Interest Group at Marietta College

[MariettaPhiMA]

I initiated 5/25/07 at Ohio University and soon after transferred to Marietta College. I was charged with creating a chapter at MC.

There is a rumor in the Alpha Kappa chapter at OU that there was a group of interested guys at Marietta in the 1980's or 1990's. They were not able to get colonized so initiated and stayed active at OU.

In February of 2007 I started the Red, Black and Gold Club. We consisted of three members: myself, my little, and a member of the local women's sorority Omicron Chi Theta. Although we were able to recruit more members we were the only three who stayed active.

The name was soon changed to Harmonious Beginnings. We are a registered student organization with the former Delta Upsilon advisor as our advisor. We even have the second and third floors of a boarding house two blocks from campus with our letters (Eta Beta) out front.

We now have only two members as the OXO graduated. My little just transferred to the community college over the hill. He's still technically active because he comes to meetings but I can't allow him to participate in thing here at the college.

There's a very long explanation of the current status of the Greek community that I won't get into. I will say that the Delts, the Kappas and the Lambda Chis have expressed support for us.

We have met so many challenges but there is one that we just cannot overcome. The chairman of the music department is a Sinfonian but he refuses to even speak to me about the possibility.

With that being the case there has been a lot of discussion as to what to do with the group. The most popular choice is to split into two entities.

The first would be the Mid-Ohio Valley Area Alumni Association. There are a ton of alums in the area and this is a way to still contribute to Sinfonia without starting a collegiate chapter.

The second is to form a local fraternity from HB. Our interest group has been approached by Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Sigma Phi about using our group to re-charter their inactive chapters. We accepted the offer from ASP. However, once they found out that I was a Sinfonian all contact from them ended.

We have also looked into expanding a regional or local fraternity but have not been able to find any near us that are willing to do so.

Therefore we have decided to start our own local fraternity to counterbalance via Title IX the local womens group.

While we will always have close ties to Sinfonia, especially to the Alpha Kappa chapter only 40 miles away, we are trying to make an organization not based on any existing one.

Any thoughts, ideas, comments, etc?

[WaxOff]

You may have lost contact from other orgs because of you being initiated into another Fraternity. They all have different rules about things like that.

You can take your Local and petition other Nationals for expansion or you can keep it local. That decision would come down to your other members. There are several threads here on GC that will help provide some insight into what is needed to form a local. Just remember that you may still need the school's consent to be a local on campus.

I'd prefer you to do it for Sinfonia, so I'll help you with that as much as I can.

In order to colonize the school for Sinfonia, there are some documents on the national web site that you'll need to read through. They list the requirements that are needed to start the Colony and keep it going prior to Activation. I would also recommend getting contact with your PG and Alpha Kappa for whatever assistance they can provide.

Whomever you choose as your faculty advisor does NOT have to be a Sinfonian, although it may help make things easier.

From a Sinfonian standpoint, you don't need the blessing of your faculty Sinfonians to colonize, unless they happen to be the PG. Part of the process requires the PG's endorsement. From a school standpoint, you'll only have to worry about it if the school requires the department's approval and it's the chair that holds makes that decision.

If you do this for Sinfonia, use tools like My Desktop or Sinfonia Circle to find alumni in your area that are willing to help out. I'm sure the brothers at Alpha Kappa would be more than willing to make the drive down on a weekend or even host your group for events.

I looked into re-colonizing an inactive Chapter years ago and I was stupid enough to try and do it on my own. This was before the joys of MySpace, Facebook, Sinfonia Circle, My Desktop, etc. By the time I had gotten the local contacts that I needed, I didn't have time for it. I've since moved to another state and am currently looking into building up the Sinfonian presence here with other Alumni.

Best of luck with what you choose to do. I, and I'm sure other Brothers, would hope you decide to expand Sinfonia and spread the words of the Object.

SLIBFS!!!!!!

Rob

[MariettaPhiMA]

I've downloaded and read the Guide to the Colony Program. On page 15 it has a place for the "music unit" signature. That is the problem I had mentioned earlier because the chairman of the music department won't speak to me about it.

What's interesting though is that it has a place for the signature but doesn't specifically say that it is required. However, I know our PG won't approve it without that signature as he mentioned at one of our meetings.

[WaxOff]

Originally Posted by MariettaPhiMA

I've downloaded and read the Guide to the Colony Program. On page 15 it has a place for the "music unit" signature. That is the problem I had mentioned earlier because the chairman of the music department won't speak to me about it.

