Spending several days among young fraternity men and women at the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Value’s Central Fraternal Leadership Conference in conjunction with the National Black Greek Leadership Conference offered many opportunities to see the latest “pin attire” up close and personal. I never tire of seeing fresh faced young men in ties (including bow-ties) and blazers. My feet ached for the young women putting in miles in five and six inch heels.
I stepped a bit out of my comfort zone and did a 5-minute, 20 slide Ignite Fraternity presentation on Friday afternoon. Ignite is a “creative process!” and trying to “enlighten, challenge, and entertain” is a mighty big challenge with a glaring countdown clock in your face. The slides were terrific and included info on some of my favorite blog topics – Grace and Calvin Coolidge, the Beekman Tower (Panhellenic), Carrie Chapman Catt, Lloyd G. Balfour and George Banta. As odd as it sounds, my goal was to be a bit like Charlie Brown’s teacher (“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!”) and have the slides ignite the spark of curiosity about our collective history.
Here is the text of my Ignite Fraternity talk:
I was likely the last person that anyone in my high school graduating class would have suspected of joining a sorority in college. When I made my way to Syracuse University, I saw the houses with Greek letters that edged Walnut and I wanted to see what they look liked on the inside. My freshman roommate suggested I sign up for sorority recruitment, go through the house tour round and then drop out. It sounded like a terrific plan. But then something unexpected happened. I found a chapter where I felt very at home; I was offered a bid and became a member.
I will be the first to admit that I was perhaps the most clueless woman who has ever signed up for sorority recruitment. I had no idea about any of it. Remember, I was in it for the house tours. I recall the first time we as new members met with the alumnae advisory committee. They came over for formal dinner. I remember sitting there thinking to myself. “What is it with these women? They’ve been out of college for decades! Don’t they have a life?” Today I am one of those women but back then I did not understand the vital roles that alums can play in chapter life.
During my time in the chapter, I found the collection of my sorority’s magazines dating back to the 1880s when it was first published. I’d pester the President for the key to the archives and I’d sit and read about the history of our organization.
It came to me slowly, but I realized that I was just one tiny little link in a very long chain of women who had taken the same oath of membership. I also started to understand that the women who came before me in the 1800s and early 1900s were pioneers. They were women who went on to earn Ph.D.s, some studying in Europe and writing dissertations in German. Others became doctors, lawyers, educators, and suffragists. They were women who, when World War I broke out, stepped in and did what had to be done. Until 1919, women did not have the right to vote in a federal election and yet the women who belonged to these organizations were mavericks in other ways. Yes, a good many of them went on to be wives and mothers. Juggling a profession and family wasn’t the norm back then. Most had to make a choice between the two.
Each of our organizations is proud of its notable alums. Members can often recite which famous people belonged to their organization. But do any of us know the sum total of the notable people who’ve worn all our badges? Isn’t that something of which every member of any of our organizations should be proud? Or do we just care about our own? The sad fact is that most people who are not familiar with our organizations can’t tell the difference between a Phi or a Psi or a Xi. It is all Greek to them. Being proud of our collective history in no way diminishes the pride we have in our own organizations. We are all in this together.
While it is the externals that set us apart – our badges, colors, symbols, songs and philanthropies to name a few – it is our values and beliefs, those guiding principals that bring us together. Our organizations were started by college students and college students have the future of the organizations in their hands. We need members who understand, respect, and are excited about our organization’s history. If we want to look towards the future we need to have a sense of the past. It is hard to chart a course if you don’t know where you are or where you’ve been.
It’s easy to make history come alive. If your members do not learn the history of your organization and the greater fraternity community while they are collegiate members, it is unlikely that they will ever learn it.
There are so many tools at your disposal. It just takes one interested chapter member to light the spark about fraternity history. And these days it is so easy to find information. Encourage members to use chapter and organizational historical resources. Many fraternity history books that were once out of print are now available as Google books or reprint. Some organizations share history in blogs and twitter pages. Others are digitizing their magazines so even the youngest of chapters can have a full run of the issues. Remember, we all have a history and there is absolutely no reason for it to be a mystery!
© Fran Becque www.fraternityhistory.com All rights reserved.
