Sorority & Fraternity Life: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Greek Life Task Force, charged by the Office of Student Life in 1998 to assess and recommend improvements in the current status of the Ohio State Greek Community, has developed the Goals and Standards of Excellence as set forth since its inception. The assessment was requested based on concern for the current state of the Greek Community. Although, the members of the Greek Life Task Force no longer meet, they set forth the Standards of Excellence, having gone into effect March 9, 2001, as a plan to improve the condition of the Greek Community whereby chapters will establish a Chapter Plan each year and will detail their progress towards attaining this plan in a yearly Chapter Annual Report. By improving the quality of life for students within the Greek Community, the Standards of Excellence purposes to achieve several goals:

• Academic achievement with a minimum GPA of 2.50 for chapters and for all new members, as well as the strive to achieve as a chapter the all-undergraduate average.
• Member and organizational growth including, but not limited to, diversity education, risk management education, and community service opportunities.
• Safe and healthy organizational environments through structural improvements in chapter facilities and improved risk management procedures.
• A strong, connected Greek Community.
• Widely recruited Advisers from the University and Community that have undergone the Adviser Certification Program.
• An improved relationship between the university and the Greek Community.
• If any of the set requirements are not met, the chapter may be called before the Greek Progress Review Board.

BAD:

My primary job as the Greek Intern, is to oversee the Standards of Excellence (SOE) Program for Sorority & Fraternity Life. In this position, I must work with difficult chapter presidents and advice chapters on programming that is in compliance with the policy. This job is difficult. Many days it challenges my patients to work with chapters that don't understand the importance of the SOE.

If I could change one thing about my position, I would increase accountability on chapter to report their information on our schedule and not their own.

GOOD:

The good thing about my position is that I get to see change first-hand. Our community has many excellent leaders that go above and beyond in their roles. I can see how my position is making a difference in the fraternity and sorority community here at OSU. 

My job is all about evaluating that progress so I enjoy seeing how chapters are making steps in the right direction toward true values congruence.

FUTURE:

While the progress has been great since the implementation of the SOE in 2001, there is still much work ahead. I am looking forward to continuing in my roles to help make Ohio State the leading Greek Community in the country. If organizations live true to their values, I have no doubt that the fraternal community would need programs like the SOE, but until that day, my position will continue to be necessary. I am proud of the work and the progress that has been made so far this past year and look forward to moving ahead in the year to come.

CS

Perfect World

In a perfect fraternal world:

• Fraternity men and women will be models of excellence and true values congruence
• Fraternity men and women will be committed to serving the community and the world
• Fraternal organizations will be ones that only the finest men and women will be selected to join
• Fraternity will redefine the mean of social on college campuses and truly build men and women of character
• The fraternal cause will no longer be about the undergraduate experience alone, but a life experience that begins as an undergraduate
• Fraternity is not about the Greek letters, but about being a part of a community of people with unique but similar visions and beliefs in creating the finest world citizens

Too often we have the ability to make change but we choose not to because change is not easy. As college students, we have the attitude that our contributions are small but this is not true. The fraternal experience has the potential to transform lives. If we live by our values as fraternity men and women, we can achieve greatness in a world that's skeptical of us. 

Fraternity men and women will be men and women of selfless-service. Greeks will no longer write checks and call it serving the community. Men and women of character will make the sacrifice of time, pleasures, and comforts to serve greater causes.

Membership should no longer be extended to anyone willing to pay dues. Joining a Greek organization should be selective and exclusive. While the fraternal organization should be in the business of building young men and women, the men and women must also bring something to the table besides a checkbook. Recruitment should never again be a struggle, because college men and women will come to us, not the other way around. Greek life will be a lifestyle that non-Greek yearn for, not avoid.

Greek life will redefine the social life on college campuses. Young men and women will be transformed through social experiences with brothers and sisters not through the party scene. Social scene will not be an exemption from values, in fact, the social scene should be a testament of values congruence.

Greek life will no longer be about the collegiate experience, but about a life transformation. Graduated brothers and sisters should no longer say "I was a brother". Instead "I am a brother". After all, these are lifetime commitments, aren't they?

The fraternal community can no longer be a community based on competition for membership. Each organization brings something unique to the table. Going Greek should be about finding the right match for the individual. The Greek experience should be a pleasant experience, and not fitting in the right organization, is the worst scenario. Being Greek should be a source of pride and we should be proud of our whole community, not just the letters we wear. 

Change is happening!

Opportunity vs. Delimma

The almighty President Gee once said that different times call for different leaders--he said it's a matter of matching the right leader to the right situation.

Here in the Ohio State Greek Community, a new storm is brewing. Opportunity has never been higher and neither has the motivation to make improvement in the Sorority & Fraternity Community. Unfortunately, it is not the responsibilities of leaders to single-handedly do ALL the work themselves either. Leaders have a responsibility to empower others and make change through motivation!

As individuals with influence on chapter leaders, we have an amazing opportunity to correct the wrongs and ensure that we leave a Greek Community here at Ohio State that is truly working toward actual values congruence. 

We have the opportunity to eliminate stereotypes, build men and women of character, commit ourselves to service, and live the ritual every day. The dilemma does not rest in our ability, but rather, our actions. As community leaders it's one thing to come up with grand plans, but it's another to bring those plans to fruition. 

Here at The Ohio State University, we have the opportunity to lead the way in redefining the fraternal movement. We have capable leadership and the resources to make change happen--we must make others aware that change is necessary too. The timing is perfect.

Greek Racists, Aristocrats, Homophobes, Sexists & More!

The dictionary defines the term discrimination as "the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, esp. on the grounds of race, age, or sex".

