A Tough Fall Ahead

[PikesOnce]

There is a lot of work to do to help rebuild for Linfield College.
I am the current President and we are facing a rush semester without a house and minimal members (Our house just recently became condemned and we are trying to get the money for a remodel).
For the best 3 years I have been here I have seen over 70% of our new initiates leaving along with the normal numbers of seniors graduating.
Our chapter now rests on 17 members and we are up against three other fraternities exceeding 30 members all with working houses.
Getting out and have a solid rush class is a must but its hard to get all the guys motivated and getting out to meet new potential brothers.
I am planning on launching a "What's S.L.A.G.?" campaign but I am afraid that won't be enough.
Any good ideas?

[Firehouse]

Yes. Linfield has always been a pretty good chapter. I'm sorry that you're down, but good genes should win in the end. There was an old guy with a crew-cut - the mayor I think - who took care of the chapter; he may have died.
You should have at least 50 members. Dominate your competition. Grow fast and aggressive so there's a dynamic of excitement and so you can compete.
Here are some practical ideas. Ditch the "slag" idea - no one responds to promotions like that; they respond to men rushing men. Personal contact.

1. Pick one Brother who is in a position to drop out or take a lighter load for a semester and make rush his full-time job. Pay him by adding to the pledge fee or get alumni to make him an employee. The chapter has been good so you should have alumni suppport. He should concentrate on pledging numbers of good underclassmen and getting them initiated.

2. Make getting a good house a priority. Make ther alumni do this; the undergrads don't have the ability to get that done. Inspire the alumni with the promise that the chapter will be on top again. Define that by being the biggest and best.

3. Consider having two pledge classes per semester until you get your numbers back. Remember - and make sure the Brothers understand - against competition twice your size you cannot afford to 'get good' slowly. You'll never recover if you try to do it slowly. Do it quickly. Double your chapter size in one year and enjoy the effect of the increased optimism and excitement.

4. Make sure all the Brothers know that they must follow the leader, the rush chairman. Thier reward is a much better fraternity experience. Be prepared to lose a few. You may get down to 10 or 12 members. Some will leave becasuse they lose interest. Siome becasue they're embarrassed to be in what they view as a loser fraternity. But know: ON a campus where the top houses have 30 me, you can dominate and very quickly.

5. Don't fall into the psycho-babble crap about "every brother is responsible for bringing one new member in to replace himself'. That doesn't work. When everyone is responsible, then no one is responsible.

6. Pick a theme, an identity, and pursue that. Were you the jock house? The syudent government house? The smart, good-lookin guys? Did you have all the guys from a particular high school? At a small scholol with small fraternities, each fraternity usually has a specialized theme that distinguishes itself.

7. Great idea: find a sports club, like lacrosse or wrestling, or rugby, and pledge the entire team. They like to thikn of themselves as a fraternity enyway. This way they can be members of an important national fraternity.

Remember: Put someone in charge and make everyone follow him. Move quickly; no such thing as getting better slowly. Make alumni get you a house - you have to have a house if everyone else does. Don't be depressed when you lose some members; expect it. That actually makes it easier for the new guys to be accepted. Move now. Do it now. determine to have 40 brothers by the end of the 2010-11 school year.

Are you coming to the Convention?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

1. Pick one Brother who is in a position to drop out or take a lighter load for a semester and make rush his full-time job. Pay him by adding to the pledge fee or get alumni to make him an employee. The chapter has been good so you should have alumni suppport. He should concentrate on pledging numbers of good underclassmen and getting them initiated.

Pardon my crash, but isn't there a possibility that his parents might have a slight problem with that??

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Pardon my crash, but isn't there a possibility that his parents might have a slight problem with that??

I'm glad you said something, because I was shocked by that suggestion. Aren't we all in this to support our members academic development? I don't think it's responsible to suggest someone put their education on hold to recruit for the fraternity.

[AXOmom]

Particularly since Linfield is private and not cheap.

