More of Our Own Frat Boyz:
This letter illustrates how a "clever" picture on your chapter web site can have unintended consequences.
Dear Wordjunky,
As chaplain of my chapter I am always very concerned about the behavior of my brothers and the image we have in the community. So far we have been doing everything right at XXXXXX(redacted). A friend of mine is going to be attending and I have been talking heavily about how different SigEp is.
Then his parents (good researchers) looked up the local website and found this picture:
Of course all my work was ruined in that moment and his parents are not letting him join a frat! I just wanted to let you know this off the record. Maybe someone at nationals should have a talk with them.
{Signed}
"The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other people"
--Aristotle
We have honored this brother's wish to remain private, but the larger issue should be shouted from the rooftops.
What you put on your website is your public brand!
When you put a picture of a drunken fool on your site then don't be surprised and hurt when people think all you are is a bunch of drunks. duh! We may have lost at least one excellent prospective member because of it. In fact, the college Greek system may have lost him because of it.
Ford doesn't put pictures of exploding Pintos on it's web site because that is not what they are. Well, this is not what we are either.
Oh yeah - in case the chapter wised up and took down the picture - here it is. For the record, the person was listed as class of 2001. That makes him an alum. More's the pity.:
