazing president who understood just how to walk the line between fun/approachable and strict/tough. She was very personable and almost everyone liked her -- and even if they didn't, they respected her.

To put it mildly, people do NOT respect our current president, "Sarah." She constantly has a bad attitude, talks badly about chapter members and other chapters on campus, disciplines members who break rules but frequently breaks rules herself, and rarely opens her mouth without complaining about something. Sarah is very difficult to work with because she does not tolerate constructive criticism and lashes out at anyone who disagrees with her during exec meetings. She is paranoid about other exec members trying to "undermine her authority" and therefore frequently micromanages our responsibilities. At the same time, if any one of us should approach her with a question/concern/etc, she will brush it off and dismiss it as "not her problem." She refuses to assist with activities we ALL participate in, like setting up for initiation ceremonies, cleaning the house after events, etc -- she perceives these duties as being "beneath her." She also skips class on a regular basis because she is "too stressed" from her responsibilities as president.

Because of Sarah's horrible attitude, the exec board is very divided. There are three exec members who are very much "in her camp" and stick by her and her ways. The other seven of us really disapprove of her leadership and think she's taking our chapter down a bad path. Because of this divide, meetings are uncomfortable and unproductive.

I and others have voiced concerns about Sarah to our chapter advisors -- however, they generally brush off these worries because, as far as they are concerned, Sarah is a model president who turns in all her reports on time and stays on top of her responsibilities. They do not spend enough time here in the house to understand what is happening and observe Sarah's bad attitude and poor time management skills.

I am at a loss as to where to go from here. Sarah has alienated all but a few chapter members and the subject of her poor leadership is frequently discussed in the house. Because she does not command respect and is so unpleasant, I'm afraid our chapter is becoming a bit of a joke.

If anyone has any advice about how to handle a bad president, I would really appreciate it. I'm becoming really frustrated with the way our chapter is being run. We've made great strides in the last year or so, and I'm worried Sarah's leadership will reverse much of the progress we've made.

Thanks, and sorry for the obnoxiously long post!

Katy Q

QFP.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

It's not difficult to figure out your chapter. Airing dirty laundry in public is never appropriate. This will probably end badly.

[Katy Q]

Realized that as soon as I was QFP'd. I would really appreciate it if the poster who QFP'd could edit their post -- I made an error in judgment out of frustration.

[excelblue]

It's a perfectly valid question, save for the dirty laundry part.

Have you directly addressed this issue? Are all parties involved aware of the dysfunction, or are you and a few sisters being passive aggressive?

[33girl]

A new president
To run the residence
That's who you voted for
Was it an accident?
~Heavy D

FWIW, I have been in situations where girls who seemed like they would be GREAT presidents sucked a whole bunch once they got in (usually because they had their big or little too much in their ear creating drama).

All I can say is, your chapter is more than your president. Keep the drama as in house as you can, and continue to be the best member YOU can be. If your chapter is truly being judged by the rest of the campus due to ONE member - your president - that's not an indictment of her, but of the lack of presence and involvement of the rest of the chapter.

[IrishLake]

It's a shame she edited her entire rush story as a result of this post.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I've also seen presidents picked apart for anything/everything they did.

A few things I noticed:

1) The president should NOT be disciplining anyone on her own. Depending on your bylaws, she may be the chair of the disciplinary committee, but if she is truly disciplining people on her own, well, that would be unlike any chapter I've ever heard of.

2) Why don't the advisors don't see a problem? Are they not engaged, or is there not really a severe problem?

3) It's really possible that she's overwhelmed, and needs help, not criticism.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

2) Why don't the advisors don't see a problem? Are they not engaged, or is there not really a severe problem?

There's a third possibility - that the previous president was laissez-faire to the point of lackadaisical, and the current girl's micromanagement is a breath of fresh air. (I'm guessing the advisors are the ones who get bitched at if the exec board doesn't get reports etc in on time. One year of that and Tracy Flick sounds like a pretty good deal.)

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by 33girl

One year of that and Tracy Flick sounds like a pretty good deal.)

Amen!

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

It's a shame she edited her entire rush story as a result of this post.

Yet another lesson that not everything needs to be brought to GC and to be discreet when bringing things to GC.

Princessamy still QFP. LOL.

[ZTAOnlytheBest]

I really don't like the attitude that any misjudgment of what is appropriate to post should be quoted immediately. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to first comment telling the original poster to edit their post? It seems to me that most of the QFPing is done just to cause trouble for the poster, even if the poster didn't intend to do anything wrong....

[MaryPoppins]

Well details are there but I'm not certain that it's enough to single out her Chapter. A full third of the nearby Chapters are probably suffering under the same sort of leadership (or actually the lack thereof.). For some folks with low powers of self editing the only wake up call is when they realize they have been been parodied on the Internet or in gossip. Frankly fear of public shaming is extremely effective for curbing poor behavior of any sort.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by ZTAOnlytheBest

I really don't like the attitude that any misjudgment of what is appropriate to post should be quoted immediately. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to first comment telling the original poster to edit their post?

Agreed. Lots of 18-22 year old college students make errors in judgment. I'd rather advise than chastise.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by MaryPoppins

Well details are there but I'm not certain that it's enough to single out her Chapter. A full third of the nearby Chapters are probably suffering under the same sort of leadership (or actually the lack thereof.). For some folks with low powers of self editing the only wake up call is when they realize they have been been parodied on the Internet or in gossip. Frankly fear of public shaming is extremely effective for curbing poor behavior of any sort.

You're too late to be commenting. All the details were very much there in her recruitment story which is why she decided to delete it.

Since we are only getting one frustrated person's opinion, this certainly isn't a place for the public shaming you're advocating.