Greek life can be a great thing, but if I thought for one minute it was interfering with my child's ability to get her degree in a reasonable amount of time - I'd be torked, and she'd be done. You go to college to get an education and a degree - everything else is icing.

Also, and someone please correct me if I'm totally off base, but on my kid's campus, you have to be a full time student in order to be active. Am I misinformed or does that vary by chapter, campus, and organization?

[Firehouse]

With respect, I believe this is an excellent idea or I would not have suggested it. It's been done before, and successfully.
Certainly, if a man's parents are paying the bills and they object to him taking the job then he is not a candidate. Neither is any man a candidate who feels that this would "put his education on hold" as you say. On the other hand, it's not unusual for a man to take a semester off and work, or to take a lighter load and have a part time job.
As far as being considered "active" is concerned, this is a job taken by a fraternity Brother as a recruiter. Whether the chapter counts him as "active" at the moment is beside the point. He is in fact there, doing his job. It could be an alumnus just as easily as it could be an undergraduate.
On some campuses, a man is given the job of full-time summer rush chairman, with a car, a clothing allowance and a budget. This is his paid job for those months. He leads the chapter in rushing and assembling a pledge class, often moving them directly into the house before fall term begins. This is common fraternity practice at some big schools in Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Iowa, Missouri - I'm sure there are others.

In this case - Linfield - the individual has reached out for help with ideas. If they don't re-build their numbers the chapter will die. It sounds as if fraternity sizes are small, so they can become competitive again quickly.

The three responders are all sorority women, and I understand this solution may sound odd to you because sororities tend to have lots of rules and restrictions on rush, including fall formal rush, and a limitation on summer contact. I believe this idea will also work with a weak sorority chapter that wnats to improve, and I have suggested it before.

Yes, we're here to get an education, and a first class education offers many advantages. What also offers considerable advantages are the lifelong relationships with quality men we forge in college. Pike at Linfield is an old and distinguished chapter. I'd like to see them survive and prosper.

I'm surprised at your reactions to a creative and effective solution with an entrepreneurial flair. The right man, who sees advantages for himself in this endeavor, will make a success.

[33girl]

It's not so much the rush rules or the part time student issue, it's more the idea of any parent being OK with this. I'm quite familiar with the concept of taking a semester off to work, but that's usually to make money at a full-time adult job to pay for your education - not to be a rush chair.

Paying the guy who does summer rush is completely different. It's SUMMER. School is not in session. He's probably turned down far more lucrative summer jobs to do all this for the chapter and he should be paid in return.

You know I usually agree with you man, but I just can't get on board with this one.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

With respect, I believe this is an excellent idea or I would not have suggested it.

Your suggestion is ridiculous and goes against almost everything that Greekdom is about. ETA: I don't even care about parents' opinions and whether the parents are paying for it. Students shouldn't be taking time off in the interest of the GLO regardless of whether it is disguised as a job.

I'm accustomed to hearing about NPHCers staying in school longer so that they can "make new members," or become a member, "save a chapter," and enjoy "being out" as a collegiate. And I knew some IFCers when I was in college who stayed in school a little longer to stay involved as an active and "save the chapter." All of those people FAIL at life and those chapters FAIL their national headquarters with zero exceptions.

/this isn't a lane swerve because this is a Greekdom issue

[Firehouse]

My goodness. I certainly did not expect women to post in response to a Pike discussion, and I am surprised at the intensity of the responses (Dr Phil, I assume from your language that you are also female). But it's fine; if we didn't have passion for this stuff there wouldn't be any discussions at all and no website. Thank you for your responses; I enjoy the discussion.

With respect, I have a lot of experience with fraternities over a long time and I have seen this done successfully. It's not a bad thing that sorority women view their organizations differently than fraternity men. My focus is on ressurecting, saving or improving existing fraternity chapters. If you want a weak chapter to get better, someone must step forward and take command - it doesn't happen all by itself. That man must come from somewhere, either from outside (a transfer or a consultant from national), or from the inside. If the inside man is a full time college student, he has limited capacity to get the job done.

