Recruitment: Enforcing the standard

As chapters begin to implement their summer recruitment plans and focus on next semester's recruitment there is something that they should all have a commitment to keeping. Each chapter should know their recruitment goals and recruitment standards. More importantly, they should not make exceptions to these standards.

We have all come across the guy that is just an awesome guy and he's really fun to hang around. Everyone knows him and thinks he's really cool. It may even be the guy that several of the ladies love. Most chapters would dub this guy the "cool guy." Some chapters are willing to give this guy a bid/invitation without investigating further.

But, what is your chapter's standard for academics? Anytime you are setting standards it seems that it's best to have as many quantifiable components as possible. Academic standards should be something that a chapter focuses on heavily.

And then there's the part about not making any exceptions to the standards. My chapter has done this twice in the last two years. Freshmen who wanted to join had to have a high school GPA no less than 3.0. College men who wanted to join had to have no less than a 2.75.

We came across the two "cool guys." Believe it or not, each of them were actually varsity athletes as well. Everyone liked these guys. They were good people. Our chapter liked them enough that we over looked the fact that their GPA's were not even close to our standard. We gave them both invitations.

The first person ended up being put on academic probation by the university and was expelled by our chapter because he would not pay his dues. His lack of responsibility was not limited to just his academics.

The second person just succeeded in failing all of his courses for the spring semester. Our chapter could have easily made Phi Beta Kappa Wheelhouse had it not been for this "cool guy."

We made exceptions to our standards in order to secure someone's membership. It did nothing but hurt us. It's a hard lesson to learn, but it is one that is fully understood once you've been through it. Know your standards and keep them. Only by this will good chapters become great chapters.