So Proud!

I just wanted to say how proud I was of all of you in class today....Tyler and I have said it over and over, but we have something really special with all you, so thank you!

I can't wait to share your final project with other professionals and other students. It was so great to watch our 10 weeks come together today with your project, I was very, very impressed!

I will blog more later/once a week from now until forever, but I just wanted to say thanks! Tonight was really great :)

Some thoughts.....

As I was reading your blogs this morning, which were excellent, by the way, I had some thoughts....

A lot of you, in regards to Oath, compared our Oath to that of a doctor, a lawyer, or the President. You're right, we all take some kind of Oath and make a commitment to uphold certain values. We let society know what they should expect from us, and it is our responsibility to make that happen and act according to those values and expectations.

When Bill Clinton did not uphold his Oath and did not act true to his word, he was impeached from office.... Obama has been questioned for not following through on some things he promised he would, and he is always "on trial", in a sense, in the media.... A doctor doesn't do what he/she is supposed to, and his/her license is up for suspension.... A doctor is found guilty of malpractice and is held accountable in the amount of millions of dollars.....A lawyer doesn't uphold their word with a client and or breaks confidentiality with a case, he/she is dis-barred.

I think you get the point.

So my thoughts.... We talk about how we are held accountable and often scrutinized in the media because we don't uphold our values and do not act on what we said we do. We do not follow our oath....

What consequences do we face?
Are we removed from our organization?
Are we asked to give back our letters and our badge?

I think we all realize that we don't always uphold our vlaues and stay true to the Oath we swore to, but what do we do about that? Who holds us accountable? So what if we break an Oath? Do we just "look bad" or is it more?

I challenge you all to think about this. You all mentioned the consequences of acting outside of an Oath that you took in all of these other contexts, but what about in our community? What are the consequences? Are there any? Are they enough?

I think it is time we start to hold each other a bit more accountable....We don't let our political representatives or our health care professionals get away with it (going against their word), why do we let our brothers and sisters?

That was a lot of questions, but I have a lot of thoughts right now.

Blog for week 8

What are the strenghts of your chapter and in what ways does your chapter need to improve?

What are the strenghts of your council and in what ways does your council need to change?

What are the strenghts of our community and in what ways does our community need to change?

Week 8!

Can you believe how fast this quarter has gone?

I wish we had more than 10 weeks to cover all of the important information out there about fraternities and sororities. I have really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on some really critical topics, and I can't wait to see what you will have to say next week. The topic for next week's class is "Issues in the Fraternity and Sorority Community".... I know it seems like we have already been talking about issues, but Tyler and I want to get more specific. We are going to look at the specific challenges facing Greek letter organizations like hazing, alchol, and diversity.

Here is your assigment...

EVERYONE needs to read the following article for class:

The Dilemma Facing Fraternal Organizations at the Millennium.

THEN.... you have a choice of what you read next. We have articles for 8 very relevant concerns below... We ask that you choose 4 of them to read so that during the discussion next week, you can offer insight on some of the issues, and learn from your classmates on the others that you didn't read about. The articles are very current, so they should be fun to read! Enjoy :)

Diversity:

The Future of the Greek Experience: Greeks and Diversity

GLBT Students in Fraternities and Sororities:

The Bonds of Brotherhood and Sisterhood: Creating a Welcoming Environment for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Members

Bystander Behavior:

Moving from Inaction to Action: Acting Courageously

Sexual Assault:

This one isn't so current, but the information is still relevant, we use it as a resource in the Sexual Violence Education done in the Student Wellness Center....

Fraternity Membership, Rape Myths, and Sexual Aggression on a College Campus

another one about the role of men in preventing sexual assault:

Working with Men to Prevent Violence Against Women: An Overview

Language & Stereotypes:

That's Fratastic! Debating Idiotic Fraternity and Sorority Logic

Health Behaviors & Alcohol:

You can skip ahead to the discussion part of this article... (pg. 6)

Health Behavior and College Students: Does Greek Affiliation Matter?

...and this one!

Alcohol Use and the Fraternity and Sorority Experience

Hazing:

Hazed and Confused (the article starts on pg. 16)

"In the Fell Clutch of Circumstance" Pledging and the Black Greek Experience

If you come up with more issues that you don't think were addressed here, please come to class ready to share!

Enjoy the readings!

AFLV

First of all, a HUGE thank you to all of you for making this past weekend in St. Louis absolutely great!

Spending the weekend with all of you reminded me why I suffer through graduate school :) I know its nerdy, but this weekend really showed me I am in the right place and I am headed towards the right career! It was so great watching you all get to know each other better and have so much fun as councils. I was so proud to be one of your advisors this weekend, you blew me away with your eagerness to participate and learn, the effort you put into the programs, and really, just being awesome in general. Like Tyler said in his email, it is really great (as an advisor) when other advisors compliment you on how great your students are and how much fun the group looks like they are having! And it is really true- I had a great time. I really enjoyed getting to know all of you better and having important conversations with many of you about fraternity and sorority life, I love talking to all of you to hear how passionate about everything you really are. Ohio State is super lucky to have each of you, and I would like to think you are lucky to have me and Tyler :) All of us make a good team!

I hope you enjoyed your time as much as I did and I cannot wait to see what we do with what we learned.....

