What Did Our Founders Mean?

Today is Thursday. Yesterday I read a negative article about a fraternity. Tuesday, I read a negative article about a fraternity. Monday, I read an article about a fraternity that was negative. As I read more negative articles about our fraternal brothers and sisters nationwide, I shook my head, like you, in disgust. Hazing? Alcohol abuse? A rape survey? Really? Come on members of Sigma Phi Epsilon at the University of Vermont!

For many of us professionals, we bang out head on our desk asking, “WHY?!?!” Why do our members continue to do stupid things? I too, ponder this question over and over. How did we get here? What am I missing?

After doing some informal research amongst my peers’ thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets, I started to see a trend. Most thoughts were a call to action to get back to our founder’s values. Challenge students to live our founders’ beliefs. See and understand the mission and vision our founders’ had when they created our organizations.

As I read more and more of my peers’ thoughts, a light bulb moment hit me.

Our students have no idea what we mean to live our founder’s values.

Why? They don’t know who their founders are. Or, they don’t know the history of their organization. Or, they don’t understand what our founders’ meant by living their creed, mission, and vision. Or, they simply don’t understand what our founders’ wanted when our organizations were created.

Simply put, we are challenging students to do something they have no education on or very little knowledge of to comprehend. Think about it, how often do students talk about their founding principles? Once? Maybe twice a year? How often do students talk about their organization’s history in a given semester? Maybe once? How many students come into our offices and ask, “Hey Greek Advisor, can we talk about why my organization was founded?”

If we use Simon Sinek’s theory of starting with the “why”, my informal research would be dead on. Why aren’t our members living the values our founders’ set forth for us? If we answer that question first, we can then move on to how we can fix the problem and what we can do to make positive change.

As professionals, we need to take a step back. We need to go back to the basics my friends. When an organization screws up, we need to explain to them that for every stupid decision, there is a consequence. Once we explain that, we can ask questions such as, “do you think your founder(s) would be proud of this” or “how does this signify the values of your organization?” However, we must pay close attention to how they respond because if they look at you with a blank stare or recite the values as if they are being tested, we need to reframe the questions we ask them. Do you know your founder(s)? Do you know your organization’s values? Pull out their mission/vision/creed statements and ask the student what that means to them on a daily basis? Then, relate it to the incident at hand.

I feel we have made unwarranted assumptions about our students’ knowledge of their organization’s history, values, and ritual. I’m not saying our students are incompetent or dumb. I simply think we need to take a few steps back before shouting “live your values like your founders would” when the student may be saying, “what the hell does that mean?” Even at our national conferences, institutes, and other leadership initiatives, the “ahh ha” moments occur on the day or night when we as professionals help explain how the ritual and how the values of organization impact them (or should impact them) on a daily basis. In those moments, the students realize, “hey, this ritual stuff is pretty sweet” or “wow, I now realize how important these values are to my organization and my personal actions.” Now, consider the fact that those national conferences, institutes, and leadership initiatives only target a small subset of our students; you can understand that we have a lot of work to do.

I believe that if we can change the tone of our conversations when actions of our brothers and sisters are inconsistent with their founding principles, I think we will start to see some positive results. Similarly, if we stop assuming what our students may or may not know, we can really target our areas of focus in our respective communities and institutions.

What do you think?

12 Most Impactful Stories in the Fraternal World for 2011

After seeing the 40 most powerful images of 2011, I thought it would be interesting to create something similar in the fraternal world. So, here are the 12 most impactful stories with images that I could find in the fraternal world for 2011 (in no particular order)...

Bertie McConnell, a 90 year old Kansas woman whose sorority dreams were disrupted by World War II was able to join the sorority she loves, Zeta Tau Alpha at Washburn University. Pictured with Mrs. McConnell are chapter president Paige Martin and Vice President Collegiate III Kelley Harmon.

Pictured here is Pi Kappa Phi member David Feltner who passed away in 2011. David impacted me personally and this picture personified what fraternity is about. This picture shows David four days after brain surgery to remove an egg-sized malignant tumor. Nearly 50 of his fraternity brothers shaved their heads in solidarity with David and presented him with a signed photo of them. R.I.P. David.

Andrew P. Corley., 88, flanked by his son Richard Corley Sr., right and grandson Richard Corley Jr., celebrate three generations of Omega Psi Phi fraternity in Washington. Omega Psi Phi celebrated their centennial this year.

The Occupy Movement had an impact everywhere, including various campuses nationwide. This picture shows a fraternity house with a sign presumably in response to Occupy NWA protesters who were standing across the street. According to protesters in attendance, the sign, which reads "The 1%" was only displayed for a few minutes before it was removed.

A rooftop scandal at the University of Southern California (USC) dominated the headlines back in March and negatively affected the fraternal world.

In 2011, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. became the third NPHC organization to reach the 100 year mark. Members celebrated by going to Indianapolis, Indiana and then making a pilgrimage to Bloomington, Indiana.

Joplin, Missouri was devastated by a terrible tornado back in May. Yet, fraternity men were some of the first on site to help clean-up. Pictured here are Governor Nixon with a volunteer team from the University of Missouri's Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) fraternity. Tulsa and Joplin area Habitat for Humanity teams joined forces with the city of Joplin to build 10 homes for families impacted by the May 22 tornado. About 400 volunteers assisted with the Ten for Joplin project, constructing 10 homes in just 16 days.

A devastation in Japan put members of Delta Sigma Phi into action. Pictured here is an image from Japan disaster relief efforts. The woman in the picture was from Japan and started crying when members of the organization explained their motivation for seeking donations. A powerful moment for the members of Delta Sig.

Another hazing death in the fraternal world made headlines in February when George Desdunes passed away at Cornell University. His heartbroken mother is suing her son's fraternity for $25 million dollars after members allegedly kidnapped her son, blindfolded him, bound his hands and feet, and forced him to drink so much alcohol that he passed out and died. R.I.P. George.

The Circle of Sisterhood continued their positive momentum with their Foundation providing the first 2011 grant to 38 young girls on the west side of Tanzania hope. The village of Ruhunga is on the west side of Tanzania. In Ruhunga and other remote villages across Africa, access to education for young girls is extremely difficult. Very few girls continue after completing their secondary education due to school fees. These fees place a hardship on families and many parents are more likely to invest in their sons' education over their daughters.

Before girls at Ruhunga school can go to primary school, they have to pass a national exam. This grant is currently serving as an incentive for 38 girls to pass the national exam. For each girl that passes the exam, the Circle of Sisterhood grant will cover not only her school fees but also the cost of her workbooks, school uniform, and other school supplies.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama felt the devastation of Mother Nature when a massive tornado hit their town,damaged a number of houses and killed many people. Not thinking twice, the Greek community came together and opened up their fraternity/sorority houses for tornado relief. Pictured here are members of the Alabama Greek community preparing hot meals at the Beta Theta Pi house on a Wednesday afternoon as part of the UA Greek Relief.

2011 was a special year for the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values (AFLV) as 20 students descended to El Salvador for the first ever AFLV service immersion trip. During the trip, a sorority woman takes time to play with the children in Las Delicias.

Thank you to all who helped put this blog entry together. If you have other stories or images, feel free to post them in the comments section or send them to me and I can do another entry.