“Wish I felt better about my own chapter which is now on probation. Received a letter from Nat’l regarding that. So sad!” That message was on a holiday car in yesterday’s mail. The card’s cover had “joy” written on it, but my friend’s note about her chapter was anything but joyful. Her organization and her chapter doesn’t matter. She knows that I advocate for GLOs and wanted me to know that she was hurting about her chapter’s fate. Truth be told, it’s getting harder and harder to advocate for GLOs when members do not understand how their actions reflect on all of us.
My friend initiated in the 1950s. In the six decades since her initiation she has treasured her membership. I know plenty of sorority volunteers, but my friend isn’t one of them. She’s one of the rank and file members who love and support, but never served as an inter/national volunteer. I say this only to provide evidence that when some members – or maybe the entire chapter – through their actions or their neglect place the chapter’s existence in jeopardy, it hurts all the way down the line.
Living in the chapter house is one of her treasured memories. I recall a conversation we had when she visited the house a few years ago. She said it was like going back in time to a favorite place. As she stood in the front hall, memories flooded her, she said.
Those of us whose chapters no longer exist know where we were when we heard the news that our chapter would or had closed. Certainly it’s a little more tolerable when one receives a letter or email rather than have the fact splashed on the news because of a particularly egregious crime. No one wants to know that the current members of one’s chapter have no regard for human life or the care and concern to get medical attention for a member. Or have no idea about the bounds of public decency.
I often tell the collegiate members I speak with that they are one little link on a very long chain. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. They need to value and respect those who came before them and they need to be cognizant of those who will come after them. It is each current member’s responsibility – a responsibility they chose to accept willingly when they chose to become a member – to leave the organization better than they found it.
I think about what to tell my friend when I send her a holiday card. Knowing nothing of her chapter’s affairs I suppose I could go internet digging, but I will not. I will tell her I hope the chapter follows through on putting it back in good standing. Learning from one’s mistakes is a valuable lesson. We can hope that the chapter members truly learn something from this episode.