Dr Phil, I'm not certain we share the same concept of 'Greekdom' and I'm pretty sure I don't know what you mean by it. I do understand biology and the mechanics of fraternity competition. You made a pretty bold statement: "All of those people FAIL at life and those chapters FAIL their national headquarters with zero exceptions." That has not been my experience.

Linfield is a small school. If our chapter is to survive (National requires 25 members to sustain a chapter) then the members must take immediate action, be creative and find success to motivate the group. Chapters thrive on momentum and morale. Both can be generated by strong, bold leadership.

Fraternities do not operate on the same dynamic as sororities. Women do not fit well into the male model and vice versa.

[Senusret I]

I am a fraternity member and also find this to be a bad idea, HOWEVER,

Originally Posted by Firehouse

(National requires 25 members to sustain a chapter)

THAT right there is the real problem. I suspect it may have been part of the multi-faceted problem which was the colony at Howard.

I do not support national minimums that are above the minimum number that the college requires.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

My goodness. I certainly did not expect women to post in response to a Pike discussion, and I am surprised at the intensity of the responses (Dr Phil, I assume from your language that you are also female). But it's fine; if we didn't have passion for this stuff there wouldn't be any discussions at all and no website. Thank you for your responses; I enjoy the discussion.

With respect, I have a lot of experience with fraternities over a long time and I have seen this done successfully. It's not a bad thing that sorority women view their organizations differently than fraternity men. My focus is on ressurecting, saving or improving existing fraternity chapters. If you want a weak chapter to get better, someone must step forward and take command - it doesn't happen all by itself. That man must come from somewhere, either from outside (a transfer or a consultant from national), or from the inside. If the inside man is a full time college student, he has limited capacity to get the job done.

Dr Phil, I'm not certain we share the same concept of 'Greekdom' and I'm pretty sure I don't know what you mean by it. I do understand biology and the mechanics of fraternity competition. You made a pretty bold statement: "All of those people FAIL at life and those chapters FAIL their national headquarters with zero exceptions." That has not been my experience.

Linfield is a small school. If our chapter is to survive (National requires 25 members to sustain a chapter) then the members must take immediate action, be creative and find success to motivate the group. Chapters thrive on momentum and morale. Both can be generated by strong, bold leadership.

Fraternities do not operate on the same dynamic as sororities. Women do not fit well into the male model and vice versa.

These are all opinions. I doubt you would attempt to hone in on the perceived emotion if we were not women typing. This is a Greekdom issue and not a gender issue or a fraternity-vs-sorority issue. Certainly you do not assume that you are typing to people who are unfamiliar with keeping chapters afloat or that what it takes is so different for fraternities and sororities across councils and conferences.

The interesting thing about posting such threads on a publically viewable PiKA forum is that anyone can read and respond to it. I notice that NPC and NIC sometimes discuss struggling colonies and chapters on Greekchat and there's a reason why the NPHC orgs tend not to.

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I am a fraternity member and also find this to be a bad idea....

Imagine that.

A chapter that is struggling to survive is always a difficult thing. That doesn't mean that every suggestion is a good one even if it worked for a chapter(s) in the past. Afterall, a brother could take off from school to "work for the fraternity" and the chapter could still lose its charter. That would be fail all around.

[thetygerlily]

I'll ignore some of the insanity as others have got it covered, but here's an idea- if you don't have a house, why not considering playing it up as a positive? My college was very similar to Linfield- small, private, liberal arts school with 3-5 fraternities and sororities. The fraternities had houses, the sororities didn't. Sounds pretty similar to Linfield.

