Question:

I’m looking to become my fraternity’s president next year and I notice that a problem that we face right now is getting people to be quiet and not be disrespectful by talking during our fraternity meetings. Is there any advice you could offer me on how to get the entire room to be obedient during meeting and not make any smart or dumb remarks?

Answer:

You are describing a symptom that a lot of fraternities face. The problem is usually with the meeting though, not the brothers.

Most fraternities try to solve all the world’s problems in their meetings. No work is done outside the meetings, which leads to a painful amount of debate and discussion. This is not productive for anyone.

The fraternity must hold the committee chairmen accountable to make decisions and plans outside the fraternity meeting. The meeting is the forum to report the decisions, not to make them.

If you can do that, then the actually business of the fraternity meeting should only take a few minutes. You will find the brothers will be more attentive in this format, because no one will want to miss important information.

The rest of the time at the fraternity meeting can be ‘wasted’ by the brothers cutting up. The brothers will end up having more fun at the fraternity meetings, and the business will still be addressed. This is really the best of both worlds.

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Question:

My fraternity is only about ten years old since it was first founded nationally. In those ten years, we have managed to only charter five chapters. What way do you think expanding would be successful and make this fraternity grow?

Answer:

This is a unique and great question. But before it can be answered properly, you need to understand what your fraternity offers the Greek community.

In other words, why should someone join your fraternity over any of the other national fraternities? What value do you offer that isn’t offered anywhere else? What makes your message special?

This is actually the basis of a question I posted last week in this article: Is Nationals Worth It?

If you can answer those questions, then you probably can put together a compelling reason why guys should want to join your fraternity. This means that expansion is a possibility.

I literally get 5 to 10 guys a week asking me what they need to do to start a new chapter of a fraternity at their campus. Those guys are out there, you just need to find them.

The most logical way to start would be by contacting the brothers in your existing chapters and asking them if they know anyone at other schools who would be interested in starting a new chapter. That sell should be easier because it is built on an existing relationship.

Also, I would imagine your 5 chapters are pretty close to each other geographically. If that is the case, you can select a school that is a natural choice for expansion, and put an ad in the school paper advertising an information session about starting a new chapter. Be sure to put up hundreds of fliers on campus bulletin boards as well. If you offer free food at the information session, you should get plenty of guys to show up.

Those are the two simplest ways to expand and offer the most return on your effort. Remember though, you will not be successful unless you can offer a compelling value proposition for joining your national fraternity.

If anyone out there can add any ideas, please leave them in the comments below.

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Question:

I am transferring to a school that does not have a chapter of my fraternity. I really want to stay in Greek Life but because I’m already initiated I’m not sure if I can join another fraternity. What can I do?

Technically, it is my understanding that you are not allowed to join another fraternity due to NIC rules. I could be wrong about that, but I am fairly certain. Also, your fraternity’s ritual probably states the same thing.

Under those guidelines, your only option would be to start a new chapter of your fraternity at your new school. This obviously is a pretty challenging task, but one that your national headquarters will likely assist you with if you were interested.

That being said, if you aren’t interested in starting a new chapter, you could attempt to join another fraternity. During rush, you could let the brothers know your situation privately, and let them decide what to do.

Chances are, the new fraternity will welcome you with open arms, and they will initiate you after your new member period. If you kept it to yourself, no one would probably even know about your past. There isn’t a master database anywhere that keeps track of these things.

This is a tough though one ethically. On one hand, I know we all agree that you are a brother for life and have taken a pledge with your fraternity. However, circumstances threw you a curve and I am not sure that should preclude you from being a part of Greek Life.

There are a couple obvious things you need to do. You need to call your national headquarters and ask for advice. Let them know your situation, and see what they can do to help. Also, go talk to the Greek Life Director at your new school. He will be able to give good advice.

If I were in your shoes, my allegiance to my fraternity would be strong enough where I would not feel right joining another fraternity. This means I would probably try to start a chapter on my new school, despite knowing how challenging a task that is. I took an oath to be a brother for life, even when times are tough. You don’t stop being a brother of your fraternity once you leave campus, whether as a transfer or an alumnus.