My bad. I'm not sure how I missed that part of the form. I might've glossed over it thinking it wasn't an issue when I had read through it all.

It sucks that he won't sanction it. Best of luck with it all, but don't give up.

Rob

[Boodleboy322]

Fraternal Greetings,

The chain of command does not end with the chairman. Don't give up just because someone won't speak to you. If one guy can't help you have other resources available up the chain. You could present the idea to the Dean of the College of Music or higher if needed. Also, I would get alumni involved. You could start with your Province Alumni Coordinator or the closet one to your proximity. Also consider contacting an alumni association. We have an association based out of Central Ohio. Their website is at http://alumni.sinfonia3.org/coaa/. Let them know exactly what you told us on GC. Another approach is to send a letter to National Headquarters or email them. They have the resources available and can help point you in the right direction. There are many roads that lead to Rome. Hang in there and if you need help drafting some type of proposal or need help please don't hestitate to PM me.

OAS,

Boodleboy322

Originally Posted by MariettaPhiMA

I've downloaded and read the Guide to the Colony Program. On page 15 it has a place for the "music unit" signature. That is the problem I had mentioned earlier because the chairman of the music department won't speak to me about it.

What's interesting though is that it has a place for the signature but doesn't specifically say that it is required. However, I know our PG won't approve it without that signature as he mentioned at one of our meetings.

[rslpac1]

A thought on the difficulty you've had obtaining approval from the Sinfonian who is the music dept. chair:

See if any other male faculty at the school are Sinfonians, and ask for their help in the process. See if they can talk to the music dept. chair and convince him to give you the time of day. I would recommend holding off on going over his head unless it is the last resort - the worst thing you can do as a new music organization would be to piss off the music department chair!

Hope this helps - best of luck!

LLS,
Rich

[Boodleboy322]

I disagree with Rich. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is a Social Fraternity for men in music and should not have dependencies on the music dept chair if he is not willing to help out. If this was a professional organization that only catered to music majors then I would agree. Since it is not I don't think that it's fair to the men interested in developing this fine organization on their campus. At the end of the day it's the men's campus and not the dept chair's. His salary ,to some extent, is being paid by these men that wish to bring our brotherhood to this campus.

Not trying to be difficult but just have a different opinion.

Regards,

Boodleboy322

Originally Posted by rslpac1

A thought on the difficulty you've had obtaining approval from the Sinfonian who is the music dept. chair:

See if any other male faculty at the school are Sinfonians, and ask for their help in the process. See if they can talk to the music dept. chair and convince him to give you the time of day. I would recommend holding off on going over his head unless it is the last resort - the worst thing you can do as a new music organization would be to piss off the music department chair!

Hope this helps - best of luck!

LLS,
Rich

[MariettaPhiMA]

I agree with you BoodleBoy. Sinfonia is no longer a professional organization and therefore should be under the control of the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life rather than the Music Department.

I wonder if this is a requirement left over from when we were a professional fraternity? That would be my guess. I think this should be brought up at the next national convention. It's too late for 2009 but it could be put on the legislative docket for 2012.

[Boodleboy322]

Here we go again - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia never really was a Professional Organization even though many brothers feel it was. The fact of the matter is that there was a period in which the fraternity went through an identity crisis and even affiliated with the National Professional Organizational Group (I don't remember their name). The group's foundations under our Founding Father were Social.

As far as your specific scenario at your school, it may be as easy as bringing it up to the right people. PM if you have any thoughts on this and I will contact my resources at Lyrecrest to help steer you in the right direction if you're interested.

Fraternally,

Boodleboy322

Originally Posted by MariettaPhiMA

I agree with you BoodleBoy. Sinfonia is no longer a professional organization and therefore should be under the control of the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life rather than the Music Department.

I wonder if this is a requirement left over from when we were a professional fraternity? That would be my guess. I think this should be brought up at the next national convention. It's too late for 2009 but it could be put on the legislative docket for 2012.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Boodleboy322

Here we go again - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia never really was a Professional Organization even though many brothers feel it was. The fact of the matter is that there was a period in which the fraternity went through an identity crisis and even affiliated with the National Professional Organizational Group (I don't remember their name). The group's foundations under our Founding Father were Social.

