As the year winds down, I would be remiss if I didn’t give gratitude to those of you who read this blog, who tell others about it, who send me ideas and items, who message or email me when I make an error, and who generally keep me writing more posts. Thank you so very much.
I also thank the founders of the Greek-Letter Organizations who founded societies of their own. I thank the founders of GLOs that are no longer in existence. Some merged or were absorbed by other groups. Some simply ceased to exist. Those founders are all but forgotten, yet their efforts were important.
I thank the men and women who became members of the organizations. Looking at chapter pictures, one sees eager, hopeful, young faces. We cannot tell what the future holds for them or their chapter.
The charter members of a chapter that closed a little more than 100 years after it was founded.
Will those who are entrusted with the care of the chapters, those young faced college students, know the seriousness of the oath they took upon becoming a member? Will they work for the betterment of their GLO or will they contribute to its demise? Will they make their membership life-long or will they consider it a childish decision?
How are organizations who seem to be in competition with each other, in intramural games, in those pesky “firsts,” in fundraising competitions and in number of chapters, members, and houses, going to be able to work together for the betterment of GLOs as a whole? Can we expect our collegiate members to understand that when a goodly number of alumni/ae members haven’t a clue?
I write these posts because I think it is important to know the history of GLOs not our own. It goes without saying that it is imperative that members know their own GLO’s history, but time constraints and programming requirements, both GLO and college mandated, chip away at the time devoted to history. I am preaching to the choir. And dear choir, thank you for providing the music to these stories I tell. May you all have a wonderful 2017!