In the fraternity and sorority community, we are as guilty as any for  being "exclusive" and "elitist": we know these opinions exist and we're okay with them, aren't we? My fraternity is exclusive in its selection of members and often we turn away members that just don't "fit the mold" and even remove members that don't live up to our standards even after they've been initiated. These decisions are made--not based on the color of skin, sexual orientation, or the money in parents' bank accounts--these decisions are made based on values and character, not discrimination. Or so I thought.

Last week while attending one of my fraternity's "leadership" conferences in Atlanta, Georgia I was struck by a newly apparent and real threat to the fraternal cause. A threat that many often brush under the rug, ignore, and knowingly disregard.

In the picture above, standing on the left is a member of the Tennessee chapter of FarmHouse Fraternity and on the right, the head honcho, mac-daddy, a.k.a. The Executive Director of FarmHouse International Fraternity. This picture was taken at the opening session of the conference shortly after the brothers arrived at the Peach Tree Hotel in downtown Atlanta. At the session, the Executive Director himself led discussion about the expectations of the conference. As you can clearly see in the photo, the boy on the left is wearing a t-shirt proudly displaying the Confederate Flag (a former symbol of the Confederate Army--now commonly used as a symbol of white supremacy). Some ignorantly argue that this is a symbol of "rural values"--this rebuttal sickens me to the core.

As many of you know, I grew up in a rural community and was proud to have grown up in a town where everyone knew everyone else and took care of their neighbors, for the most part, as they would their own families. I remember when I was younger, Mark & Erica (my parents' best friends) would always come by the house for dinner and to hang out with our family. My mom and Erica went through nursing school at the same time and worked for the county MRDD as floor nurses together for over 10 years!  

Mark & Erica waited until much later to have children of their own and we always called them aunt Erica & uncle Mark. Finally, a little over a year ago, Mark & Erica were blessed with their first son, Mark, Jr.! Mark & Erica have decided to raise baby Mark in our rural hometown and attend the small school system that my sisters' and I attended. They are proud of where they live and hope that baby Mark is influenced by the rural lifestyle. Does that mean he'll one day be donning his rebel flag at fraternity leadership conferences--I think not.

Now, back to the point of this blog... I think it goes without saying that the rebel flag does not represent rural values, nor does it have anything to do with states right anymore either. The rebel flag is a symbol of hatred! The Southern Poverty Law Center even notes that the rebel flag is used as a symbol for over "500" white supremacist organizations.

As Chad, the executive director, began calling on individuals (without acknowledging the racist scribe's shirt) to come up with group expectations, his trusty scribe wrote them onto the easel pad. Some of the ground rules that Chad mentioned were things like: not wearing hats to sessions, using manners, and participating in the sessions. I WAS FURIOUS! In my opinion, this was the perfect opportunity for a lecture on eliminating stereotypes around the name "FARMHOUSE", but he preferred to talk about not wearing hats instead! ...What was about to happen during this conference-expectations session reassured me that my choice to join ALPHA TAU ZETA--A farmhouse chapter--really was the right choice for me...

Zach, a new member of my chapter, was sitting next to me and quickly caught on to the situation and raised his hand to contribute to the "expectations". When Chad called on Zach, he stood up and said "my expectation is that we be open-minded and leave our prejudices behind us". At that point I stood and gave my 2 cents about being "open to diversity". After that, the other ATZ chapter brother stood up and echoed again: "to be accepting of differences". At that point, it was obvious that the comments were directed toward the racist's shirt. A few minutes later we went on a 10 minute break before beginning the programming. When the next session began, the Tennessee chapter member re-entered the room with a different shirt (and hopefully a different perspective). I was proud of my group for representing the ATZ chapter and Ohio State so well and I hope we made a difference that day. 

Can you imagine the change that we could make if we began truly living the values of our organizations and stood up against injustice and discrimination within our own groups? Unfortunately, hatred runs much deeper than tasteless t-shirts. Hatred is alive and flourishing within our community whether it's blatant or masked. Here's where the problem lies though: Exclusivity is at the root of our organizations--I'll be the first to say that I don't want just anyone in my fraternity! The problems don't lie in being selective in standards for membership, it's about discrimination! 

The first thing that comes to mind, sadly, when I think of discrimination in the Greek community is the themes for our social events. Themes like: White Trash Bash; Cowboys & Indians; Immigrants & Border Partol; Sex & Execs; CEOs & Hos; and the list goes on! Take a look at some of the discriminatory parties in the news below:

• Tarleton State
• University of California, San Diego
• Auburn
• University of Georgia
• Johns Hopkins University

To be honest, it disgusts me how the community shrugs off the issue of diversity awareness here at THE Ohio State University. For example, chapters that report for their diversity program, they "watched YouTube videos of a racist Simpson Episode and had a discussion", or that chapters "attended a Step Show", or that the long list of other ridiculous diversity awareness programs that chapters report to simply meet requirements. We will never be capable of building a community of true unity if we don't learn how to accept each others differences as men and women of values. Whether those differences are racist or differences such as gender, sexuality, income, religion, lifestyle, or affiliation, we must overcome discrimination in our community through education.

Too often our OSU Greek organizations view commitment to diversity as a minimum standard instead of an opportunity for growth.

As leaders of the sorority and fraternity community, we must be committed to holding Greek men and women accountable to living lives of character--not ignorance; open-mindedness--not hatred; tolerance--not bigotry. 

It is my hope that chapters continue to be exclusive in the members they retain and the new ones they select based on values and character, not their god-given traits. After all, the fraternal community will be no stronger than the quality of its members. 

Exclusion does not = Discrimination.