Why Greek Advisors Need to Be Held to Higher Standard

In 2013, I wrote a blog entry entitled, “2012: Worst Year Ever for Greek Organizations?” Take a moment to reminisce about all those wonderful issues that year. Sad right?

Well apparently, I was wrong in my assumption, as 2015 has appeared to dominate the negative perception of fraternities and sororities. According to a recent Huffington Post article found here, “30 fraternities have been shut down by either university or national headquarters since the beginning of March.“

As a Greek Advisor, you know this. Or, I would hope you know this because if you haven’t stayed abreast with the recent news, you should be fired. Yes, fired.

Greek Life is being questioned more now than ever before and that means we need to have a real conversation about those that oversee the Greek community. It’s time someone said it because enough is enough.

GREEK ADVISORS NATIONWIDE NEED TO BE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD.

Why should students keep getting the brunt of all the criticism?

In my opinion, I believe there are 3 types of Greek Advisors. The first are the Quitters. Those that have lost interest and have already left this blog. The second type is the Whiners. Those that are rolling their eyes proclaiming, “Why should I be held to a higher standard?” Lastly, there are the Believers. Believers are a small group of individuals with the belief that they can make change. Let me explain the three types I just outlined.

The Quitters:

Quitters are those that are tired of hearing the negativity. Tired of seeing reality.  Tired of well, their job. In my opinion, these are the Advisors hurting the cause more than helping. Why? They’ve become complacent in what they do and have a blinded belief that either A) Nothing will happen to their community or B) Creating change is too much work or a waste of their time.

The Whiners:

Whiners are those that do just that – whine. They whine about why change can’t be made. They whine about why they should be held to a higher standard. They whine about how little time they have. How little funding/money they receive. They whine about staffing issues or alumni involvement. Heck, they’re the readers whining right now reading this.

The Believers:

Believers are the true change agents. They’re the advisors who acknowledge issues but refuse to let them keep occurring. They challenge the status quo and advocate for change without regard if they believe it will make a difference. No problem is too big and no issue is too overwhelming.

Now, take a moment to think about every Greek Advisor you know. What group would you place them in? What group would you place yourself in?

Here is the reality in my opinion. Collectively, there are too many Quitters and Whiners serving as Greek Advisors. I know this and I think you know it too but some of you struggle to accept this. Sucks right?

OF COURSE IT DOES!

So why does this matter? The time is coming (if it hasn’t already) when University presidents and provosts are going to ask what you, the Greek Advisor, have been up to. Asking how you are planning to prevent future issues similar to the ones at (insert any recent university Greek issue) at your institution.  Asking how you are continuing to advance the mission and vision of the University within the Greek community. Based on the 3 groups of Greek Advisors I outlined, here is how those conversations take place…

The Quitter:

Hi President X. I have seen the recent news and you have nothing to worry about here at XYZ. We don’t have those issues because we’re ZZZ Greek community. The ways we’ve done things have always worked and always will because, well, they have. So no worries President X.

The Whiner:

Hi President X. I have seen the recent news and it’s frustrating. I mean, we face those issues as well but I don’t have the staff or support to fight these ongoing issues. I’m constantly running meeting to meeting and am always being pulled in various directions. I spend a majority of my time in judicial meetings or dealing with alumni. Did I mention we have Panhellenic recruitment coming up? I’m glad we’re not dealing with those same national issues but our community needs work President X.

The Believer:

Hi President X. I have seen the recent news and I have called a meeting with my Greek leaders to discuss what’s been going on nationwide. We have our own community issues that are being addressed but it helps the students to see other examples of the ramifications occurring nationwide and how it impacts our community here. In addition, I would like to set aside time to review our policies and procedures so we can continue to adapt to our ever-changing student and demographic. It won’t be easy and it will take time, but I want to assure you we are working hard.  Finally, I have been putting together a proposal to increase our staffing and funding based on case studies I’ve researched that I think will help alleviate some of the issues we have been faced with lately.

