I have moved

I have moved my blog to a new address to reflect the new title and new focus of my program.

you can find me now at https://jacquithporter.blogspot.com


I hope you to see you there!

Serious meditation on Brotherhood

I am sitting in Starbucks, looking out at the rain, and the dreary overcast skies. This type of weather always makes me go introspective and think about my life. Today I have dedicated a large amount of time thinking about what it all really means. What does it really mean to be a brother? Does witnessing the same ritual make a brother with everyone else? Or is it something else? I have witnessed the same ritual as everyone else in my chapter, but I would not consider many of those men my brothers, some of them I consider friends, but most of them are no more then roommates, fellow travelers on the road of life. So what makes people actually brothers?

Blogger is not making friends

I would like to apologize for the random formating that has been happening on this blog. For some reason Blogger has decided all my new posts should be all underlined on the front page. If you click the continue reading link the article will revert to normal. I am sorry about this inconvenience I am trying very hard to make it stop. 

It's all about the little things!

Source

Phase 3: Excellence: Here is where as Social Chair you need to shine. By this point in the game you have build up quite an impressive notebook of different events, contact, contracts and social ideas, make sure you do not lose this. On top of putting the finishing touches on this notebook, it is time to take your social life to the next level time to go decent to to a social life of excellence. The major tasks for this stage are building better connections with sororities and campus administration, hosting the reception of the year, and making your formal something your campus will be talking about for years to come. Also if you decide to, this is where you would announce the Sweetheart of your chapter. 

The first thing you need to do for this stage is set your social calendar, and get it passed by your chapter. Your best friend during this phase is going to be careful planning and organization from the beginning. Your social calendar should be fully set within the first month of the semester, leaving room for last minute social events and such. If you do not have fully formalized socials planned, at least put the tentative dates on the calendar. Also on this calendar you should have the dates and times for major brotherhood events, community service events and other such activities being planned by the members of your committee. This should be of the utmost importance as this stage will have you and your chapter very busy with social lives, so you want to make sure everyone knows what is happening and when.  Once you have this done it is time to start tackling building better connections. 

The easiest way to do this through thoughtful and respectful correspondences. I know this sounds like it is straight from Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Guide to Etiquette which it might be, but that does not mean it is no less important. There are three major times you need to send a card, handwritten note etc. Those are Founder’s Days, administration birthdays and after an event. There are different sets of rules for the different groups you are sending these cards to as well. You have a lot more leeway when it comes to inter-Greek relations then when sending things to the administration. 

When sending things to other Greeks there are a few things to keep in mind. 

The Second half of phase two of Committed To Social Lives of Excellence

So now you and your brothers have the basics of gentlemanly behavior down, time to start doing some socializing. Socials, these can make or break your reputation on campus. While a traditional social is nice, it’s a little boring for a social life of excellence, not to mention carry a huge risk of bad PR for your chapter. Traditional socials normally are driving by one of two forces, consumption of alcohol and/or the pursuit of sexual relations with a sorority member. These types of socials just have danger written all over them. Look at your basic wet social, how hard would it be for an accidental overdose to happen? How about a sexual assault? Or how about a visit from your local police? Why waste all the hard work you have done to get this far by throwing a social like this? Not to mention isn’t the entire purpose of working on this plan to make yourself stick out on campus? Here is my suggestion for you. Publicly announce you will no longer be hosting wet social events. Why would you ever do something like this? Because it will get you some really good PR. Trust me on this one, once you tell a few people that your chapter is no longer planning wet socials, most of Greek life will know quite soon. Okay, so you have announced you are no longer doing wet socials, how do you break that news to your brothers? Bet they are not happy campers at all, well here is the solution. Yes you are only planning dry socials, that does not mean you will not be holding an after party where your of age brothers can consume alcohol with of age members of the sorority in question. This way also reduces your risk of potentially having some really severe MRG violations, like common source and/or slush funds. For more information refer to the original CLE plan. Another great idea for social events is why not invite a sorority to do a community service project with you? With social events you really need to start thinking of non traditional ideas, like community service, or things as simple as bowling or hosting a karaoke night on campus together. 

Here is also the time to start rolling out the new social policies you or your predecessor worked on last phase. Here is an example of what I did while I was social chair for my chapter. 

Intro to phase two of Social Lives of Excellence. A Delt is a Gentleman first and foremost.

Phase 2: Social Lives: Other then education, social lives are the second most important part of the college experience, you can argue against this, but it is human nature. Humans are social beings, we crave interactions with other people, why else would you be a part of a fraternity? Just like in the original CLE plan phase two is all about external relations. Your duty in phase two as social chair is simple, plan events people want to attend, and make sure your brotherhood is a brotherhood people want to get to know. While the first event seems simple enough, if you have ever planned events your a chapter you understand how difficult this can be. But before we get to event planning there is something much more important, getting the brotherhood to be someone people want to get to know.

Google and Your Chapter

If there is one book that has changed my life in such a profound way, it would be What Would Google Do? By Jeff Jarvis. I suggest every person read this book, with it’s simple easy to read and straight to the point style, it is a quick read. Jarvis focuses on businesses, but many of the lessons and laws put forth in the text can be easily used for every day life, and more importantly a fraternity. I have taken many of the lessons to heart, and because of this I created this section of Committed To Lives of Excellence. 

Here are some simple things that every chapter should be doing no matter what stage of the CLE you are on. If you are a new chapter, or you are a chapter who has had a Hugh Shields award for the past 50 years, you can all benefit from this.