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Question:

I go to a commuter school in the Midwest. People are all basically gone after 3-4 o’clock. My fraternity has about 22 guys, and we don’t have a house, even though we are the oldest fraternity on campus. We may have about 8 pledges this semester to give us 30. We need 45 for a house. How do we get people to join when, we don’t have a house?

First off, having a house should be irrelevant. Guys should be joining your fraternity because of the guys in it. That being said, having a house improves your fraternity experience on a lot of levels, so I understand the desire to have one.

It seems like you are locked into the notion that you have to have an on-campus fraternity house and that is where your 45 man number comes from. While that would be nice, why don’t you try to rent a house off-campus?

It will obviously be smaller, and you might end up paying a little more in rent (after all – the landlord isn’t going to be crazy about renting to a fraternity). But you will have a house, and you can enjoy it right now. This would be my suggestion.

Finally, be sure to start a fraternity house fund so someday you can buy a house for your fraternity.

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Create a shopping list that includes all of the features your organization wants; then compare it with the package offer made by your prospective composite company. Make sure that their offers include all of the products and services that you requested. Do not sign any agreement with them until you are entirely satisfied that your shopping list is being honored and that you are getting a good value.

Remember that you are the customer and you have the freedom and responsibility to protect your own interests. Lastly, always ask for a price quote that shows an itemized list of what you will be receiving and will give a grand total after shipping and taxes.

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Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said, “We seldom have any problems at the university.” The campus is ranked one of Ohio’s safest universities.

Youngstown State University was established in 1908 in Youngstown, Ohio. There are over 15,000 students. The university has five IFC fraternities, four Panhellenic sororities, and six National Pan-Hellenic Council chapters.

Omega Psi Phi was founded at Howard University in 1911 and has 750 undergraduate chapters, according to the organization’s website. The fraternity is also known by its nicknames Ques or Q Dogs. Their colors are royal purple and old gold, and their motto is “Friendship is Essential to the Soul.” Omega Psi Phi was founded at Youngstown State as the Zeta Gamma Chapter on March 11, 1951.

Our Take

This is a tragic story of a promising life lost to senseless violence. I wish the family, the chapter, and campus comfort and unity during this time. This is a time to mourn, but it is also a time to provide insightful reflection to ensure other fraternities can learn from this tragedy.

First, fraternity men need to be aware of the company they keep. Fraternity men strive to be the elite leaders, scholars and role models on campus. This isn’t possible if they keep company with unsavory characters. In fairness, I do not know if that played a part in this instance, but it is a good time to reiterate this point.

Second, perception becomes reality. It only takes one unfortunate circumstance to get a label that you cannot get rid of. A fraternity on my campus had a shooting occur while I was in school. Students stayed away from that fraternity’s social functions for a long time because of that instance. The perception was that going to that house wasn’t safe, and that became the reality for a lot of students.

Finally, fraternities need to draft emergency response plans. When major crises occur, it is best to have a procedure on how to handle it appropriately. There needs to be a list of critical phone numbers (chapter advisor, Greek advisor, key alumni, national headquarters) of people to call to ensure that the situation is handled properly. When tragedy strikes, no one is going to be in the right frame of mind to react properly. It is imperative that your fraternity develops a plan beforehand.

My last thought is I don’t think it is fair to label this incident as a ‘fraternity shooting’ even though that is what the media is calling it. Johnson’s membership in Omega Psi Phi doesn’t seem really related to the shooting itself. There is no evidence that this was a fraternity function, and labeling it such is unfair to Omega Psi Phi and all fraternity men on Youngstown’s campus.

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Question:

How do I start a website for my fraternity?

You don’t have to be a computer whiz to start a website. You can definitely find someone on campus to put a WordPress site together for your fraternity for a couple hundred bucks tops. I am surprised that no one in your fraternity knows how to do it. This is really the easy part.