Maybe I’m off base but I can assure you those conversations will be occurring either now or in the very near future.  So, what Greek advisor will you be – The Quitter, The Whiner or the Believer?

You know, what makes me sad is that I think anyone who becomes a Greek Advisor starts off as a Believer. Yet, as time goes on, you transform into a Whiner who then transforms into a Quitter. Why do you think the retention rate of Greek Advisors is so low?

What’s even worse is the fact that if things don’t change and change soon, we will start to see more Greek communities closing. If Greek advisors can’t make the change they wish to see, why are we fighting the fight?

So what now? Now is the time to be held to a higher standard as a Greek advisor. Now is the time to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are willing and able to get your hands dirty and make some change.

Why should you be held to a higher standard? The answer is the same one you give your students…

Did you choose to become a Greek Advisor? Yes

No one forced you? No

Did you take a pledge/oath (aka the job description)? Yes

Did you take a pledge/oath to be better than average Greek Advisor? Yes

Did you take this job to make a difference? Yes

This is why you’re held to a higher standard.

When the Chant Stops

By now, you've heard about the racial incident that occurred with the fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma. If you haven't, you can read the following article. To watch the video, click here.

As I watched the video in disappointment, as a former Higher Education professional and fraternity man myself, I couldn't help but think about the aftermath. Specifically, I knew it would make the news. I knew there would be a cry for justice. I knew there would be repercussions. However, one thing still bothered me. What happens when the chant stops?

What I mean by that is when I worked in Higher Ed, I always felt we as professionals struggled enough with risk management issues. When we finally started to get ahead of the game, we fell through the cracks in other areas. One of those areas were the teachable moments after an incident occurred.

Right now, SAE members at OU are packing their bags and in a state of disbelief as to what just happened to them. Why? The University President told them they had to move out by midnight on Tuesday, March 10th. Furthermore, the national office of SAE has closed the chapter and suspended all members. See their statement here.

I commend both the University and National organization for their swift action and strong leadership.

Yet, I keep asking myself, "what about the SAE members?" Are they all bad guys? No. Are they all racist? No. Do they understand the scope of what happened? I don't think so.

I don't know the history of the chapter or the diversity of its membership but what I do know is that they are kids. Kids who made a mistake. Kids who maybe were raised to believe what they chanted was right. Kids who may or may not have been intoxicated and made a poor choice. Am I giving excuses for them? No. However, it's important to note the ramifications of such actions to college age students.

What do I wish would happen? I wish there was open dialogue with the chapter. I wish the brothers had a chance to apologize (if they haven't already). I wish Higher Ed. professionals at OU were making it a priority to discuss this incident amongst the Greek community and larger University community as a whole (if they haven't already).

I dunno. I look back on my time as a Higher Ed. professional and when these type of situations occurred, I wish I would have done more AFTER the publicity went away. I focused so much time on investigating the incident, reviewing/clarifying policies and judicial enforcement that the "rehab" process was an after-thought. Sure there may have been a workshop or sanctions but I'm talking about PERSONAL rehab with the members.

I'd bet money there are SAE brothers in tears at this moment. I bet there are racial threats members are receiving. I bet there are some questioning their value system. I bet some are concerned they may get expelled from school.

Those are real issues. Real concerns. Concerns that at least in my experiences, didn't get enough attention.

So what now? I hope there will be intentional conversation with the members of the SAE chapter as well as the Greek community as a whole. I hope time will be invested in ensuring while the chapter members did an awful thing, they can learn from their mistakes. Finally, I hope in some cases, there will be a chance to potentially change a member's value system to accept all walks of life.

3 Ways to Disrupt the Fraternal World

I recently read one of, if not the best blog articles I have read in awhile by Tim Mousseau found here. I found it enlightening, powerful and real.

It forced me to reflect on my time in Higher Education and made me think about how we can truly change the landscape of the Fraternity and Sorority world. I’m not talking small change. I’m talking truly disrupt the landscape of how things are done. I’m talking, an impact similar to how Apple, Uber, Airbnb and other companies disrupted their respective industry.

