I briefly touched upon this in a response to Jackie's post the other day but I would like to reiterate. Not to be blunt but sorority recruitment has the tendency to be fake. Recruitment round tables have the tendency to be boring and women tend to only look out for their own chapter. One of my goals is to improve these issues and lay down the ground work for friendships between the chapters. At the most recent table I asked the women to tell me what they expected from me. I also asked them to come up with ideas to make our time together more enjoyable. I told them about how PHA is re-working our meetings to bring out the meaning behind what our community does and told them how their options were never ending. They all smiled and looked at me kind of funny. Then I stood there with my arms wide open and said, "Anyone?"... No answer. I clearly took them by surprise so I took another approach. I explained to them they are the leaders of their chapter. As the leaders of a chapter it is essential to exemplify leadership qualities and prove that our "Greek system" (sorry Tyler) is a community, not just a bunch of different chapters. The breaking down of barriers starts here, with the Recruitment Chairs. With the women who are responsible for recruiting quality women into their chapters, into our community.
Personally, what can my chapter change? My chapter can start out by initiating conversations, friendships, and events with men and women of other chapters, and not just social and drinking events might I add. We have many strengths as a chapter, its not all bad things of course. In 3 winter pledge classes Alpha Epsilon Phi went from 40 women to 100 women. I was a member of the first of the three classes and it has been remarkable watching this change. I think an advantage we have is that we still have that "small house feel". I know every single woman in my chapter by name, nick name, hometown, major and so on. But now that we are a large chapter we will have to work on the sisterhood that comes with it.
Panhellenic - oh Panhellenic. I could not be happier to be in this position. It has given me opportunities that I would never have dreamt of having. We have great strength as an association. We just added two more chapters to our 14 and I think we are improving now more than ever. The Sorority Women Redefined campaign has been a phenomenal addition for us. It is so beneficial in breaking down the stereotypes that all the women of PHA are the exact same "cookie-cuter sorority girl". Our efforts to join all 4 councils is also improving - especially within these 52 weeks of us becoming friends and learning together. Anyone who is a part of PHA whether its delegates, officers, or the executive members, we are always trying to improve. I think as a council we need to improve the communication. But before that can be improved, we all need to be FRIENDS. I can't understand sometimes why this word is so frightening. Why can't a member of sorority ABC tell a member of XZY their secrets of recruitment? The purpose of recruitment is to allow new women into our community right? Oh wait no... to some people its chapter based only. I am going to respond, "not cool."
As a community we stand for great things. As we have said again and again, the Greek Community offers things that other organizations do not. First, we are lifetime brothers and sisters. Ten even twenty years from now, we will all still be considered members of our organizations. Organizations that stand for brother/sisterhood, diversity, rituals, service, philanthropy (there is a difference!), and so on. We are so fortunate to be a part of this. I am unaware of another type of organization that can all go out and raise money for AIDs awareness, then dress up in all the same clothing running down 15th to make it to the O before 2 am, and then all get to go home to the same house and at the end of the night still call each other a brother, or a sister. This is all well and good and WE know what WE stand for, but do others? Does an outsider's perspective match ours? No, most likely the two opinions are completely different. Our community needs to work on our reputation. But before we can change that, we need to work on ourselves. As a community we need to carry out what we promise to carry out. We need to be cohesive and bond with each other to make others feel our love.
Jeff Pelletier said this the other day during one of our meetings and it really stuck with me so I would like to leave it with all of you. "Are our Rituals a secret because we are scared for others to find out what we are supposed to be living up to?"
I admire your enthusiasm and your committment to moving PHA forward. I can see that you have the drive to make things happen. I'm excited to see what the next year brings!
ReplyDelete