Adventures in Pittsburgh Part 2

Anita and I are on our 6th day and decided we would finish our Pittsburgh adventures in a Part 2 blog.

After the Mideast Regional Conference finished, we stayed to work on a strategic plan with the Pennsylvania Mu Chapter at the University of Pittsburgh. When trying to decide what to write about we were happy to compare our experience with our own embarrassing story from this morning.

We woke up this morning and spent some time sitting in bed, catching up on work e-mail. Out of nowhere Anita screams bloody murder and jumps on to my bed, which in turn has me screaming right along with her (I was unsure what else I was supposed to do!) At that point I see what she has been screaming about. We have a giant, radioactive grasshopper climbing down the side of the bed. The two of us being the girls that we are, are huddled on my bed, screaming and unsure of how to handle this. Every time I gather a little courage to go find him, I get scared and run back to our home base. Finally Anita forgoes our pride and calls the front desk to ask for assistance where they send someone up to help. He is unable to find it but offers his assistance if we manage to find it and kill it. At this point we realize we must go shower and get ready for the day regardless of this bully of a grasshopper and sure enough as soon as I stand up, he lands at my foot. After this 25 minute debacle, Anita is finally able to trap him with her Phi Kappa Theta binder and we manage to get our fantastic helper up here to dispose of him. Even though we both were terrified, we both afterwards felt fantastic to have taken care of him ourselves after all.

As we started to write these blogs, this story gave us an opportunity to reflect on the process of strategic planning and how the similar challenges we find when working with chapters toward change. We started out this story feeling scared, it was easier for us to huddle in a corner screaming, than face the challenge of killing this deadly jumper. We occasionally got bouts of courage only to revert back to our huddle. At some point we realized we just couldn't do it and we reached out for help, but ultimately after this, it was still left in our hands and we managed to come out victorious.

University of Pittsburgh is one of many chapters that have been placed on Chapter Colony status this year and that has afforded us the opportunity to work with them a little more closely than in the past. The chapter, like many, are scared of what might happen (just as we were scared of our bug). They also were able to realize that they can't do it all on their own, swallowed their pride and have reached out to us as staff and are working to reach out alums in the area, as well as campus professionals for assistance. Just like in our story we see bouts of courage and motivation in the chapter. They see this as an opportunity to better themselves and make a stronger chapter. When we as staff see that, it is exciting and the chapter is dynamic to work with. However ultimately what I hope for them and for all of our chapters is that they continue with the courage and not revert back to what is easy and what they know. We have heard a lot about traditions this weekend and while traditions are important we hope that traditions aren't holding them back from the growth they are capable of. We feel confident that if they don't hold back, they too will come out feeling victorious.

Adventures in Pittsburgh Part 1

This entry is co-written by Gretchen and Anita aka your trusty Member Development Staff.

We are in Pittsburgh for the Mideast Regional Leadership Conference in addition to working with our Pitt chapter on creating a Strategic Plan. Our adventure begins on Thursday afternoon in a car in Indy. During our 7 hour drive we laugh, we jam to Rascal Flatts, share stories, and eat DQ Blizzards (we both agree the Cookie Jar ones are really good - so get yourself one). We arrive to our hotel around 11pm exhausted after being lost in Pittsburgh for about 30 minutes. This is not the last time it happens, as we get lost each time we leave the hotel.

Friday we get lost going to Duquesne and after an hour (when it should have been 5 minutes) we arrive. Campus is beautiful. The first day goes well. We have guys from Duquesne, St. Francis, Pitt, and Carnegie Mellon. The troubles begin on Saturday morning. While we were up and going by 6:30 am the brothers were sleeping and continued to do so much longer than they should have. This caused all but 5 people to be late - many were over 20 minutes late. Being on time was one of 2 rules and it was already broken. Morning sessions went well and then we head to the Pirates game for a brotherhood outing. The second rule was that it's a substance free weekend and unfortunately, not everybody decided to uphold that rule either. Word of the day was disappointing and it only got worse when members were sleeping during programs after dinner.