In no particular order, here are the ideas I came up with to start the conversation:

1. Advertise Nationally – As a Community

It’s time for the fraternal world to step into the advertising/marketing game as a community. Why? Let’s face it; the perception of joining a Greek organization on a national scale is damaged.

To change that perception, there needs to be a national movement that is advertised to the world. A message that is heartfelt. A message that illuminates the essence of what it means to be in a fraternity or sorority. A message that people can relate to.

There is a reason national brands such as Coke, Starbucks and Nike spend millions of dollars a year on advertising. They do it to keep their product top-of-mind and to help impact the public’s perception of their brand.  The fraternal world has a great product when done right and impacting the public’s perception wouldn’t hurt. So…

Why not advertise on a national scale? What’s the downside? More bad publicity? If you say money, you’re missing the point. It’s time to change the perception on a national level.

2. Hack Problems, Not Talk About Problems

I went to more conferences, institutes and workshops than I can count when I worked in Higher Ed. What did they all have in common? Each one talked about problems. Sure, we need to discuss the problems and challenges in the field, but what about solving those problems?

Put bluntly, you’ve we’ve made too many excuses when it comes to solving problems. A few days at AFA, IFI, UIFI or insert ____ Academy/Institute etc. isn’t going to cut it. Some of you might say you don’t have time. I truly empathize with the work Higher Ed. professionals do but we’ve got to change that mindset. You have to MAKE time. Devote an hour each day to trying to solve improve one problem.

We need to devote substantial time to hacking the problems we have in the fraternal world.

Brainstorm innovative ways to reduce those problems. Here’s an exercise I invite you to try…

Go to a white board and write down your number one problem you’re facing in your community or for my National staff friends, at the national level. Take five minutes and write down as many ideas as you can to alleviate the problem. Don’t let any restriction (ie. Money, volunteers, hours, University policy) hinder your ideas. Once you have that list, erase the board.

Erase the board? Yes, erase it. What you just did was list the things that were expected. The ideas that felt comfortable. The ideas that, when push came to shove, were vanilla.

Now, try again. Push yourself and your team to dig deeper. At one point during the brainstorm, you should feel frustrated. That’s when you know you’re pushing yourself to a level of thinking you haven’t done in awhile. 

Image if AFA’s Annual Meeting was no longer sessions focused on talking about problems, but rather, sessions devoted to solving problems. Instead of the Case Study competition for graduate students, introduce the new “Hackathon” competition for any two-member AFA team to compete in that gives the same fraternal issue for each team to solve improve. Winning team gets $5000. Yes, $5000. Image the ideas. Image the possibility.

If we can devote that type of attention to our problems in the fraternal world, I think we’d start to see more positive change.

  

3. Embrace the “Zooming In” Philosophy

I recently read about a technique Steve Job’s used called “zooming in.”  You can read about it here. Zooming in can be summarized by one word, “simplify.”

If you think about all the policies that have inundated the fraternal world, its no wonder there is a number of issues. Heck, you can ask 8 different fraternity and sorority professionals their interpretation of the FIPG policy and I bet you’d get 8 different answers.

Simply put, we need to “zoom in” on the most important matters. How can we make things easier for our members? An analogy I like to relate to this idea is with an Apple iPhone. I think the fraternal world is an iPhone 4 when the world (and our students) is the iPhone 6.

The profession needs to become faster, more efficient and better at simplifying the process. The “process” could be University policy, National policy, FIPG policy, dues payment methods, accreditation packets, etc.

What’s one process that you can think of off the top of your head that makes you think, “This is just ridiculous!” Start there and zoom in using the brainstorming method I mentioned above. Need an example, check out how one national brand's employee handbook is boiled down to one rule. ONE RULE. It can be done. 

If the fraternal profession did more zooming in, I think we’d start to see a reduction in many of the issues faced today.


What do you think? What ideas do you have to disrupt the fraternal world?