One of the things I love most about conferences like this is the talk about values and the importance of living as values-based individuals. I love to witness the impact that membership in a chapter has on people- whether that is through a conversation, a photo opp with your brothers or sisters, wearing a pin, etc. I hope you were all reminded of your own values and your chapters values this weekend, I know I was. To be just 1 of about 100 Chi Omega women at AFLV was incredible. The luncheon really meant something to me- to sit with my sisters I had never met, to share our stories, to hold hands and sing our Chi O song- "Shades", to do our handshakes, and to laugh about owl things we all own... It is not every day you get the chance to meet so many of your sisters and I hope you all took something away from that lunch/this weekend. For me, it reminded me how proud I am to be a Chi Omega and why I have never lost track of our values as a fraternity. Chi Omega's values are pretty well described in our Symphony (our version of a public creed/motto)... I want to share it with you all because it really defines who I am as a person and since we got back from St. Louis, I can't help but keep thinking about how thankful I am for what my chapter has given me- including all of you, I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for Chi Omega... So here it is:

Chi Omega Symphony

To live constantly above snobbery of word or deed;
To place scholarship before social obligation
and character before appearances.
To be, in the best sense, democratic rather than exclusive,
and lovable rather than popular.
To work earnestly;
To speak kindly;
To act sincerely;
and to choose thoughtfully, that course which occasion and conscience demand.
To be womanly always;
To be discouraged never.
In a word, to be loyal;
under any and all circumstances,
To my Fraternity, and Her highest teachings,
so that She may be a symphony of high purpose and helpfulness
In which there is no discordant note.

Thank you all again, this weekend was great! See you in class on Friday!!

Yesterday's class....

I just wanted to say how impressed I was by all of you for the discussion yesterday.... I was happy to see everyone participate because I think it is so important for all of us to talk about our values, our Ritual, and most important- the lifelong oath we all took once upon a time. I hope you all were left with some things to think about in terms of your oath and what that means in terms of lifestyle and accountability.

We are unique in that we are the only organization that takes a lifelong oath. The public, the media, our families, or friends may not know what our oath entails- but they know we agreed to something that is values-based rooted in history and tradition. That being said, it is no wonder that people expect us to act in certain ways- we agreed to something special that very few people have the opportunity to do. We talked about the chess club and the band- they don't make the front page because they get done what we expect them to do.... We make the front page because aren't doing what we promised. This is not a problem unique to our community- it happens nationally. What are we going to do about it? What is our role in holding others accountable?

We have talked about relevance and making others realize why our presence on campus is needed and why it matters- where do we start? I think our lack of congruence between what we say we are going to do and what we actually do is part of this issue.... I challenge all of you to keep this is mind and start thinking about the big picture.

In 5 days we will be on our way to St. Louis, please keep our discussion from yesterday in mind as you spend the weekend discussing leadership and values. Great conversation yesterday, I can't wait to see how we use our new ideas....

What we're up against....

I know I just posted like 20 minutes ago, but I just came across something I think you all should read. We talk a lot about how your role as a council member has an impact on not only your council, but also the entire sorority and fraternity community. What you do as council members has the potential to affect the experiences of all community members, which is a lot of responsibility, but also a great opportunity.

I was looking at some things from my alma mater (Miami) and I came across an article published in their "Greek newsletter", published for and by members of the community and delivered to chapter facilities and sorority suites. This idea has a lot of potential for sorority and fraternity leaders to provide insight and inspiration to their fellow community members, write personal testimonials about experiences in the community, and enlighten new members on what is ahead of them. I was really excited about the concept, then I read what they had to say, and my heart sunk a little bit.... This is an excerpt from one of their front page articles "Raise a Glass"....

Being Greek is more than just wearing letters, it is about being understood. The bonds we are forming and the memories we make each week embody brotherhood and sisterhood. The spring semester in the Greek community is the best time of year; pledges celebrate their new bids and begin to learn about their chapters while upperclassmen become nostalgic as they become bigs and grandbigs. I hope you are all beginning to realize why these years are referred to as, “The Time of Your Life.”

It has a good beginning, right? Keep reading....

When else do you live with your friends, have only moderate responsibility and party like there is no tomorrow. This semester I propose a toast, “Let’s raise a glass to being Greek, this is truly the journey of a lifetime. Here’s to teaching young fratstars that Ed Hardy is not acceptable attire, here’s to showing them how to pull all the stops and sing boy band songs for serenades. Here’s to the cuties that hold the signs during POTH because they can’t dance, here’s to getting Belltower To Go after the bars close. Here’s to the seniors living up their last semesters and here’s to Fratlinburg, Tennessee. Live dangerously and stay thirsty my friends”

In case you want to know more about the community, the students provided some insight by writing articles like: "Reason #65 I love Miami: FRAT"; "Bro-Mackin': Why Rush Sucks"; "Booze, Tunes, and Hotties"; and "The Sh*t your SOUL should have told you" (which addresses things that first years should be told at orientation including- the art of the dance floor make out, the purpose of owning a 'fracket', a jacket that you don't mind losing when you spend the night at a fraternity house, reasons to invest in a jersey, and how to get into bars underage)..... I realize much of this is a joke. But I read this and can't help but wonder, is it really a surprise why people think our organizations are irrelevant? If this what community members are saying ABOUT THEMSELVES, what are other people supposed to think?

Don't get me wrong, the paper had a lot of really great stuff too about the importance of recruitment, memories from being a new member, and passing the torch of leadership- but all of that gets lost when the word FRAT appears a hundred times on the front page alone. I think this says a lot about the sorority and fraternity community nationwide.... the wonderful things we do and the values we stand for are completely lost and overlooked because the stereotypical, negative things that we might find entertaining and ridiculous are what make the headlines, even in papers published by our own members.

I know you are not Miami. And I know you don't have such a paper, but if is going on within a community like ours, not far from where we are, I can't help but think about what we are up against. We want to change the world and make farternities and sororities relevant again, where do we start? How deep does this issue go?

Just some food for thought.