Fraternal Relevance of TItle IX

June 23rd, 1972. For most of you who will read this blog entry, this date has little relevance to you. I’d presume most of you weren’t even born. Yet, this date has significant relevance because this was the day Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 became law.

What is Title IX? Title IX protects people from the discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. What does that mean for you? It means 40 years ago; Title IX paved the way for women not to be discriminated against with regard to education, opportunity, or rights.

While most people relate Title IX to athletics, it is important to understand the implications of Title IX in the fraternal world. The law does exclude specific groups including most private school institutions, groups like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and fraternity and sorority organizations. This exemption comes from the belief that fraternity and sorority organizations work because they are single-sex and there is an equal opportunity for both sexes to join their respective organization.

Yet, Greek communities allowing unnecessary and borderline inappropriate interaction between fraternities and sororities have put our single-gendered status in jeopardy. Inappropriate activities such as having sorority women as honorary members of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) or “little sisters” having voting rights during recruitment have jeopardized the sanctity of our membership.

To combat these activities and protect our single-gendered status, the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) and the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) have both re-affirmed their stance on this issue. The NIC has a specific resolution that can be found here that outlines their position. In addition, the NPC passed a resolution (found here) in November 2011 re-affirming their stance on being women’s-only private social organizations.

So why is this important? Without the Title IX exemption, membership in fraternities and sororities could drastically change. Men could theoretically join a sorority and women could join a fraternity. Think it can’t happen? Check out this recent lawsuit here. Or, for my readers with a legal mindset, check out this old Fraternal Law edition here. Image voting on a woman and a group of men opposing. Imagine men’s recruitment being conducted by women. Weird right?

While those are extreme examples, it is important to embrace our single-gender membership.
You should be proud of the benefits you are offered as a single-gender organization and take a moment to reflect on the individuals who made Title IX a reality 40 years ago. I believe in keeping social fraternity only men and social sorority only women. I hope you will to.

It appears the latest trend is to go to a Food Truck Bazaar. For those of you who have never gone, it is an event where a number of Food Trucks line up and provide food to guests who either pay at the truck or at the entrance. It is quite a unique event and one that attracts a number of people.

What is particularly distinctive about a Food Truck event is that the food offered is usually unique. Whether it is exclusive cupcakes, creative empanadas or a fried food of some sort, it always intrigues the audience.

Putting my fraternal hat on, I thought, why not create a Values-Based Truck Bazaar. We talk a lot about values-based recruitment but what does that mean? It means you talk about values. Well, how do you talk about values? You discuss how each value is actually portrayed in your chapter or organization. The focus is on how you live each value.

So, what would a Values-Based Truck Bazaar look like? Well, you’d have multiple trucks with one core value written on each truck. When someone comes up to the “Scholarship” truck, not only do you offer some food or a non-alcohol beverage, but you talk about your scholarship initiatives within your chapter. You might even say, if you stop at the Scholarship truck and leave us your contact information, you are automatically entered into a drawing for a $1000 scholarship that we provide to 5 (or insert however many) incoming students. In addition, we might offer you a free hot dog.

At the next truck might be Loyalty. The truck next to the Loyalty truck – the Brotherhood/Sisterhood truck. Across the way might be an Alumni truck where local alumni can discuss their fraternal experience with guests.

Not sure what you should do at a certain Values Truck? Be creative! A service truck might have a number of brothers and sisters grilling food and SERVING others. A chivalry/gentlemanly conduct truck might offer a flower and a cupcake to every guest that comes to the truck. Philanthropy truck? For every empanada sold, all proceeds will go to the local humane society.

If someone isn’t working at a truck, they are working the crowd. They are getting guests excited about each truck. They are meeting people. They are taking down contact information. They are offering prizes. They are tweeting about the event. They are putting food pictures up on Instagram for their followers to see. They are thanking people as they leave and telling guests about their next event.

Call me crazy but I tend to think that this idea is unique, it could be relatively cheap to put on if done correctly and you are offering food. Who doesn’t love food? So, send me a picture when the first Values-Based Truck Bazaar occurs. I’ll look forward to it!