THE EXPONENT: Volume 97, Number 6

News and Commentary for Triangle Leaders

"Brought to you by National Council"

If a man doesn't make new friends as he advances in life, he will soon find himself alone. A man, sir, should always keep his friendships in constant repair. - Samuel Johnson

We are what we make of ourselves with the support of our friends. Have you reached your highest potential? Contents

• Brotherhood
• Chapter Management
  • Top Ten Reasons Why Faculty Members Hate Us
  • On Leadership and Making Mistakes
  • Universities Conduct Research to Improve Rush
  • Recruitment Never Ends

Chapter Management Product
 

Top Ten Reasons Why Faculty Members Hate Us

Al Evon ar88
Executive Director

Ten Reasons Why Faculty Members Hate "Us":

10. We wear hats to class.

     

9. We don't take showers before we come to class.

    

8. The only day we chose to wear our fraternity sportswear is on the above mentioned days. And when we make the choice to make T-shirts or party favors, the ones we wear are very alcohol centered and/or sexist, racist, and homophobic.

    

7. We typically are not prepared for class because the social and/or intramural calendar does not allow us ample time for studying.

    

6. We fall asleep in class. (Especially the pledges that we have kept up all the night before, but then demand that they wear their letters.)

    

5. The only things they read about us are in Newsweek, the campus newspaper and/or the stalls in the restrooms.

    

4. We don't attend class regularly.

    

3. We ask if we missed anything important on the days we skipped class.

    

2. We don't have any toes because we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

    

1. Bottom line - we are not delivering on what our founders said were the important things of fraternity and the faculty are going to hold us accountable until we do.

On Leadership and Making Mistakes

Merle Newlon lou73
(from the original Triangle Exponent, 1991)

"The better the man is, the more mistakes he will make, for the more new things he will try," says Peter Drucker. "I would never promote into a top-level job a man who was not making mistakes...otherwise he is sure to be mediocre."

None of us likes to make a mistake. All leaders want to avoid errors. But who can tell for sure whether a new idea will work until it has actually been tried? If the possible gains far outweigh the potential loss, it's a mistake not to try it.

Successful leaders don't have enough fingers to count all the mistakes they've made. That's one reason they are successful - because they possess the spark and courage to take action where others hesitate. When they do commit an error, they don't chalk it up as a complete loss - they will try to learn something from it that will sharpen their judgement the next time around. Mistakes, while painful, are also instructive.

Good leaders are cautious, but not too cautious. If they show an excessive fear of mistakes, initiative will be stifled. People get super-cautious if every little slip-up tends to unnerve their leadership.

For instance, as a leader when someone makes a mistake: Do you keep your head? Do you calmly assess the situation and decide what corrective action to take? Where do you place the emphasis, on the mistake or seeing that it can't happen the same way again? It's great to strive for failure-proof performance, but not at the expense of progress. Have the courage to try new ideas and don't discourage initiative by being overly critical of reasonable efforts that "didn't work."

Do you curb the natural tendency to look for a scapegoat? Do you avoid covering up the mistake? The wiser course of action is to simply inform everyone affected and correct the error promptly. Occasional failure is the price of success.

Management

Universities Conduct Research to Improve Rush

excerpt from NIC Campus Commentary (Feb. 1994)

University of Cincinnati: Members of the Greek Alumni Steering Committee interviewed a random sample of 10% of the 1104 students on campus who had expressed interest in Greek life during the admissions or orientations process. The survey included both students who affiliated and those who chose not to join. Of the students expressing initial interest, only 16.5% actually affiliated during their first semester on campus. This is what they learned:

Only half of those surveyed knew someone in a Greek organization before they came to UC.

Their initial attraction to the Greek system was friendship. 80% cited this as a very important reason for their initial attraction. 57% said housing was not important.

Less than half those expressing interest (48%) attended just one fraternity Rush event. Only 27% attended more than 3.

Of men that actually went through the Rush process, close to 65% did not accept a bid.

Which lead them to the following conclusion: "Students who...had the greatest amount of person-to-person contact...most often accepted bids. Traditional approaches emphasizing mail and other written promotions are not effective. More effort needs to be invested in personal contact...The current Rush techniques may not be very effective in retaining student interest."

Another interesting finding was that two-thirds of the surveyed students thought Rush was too early during the year, and they were not ready to commit. Thus, Rush may be more effective if it was held after students had an opportunity to adjust to campus life, but before other academic pressures became primary. Perhaps a concentrated period in the third through fifth weeks would be best.

University of Maryland - College Park: Greek leaders at the University of Maryland noticed that very few commuter students were joining fraternities and sororities on the campus. One morning, Greek students asked commuting students, "Are you interested in getting involved with the Greek system at UMCP? Why or why not?"

Of the 62 students asked, almost 80% responded no. Their responses indicated many misperceptions about the role commuters can play in a fraternity and sorority and the role of Greek organizations on the campus. Time and money were also a major concern. Some of the indicative "no" responses were:

I always thought you had to live on campus to belong.

The Greek system is outdated. What purpose does it serve?

They charge too much money - It's for the rich kids.

They are very time consuming.

Nor surprisingly, they were similar to comments all students make when explaining why the have chosen not to Rush. Based on some these survey results, the IFC officers at UMCP have begun to challenge their peers to redesign the concept of fraternity to better meet the needs of today's students.

Recruitment Never Ends

Tim Eiler minn87

• Rush is a 24 hour per day, 7 day per week, 365 day per year proposition (24/7/365)

   

• Rush prospective members - know your target market and what they will perceive as valuable

   

• Rush pledges - keep them impressed with the quality of the group they have joined and do that by example as well as simply by telling them

   

• Rush actives - keep them impressed too

   

• Rush alumni - keep them impressed by how stable, strong, and healthy the chapter is...keep them coming back by inviting them to events they and their families will enjoy (and give them plenty of notice), and show them by example that all members are stable men of good character.

Now, in case alumni think this was an article written solely for active-chapter members, it's time to help them be involved here too!

• Alumni can help to do all the same things listed above.

   

• Find the sons of friends, co-workers, acquaintances, etc. who are expressing interest in an applicable field of study and sell those parents and sons on the value and importance of Triangle membership

   

• Write recommendation letters to active chapters regarding specific, known prospective members (actives, remember that an alumnus will be reticent to do this if your chapter isn't exemplary)

   

• Start an alumni association

   

• Join an existing alumni association

   

• Convince non-members of the importance and value of Triangle (don't forget your parents, siblings, wife, kids, uncles, aunts, and cousins...one never knows from where the next member will come)

   

• Drop by the active chapter house nearest you - if you show interest, you'll teach the active chapter members to do like you.

   

• Help to start an active chapter - you'll help to add new Brothers to the Triangle family while you practice sales and organization skills that you can use in your personal life

   

• Find the other Greeks where you live and work - show them by your example how important Triangle is to you and maybe they'll get involved in their organization...we all win if the Greek system as a whole is improved

   

• Invite personal friends who meet Triangle's membership criteria and standards to become Brothers - just because they aren't in college any more doesn't mean they can't obtain benefits from membership

Whatever you choose to do, make it a positive contribution to Triangle AND to yourself. We all win if we all grow!

TRIANGLE FRATERNITY

Is Serious about Scholarship

Sets and Demonstrates High Standards

Celebrates Achievement