Sunday was a much better day. Pretty much everybody was on time and participation was high for the last few sessions. We finished at 11 and everybody departed home. By noon, Gretchen and I were back at the hotel and googling Olive Garden. We had some time before we had to be at Pitt and wanted a good meal in the suburbs. Bingo! 15 minutes away from one. We hop on the series of highways that google tells us to take. 50 minutes later we're worried that we are about to see signs saying "Welcome to West Virginia" so we turn around. Now it's 2pm and we're hungry and really crabby. Then suddenly, en route back to where we think Pittsburgh might be we see something. What is that? A sign... for a street... that is somewhere in the directions to Olive Garden. Cheers abound in the car and we turn thinking "This can't get any worse." Then we find another street on our directions and turn. Next thing you know we question if it's really an Olive Garden in front of us or just a mirage. We enter, we stuff ourselves, and we return to the car. The best part of this story is that it's right off the highway that runs to the hotel and it took us 10 minutes to get back. We then decide that we hate driving in Pittsburgh. Throughout our time here the roads change direction, change names, signs are less than abundant, and we get... lost a-lot.

Eliminating the Double Standard

As a staff we receive a variety of newsletters, articles, and e-mails with thought provoking articles regarding Greek Life. Here is one below from RISE Partnerships Inc. that I found incredibly relevant right now as many of our chapters are preparing to take on Associate Members. As always, would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Eliminating the Double Standard Building a High-Performing Chapter through New Member Education

Until now, most conversations about hazing have revolved around ethical, legal and safety concerns. We are now beginning to realize hazing's impact on an organization's basic ability to be successful. The methods we use to educate new members connect directly to the chapter's future performance. Thanks to this new perspective, we gain a number of new insights about how to overcome the problem of hazing. There are a few elements within most new member education programs that have a dramatic effect on chapter performance. If these elements are addressed, you can relieve any and all worry about potential hazing practices. The most significant element is the presence of double standards. Think about your program as you read the sections below, and look for ways to strengthen your chapter by bridging the gap between members and new members.

Break Down Barriers: There is often an invisible barrier between initiated members and a new member class. New members tend to have fewer privileges. They might be required to sit in the back of the meeting room and wear specifically prescribed attire. They may have limited access to the house and must walk everywhere as a group. The intent of these activities is to build "pledge class unity," but that separation actually wedges a barrier between members and new members, preventing a sense of unity from forming among the entire brotherhood or sisterhood. This is a natural phenomenon which attempts to preserve group identity, but successful chapters are able to overcome it by bridging the divide rather than exaggerating it.

Here's how they do it: Involve more initiated members in education and team building experiences. Modify activities to create mixed groups where initiated and uninitiated members are working side-by-side during team builders, songs, reciting the creed or coordinating other projects. Rather than leaving new members to lead a project on their own, teach leadership through a job-shadowing system where they work hand-in-hand with officers on a weekly rotation. Add new members to committees and involve them in the work as soon as the process begins. Offer small, optional activities at a regular time each week for both active members and pledges in order to strengthen connections and break down any barriers.

Aligning Expectations: Even if you break down those barriers, you still have to address the double standard. It happens when members heap impossible expectations on new members and then wait for them to make the slightest mistake. New members get confronted for missing class, forgetting their pin, skipping an event, not knowing the Greek alphabet or making an inappropriate comment. Meanwhile, some of the same initiated members are delinquent in dues, frequently absent, struggling academically and rarely held accountable for their behavior. The intent behind this double standard is that new members prove their worth and learn responsibility. In reality, they learn to work hard until initiation so they can slack off. In other words, we begin teaching "Apathy" during new member education! Healthy chapters reverse this dynamic. They keep a close watch over initiated members, insisting that they fulfill their commitments and lead by example. Meanwhile, new members are given the chance to practice, prepare and make mistakes before they take a knee, raise their right hand and take the oath of membership. Consider some of the following steps to equalize this expectation:Add an "Ideal Member" activity where members and new members spell out the do's, don'ts and other basic expectations.Write down every expectation that you have for members and the same for new members. Now switch the lists!Develop a these expectations into a Code of Conduct or a Membership Contract which covers attendance, dues payment, behavior and involvement.Use (or create) a standards board within your chapter when someone violates one of these expectations. Handle infractions by members and new members through the same process and with the same intensity.

Create New Traditions: Many members resist changes to new member education for fear that they are abandoning tradition, but this fear is irrational. Fraternities and sororities are constantly evolving as we discover new insights about how to educate members, build bonds and cultivate honor and respect. We are not abandoning tradition. Instead we are developing new ways to retain our tradition and remain relevant long into hate future.

If you are interested in learning more about how to build a stronger chapter and move From Hazing to Health, contact RISE about bringing this experience to your community.