How much Autonomy does your chapter have?

[PsychTau]

How much autonomy does your chapter have? In other words, do you have to do the EXACT NM program provided by HQ? Or do they give you just an outline and you come up with the activities?

What about chapter meetings? Are they exactly the same format at every chapter?

And what about Officer Elections (apparently a hot topic!)? Can each chapter decide how to pick the candidates/slate/vote, etc.? (I'm not talking about the Constitution requiring a 90% vote or whatever....what about the rest of the process?).

Another big one (and I know you can't give all the info, so you don't have to give the details. Yes or No will do.): Does each chapter have to follow the exact same membership selection procedure or can Alpha Chapter do a ranking system from 1 to 5 for each PNM while Zeta Chapter does a simple Yes/No vote? (Once again, not talking about requiring a 90% vote to offer bid....)

What else can you think of that you might be doing differently or uniquely?

Discussion welcome.....but remember...there are no right or wrong answers in this thread. It's all relative.

PsychTau

[Rudey]

Originally posted by PsychTau
How much autonomy does your chapter have? In other words, do you have to do the EXACT NM program provided by HQ? Or do they give you just an outline and you come up with the activities?

What about chapter meetings? Are they exactly the same format at every chapter?

And what about Officer Elections (apparently a hot topic!)? Can each chapter decide how to pick the candidates/slate/vote, etc.? (I'm not talking about the Constitution requiring a 90% vote or whatever....what about the rest of the process?).

Another big one (and I know you can't give all the info, so you don't have to give the details. Yes or No will do.): Does each chapter have to follow the exact same membership selection procedure or can Alpha Chapter do a ranking system from 1 to 5 for each PNM while Zeta Chapter does a simple Yes/No vote? (Once again, not talking about requiring a 90% vote to offer bid....)

What else can you think of that you might be doing differently or uniquely?

Discussion welcome.....but remember...there are no right or wrong answers in this thread. It's all relative.

PsychTau

Complete autonomy by those standards and questions.

-Rudey

[Kevin]

Originally posted by PsychTau
How much autonomy does your chapter have? In other words, do you have to do the EXACT NM program provided by HQ? Or do they give you just an outline and you come up with the activities?

What about chapter meetings? Are they exactly the same format at every chapter?

And what about Officer Elections (apparently a hot topic!)? Can each chapter decide how to pick the candidates/slate/vote, etc.? (I'm not talking about the Constitution requiring a 90% vote or whatever....what about the rest of the process?).

Another big one (and I know you can't give all the info, so you don't have to give the details. Yes or No will do.): Does each chapter have to follow the exact same membership selection procedure or can Alpha Chapter do a ranking system from 1 to 5 for each PNM while Zeta Chapter does a simple Yes/No vote? (Once again, not talking about requiring a 90% vote to offer bid....)

What else can you think of that you might be doing differently or uniquely?

Discussion welcome.....but remember...there are no right or wrong answers in this thread. It's all relative.

PsychTau

The autonomy level has been decreasing over the last few years. Our national programming has become further and further integrated to the point that it is now almost required -- which is a good thing. They obtain compliance through a points system that requires success in many areas such as programming, recruiting and risk management.

Failure to earn enough of these points will earn you more visits from consultants. The program is in its initial stages. It was only proposed two years ago at our national convention. We'll have a follow-up discussion on it this year I'm sure.

Meetings are run in generally the same way. Membership is always by unanimous vote in any chapter. Bid selection is up to you as are officer duties for the most part. There are some duties spelled out in the governing document called "The Law", but they don't cover everything.

[AGDee]

How much autonomy does your chapter have? In other words, do you have to do the EXACT NM program provided by HQ? Or do they give you just an outline and you come up with the activities?

There are exact fraternity education/history materials but activities are planned by the chapters and have to be approved by their Province Director.

What about chapter meetings? Are they exactly the same format at every chapter?

Fairly standard, there is some room for leeway. program meetings vs. business meetings

And what about Officer Elections (apparently a hot topic!)? Can each chapter decide how to pick the candidates/slate/vote, etc.? (I'm not talking about the Constitution requiring a 90% vote or whatever....what about the rest of the process?).

Very set process to be followed by the letter.

Another big one (and I know you can't give all the info, so you don't have to give the details. Yes or No will do.): Does each chapter have to follow the exact same membership selection procedure or can Alpha Chapter do a ranking system from 1 to 5 for each PNM while Zeta Chapter does a simple Yes/No vote? (Once again, not talking about requiring a 90% vote to offer bid....)

Very set process to be followed by the letter (can vary slightly for schools that don't get recs)

What else can you think of that you might be doing differently or uniquely?

Recruitment, philanthropy projects, social events/mixers are all very individualized by chapter but again, must get approval.

There are other things like house rules, study rules/scholarship incentives, code of standards, activity point systems, for which there are some set rules (no alcohol in the house, minimum GPAs) but then there are huge parts that are set by the chapters too. Again, all chapter policies must get approval by Province teams.


It boils down to a balance between making sure the chapters are covered legally and allowing them individuality as well.

Dee