Boodleboy, it is not helpful to rewrite history. I can assure you that when I pledged and was initiated Phi Mu Alpha was a professional fraternity. Jervis Underwood's Centennial History can assure you of that as well.

It is quite true that we were founded as a social fraternity for students of music. (That is, we were founded as a social fraternity but not a general fraternity.) But it is also quite true that as time went on, the Fraternity's leadership, for a variety of reasons that were not limited to an identity crisis, consciously positioned Phi Mu Alpha as a professional fraternity. Not only were we one of the founding members of the (male) Professional Interfraternity Conference and the (male and female) Professional Fraternity Association, we billed ourselves in literature and on our letterhead with this officially adopted tagline: "The Professional Fraternity for Men in Music." The result was a fraternity that acted something like a hybrid of a social fraternity and a professional fraternity, with a foot in both worlds. But officially, we were a professional fraternity.

When I pledged, the National Constitution stated: "Phi Mu Alpha is a fraternity representing the music profession." That language was deleted in 1985. By that time numerous impulses, which included but was not limited to Title IX and its requirement that professional fraternities be co-ed, caused us to do some soul-searching, go back to our roots, take one foot out of the "professional" side and plant both feet firmly in the social side.

Yes, our foundation was social. But it just isn't accurate to say that "Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia never really was a Professional Organization even though many brothers feel it was." If brothers initiated during that time "feel" it was, it is because the national fraternity governing documents and actions by the National Assembly said it was. We were social. Then we were professional, but with lots of social aspects still there. Then we were social again (but with aspects of professional that it has taken time to strip away).

Fraternally,
MysticCat

[Boodleboy322]

I am not re-writing history - the key words are "Even though many brothers feel it was". Whether that feeling was invoked because of a participation in a Professional Conference, initiation time period or because of some terminology that was deleted in 1985, I can assure you that when Father Mills began the Social Men's Club at NEC this specific wording or perception didn't exist.

Sure, I acknowledge the fact that brothers got initiated when the group was officially "Professional". My point is that when when this fraternity began it had social origins for men of music.

Also, how do we know that when the leadership positioned the fraternity towards being Professional it was just?


At the end of the day, a change to our original Object occurred during a time capsule in our history and this can be undisputed.

I've found that each brother's role with the fraternity by generation, time, culture and own experience influences their perception. I am proud of the fraternity's origin and our uniqueness in the Greek Community.

Regards,

Boodleboy322

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Boodleboy, it is not helpful to rewrite history. I can assure you that when I pledged and was initiated Phi Mu Alpha was a professional fraternity. Jervis Underwood's Centennial History can assure you of that as well.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Boodleboy322

I am not re-writing history - the key words are "Even though many brothers feel it was". Whether that feeling was invoked because of a participation in a Professional Conference, initiation time period or because of some terminology that was deleted in 1985, I can assure you that when Father Mills began the Social Men's Club at NEC this specific wording or perception didn't exist.

Sure, I acknowledge the fact that brothers got initiated when the group was officially "Professional". My point is that when when this fraternity began it had social origins for men of music.

Not trying to argue. Perhaps it is the choice of words that is . . . confusing.

I will not argue at all with your statement that Father Mills founded the Sinfonia as a social fraternity. The idea that we were a professional fraternity was never in his mind or in the minds of others influential in or founding and early development. To rightly assert that is not the same as saying that Phi Mu Alpha was never a professional fraternity. And you seem to agree with this when you say "Sure, I acknowledge the fact that brothers got initiated when the group was officially 'Professional.'" If you acknowledge that there was a time when we were "officially professional," then why say "Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia never really was a Professional Organization even though many brothers feel it was"?

The latter statement implies two things that are giving me problems: that at no time in our history were we officially a professional organization, and that anyone who thinks we were is basing that thought on uninformed perception rather than reality. That's what makes it sound like history is being re-written, since as you say, there was a time when we were officially professional.

By declaring ourselves a professional fraternity, we strayed from our founding ideals and the intentions of Father Mills and others, but that doesn't change the fact that we did officially do it. Isn't it sufficient (and more accurate to the point you're making about the intent when we were founded) simply to say that Phi Mu Alpha was not founded to be a professional fraternity?

Fraternally,
MysticCat

[Boodleboy322]

Agree

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Isn't it sufficient (and more accurate to the point you're making about the intent when we were founded) simply to say that Phi Mu Alpha was not founded to be a professional fraternity?

Fraternally,
MysticCat