One of the challenges that several of our fraternities faced was getting enough people to live in. Some people, including my husband, either didn't join or disassociated when they found out they would have to live in the house. With such a small student body and not a ton of interest in Greek life, the fraternities often struggled to fill all of their beds. I'm sure it is really hard on you guys to have had your house condemned (ouch ) and you guys want it back, but until you do- it's all about how you spin it. "We have a fantastic, close-knit brotherhood and we do a lot together, but we also live in the dorms/apts/whatever and are able to be really involved in other aspects of college life".

Yes, the spin may not work, especially if you guys don't embrace it & believe in it- but find a way to put a positive spin on the situation and showcase what you have to offer. In this case, not having a house can be a huge perk to some people. Just a thought...

Also, since you don't have a central house to congregate in- be visible. Wear letters, have lunch together on campus, host activities. Show that brotherhood goes beyond the house. Any group should do this regardless, but for you especially this is important.

Good luck!

[Firehouse]

I respect your opinion, but I'm not sure what you mena by "the minimum number that the college requires." I know that the HBGLO chapters and the multi-culturals can have very low numbers, but I'm not aware that a university requires an IFC chapter to have a set number. Panhellenic sororities with low numbers usually just go out of business.

No. Regarding the failed colony at Howard, I'll offer my opinion but I am speaking only for myself. I was angry that we installed a colony at Howard and I predicted what would and did happen. My national fraternity was disrespectful of a campus cuture, and that you must not do if you want to prosper.

I live in Tallahassee. FAMU and FSU are less than one mile apart. I am very familiar with the Black campus culture, with the unique strengths and drawbacks of Black fraternities and sororities, and with the - lets call it the point of view - of a smaller HBCU living in the shadow of a very large state university.

What my fraternity tried to do was to create a culturally white fraternity with black men on a campus where that very act was considered to be an intrusion of the most disrespectful kind. The appeal that was made to the Pike candidates was pretty straightforward and had to do with encouraging achievement and especially with a fraternity experience that involved no hazing. I was told that our colony attracted many student body leaders. I understand that after the colony failed, those men were initiated into Pike at a nearby chapter (GWU?).

Here's what I believe:
1. You must respect the campus culture if you want to prosper. We were disrespectful of the established culture at Howard and were not wanted there.

2. I do not want a chapter of Pike that is culturally Black. I don't want to see men wearing my letters whacking each other with canes, branding each other, wearing dog collars and doing a number of other things in public. I appreciate and i respect the demonstrated strengths of Black fraternities, but I don't want a chapter with the downside.

3. No matter how outstanding the men were that started the Pike chapter, if they wanted to fit into the Howard campus culture they eventually would have become just another fraternity like all the others there. And, they probably would not have been successful because Pike is not a traditionally acepted HBGLO.

4. At one time, and not so long ago, Jewish men were not permitted to join 'Christian' fraternities and so they became ZBT or TEP or AEPi or some other Jewish fraternity member. But today, that discrimination is rare and Jewish men feel free to join whatever fraternity appeals to them. I think we're slowly moving that way where Black men are concerned as well. Black men now join culturally white fraternities in surprising large numbers because that's where they feel comfortable and that's where they feel they have the most friends. Other black men feel more comfortable in an HBGLO. Black fraternities are NOT simply smaller versions of white fraternities. There are - some would say profound - cultural differences, both as undergrads and as alumni.


So...that's what happened to us at Howard in my opinion. I was appalled when we went there, and I was embarrased when we failed. I knew it would happen, and I was especially saddened that some fine men were misled by adults who should have known better.

[Firehouse]

"Yes, the spin may not work, especially if you guys don't embrace it & believe in it- but find a way to put a positive spin on the situation and showcase what you have to offer. In this case, not having a house can be a huge perk to some people. Just a thought... :"

You may be right. That's what they may have to do. If everyone else has a house, it's awfully hard to be the odd man out. But, you've stated it well. They have to put a positive spin on the situation.

[dreamseeker]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

My goodness. I certainly did not expect women to post in response to a Pike discussion

oh shit. let me get off GC and get back in the kitchen where i belong before i get in trouble.