While this isn’t the intent of your question, the most important thing to remember is the purpose of your site. Are you going to use it to disseminate information to the fraternity? Are you going to use it to share info with your alums? Are you going to use it as a recruitment tool?

You really need to figure out the purpose for the site before you put it up. Putting one up just to put one up will cost you money and provide no real benefit. That just isn’t smart.

That being said, Chapter 9 in The Fraternity Leader Series Ebook describes how to use your chapter website to supercharge recruitment. In short, this chapter talks about creating a fool-proof funnel to identify the 15% of the population that are ‘always joiners’ and get their contact info.

If your website can do that for you, then you will have created a very powerful recruitment tool and your site will be creating great value for your fraternity.  This is a fantastically simple idea that I would highly recommend be the primary focus of your site.

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Question:

I want to start a new colony on my campus. I have an interest group and we are already acting like a fraternity. However, the IFC has denied our application to start a colony. What should we do?

Here is the thing about the IFC. They want all new colonies to get their approval before they start on campus. This is the preferred way to start a new colony for all involved (you included).

However, if they don’t want you to join, there is really no reason why you can’t start a colony anyway. All you would really have to do is register on campus as a student group instead of a fraternity.

What does this mean? It means you can’t play in the intramural sports leagues and you don’t have to pay IFC dues. It also means that the IFC does not have any control over you.

My fraternity was actually founded this way. The IFC didn’t want us, but we started our colony anyway. After three years, we were prospering to the point where they had to accept us. We wanted to play intramural football and legitimize our chapter, so we joined.

However, even though we pulled it off, I will always recommend getting IFC’s approval before you start a colony. The IFC provides resources to help you get started the right way. I would imagine the success rate of colonies that were started with IFC assistance is significantly better than those without IFC approval – even though I really don’t know for sure.

That being said, starting without IFC approval does have some distinct advantages. We used our rebel status against the other fraternities on campus as a recruiting tool, and it worked. Also, it eliminated the requirement to pay dues and attend some of the mandatory functions that some IFCs have that are a waste of time.

Best of luck in starting a new colony. It is a ton of work, but will be very rewarding if you can pull it off.

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• There are over 9 million Greek members nationally
• Of the nation’s 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men.
• 85% of the Fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity.
• 40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men.
• 76% of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity.
• Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity.
• 63% of the U.S. President’s Cabinet members since 1900 have been Greek.
• A National Conference report shows a high percentage of the 4,000 NIC fraternity chapters are above the All-Men’s scholastic average on their respective campuses.
• A U.S. Government study shows that over 70% of all those who join a fraternity/sororitiy graduate, while under 50% of all non-fraternity/sorority persons graduate.
• Less than 2% of an average college student’s expenses go toward fraternity dues. (U.S. Office of Education)
• Over 85% of the student leaders on some 730 campuses are involved in the Greek community.
• 1 st Female Senator was Greek
• 1 st Female Astronaut was Greek
• All of the Apollo 11 Astronauts are Greek
• Over $7 million is raised each year by Greeks nationally
• The Greek system is the largest network of volunteers in the US, with members donating over 10 million hours of volunteer service each year
• 71% of those listed in “Who’s Who in America” belong to a fraternity
• As Alumni, Greeks give approximately 75% of all money donated to universities
• There are 123 fraternities and sororities with 9 million members total
• There are 750,000 undergraduate members in 12,000 chapters on more than 800 campuses in the USA and Canada

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- On Greek Row
- Has university support (billing and maintenance)
- Gets instant credibility in the Greek Community and with independent students
- Is more accepted by parents
- Don’t have to worry about neighbors
- Generally closer to campus

University House Negatives:
- Is expensive
- Stricter university rules

Off-Campus House Positives:

- Less strict rules
- Cheaper
- Easier to get into

Off-Campus House Negatives:

- Dealing with neighbors
- Harder to get maintenance completed
- Could be farther from campus

Again, this all depends on the wants and needs of the fraternity. If you have any points that I missed, please include them in the comment section below.

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