The president of my chapter forwarded to me your e-mail regarding a posting on the SigEp blog that is quite relevant to Conclave. I found it very interesting as both he and I will be attending. In preparation I have drafted an opinion of my own that outlines what I perceive to be a rapidly approaching problem to our chapter in Wisconsin and SigEp nationally. If possible, I would be honored and delighted to have it posted on the site online.
Attached is the article that I have written. If for some reason it cannot be posted, please advise me if there is anyway to publicize my thoughts.
Thank you,
Ryan Sugden (WS Beta - Univ of Wisc.)
Ryan, We are always glad to have contributions, especially when they well thought out and not exactly mainstream. We are glad to present our latest Guest Posting...
What I perceive to be our fraternity’s most rapidly emerging threat is from a source that we all usually consider an ally. Our chapter struggles not from manpower, finances, sorority relations or brotherhood but from our membership in a Greek system which in the very least is struggling and at the worst is hurting itself and its members individually and as a whole.
On the University of Wisconsin campus, we are able to do many things well. We are frequently congratulated on successful recruitment, enjoy good popularity among sororities, have had the most successful philanthropy many years running and have never had stronger brotherhood. But the Greek system is only 8% of our student body. Among fraternities SigEp may signify a commitment to leadership, excellence and community; however, among the 92% of other students the letters Sigma, Phi, and Epsilon are grouped with all other fraternities with no distinction between their behavior and ours. It is said that the action of one SigEp represents all SigEp’s, but really, to the outside observer and critic, the actions of a SigEp, a Sigma Chi or a Tau Kappa Epsilon represent all fraternities.
It is the national emphasis on constant growth and personal chapter achievements that limits our ability to help the system, other houses and subsequently ourselves in the long run. I am not suggesting that our membership should not be our number one priority; I believe that the health of our Greek system is inherently tied to the health and betterment of our house. The issue is paradoxical: improving our house with no regard for other fraternities on campus helps no one, least of all ourselves in the long run. While sacrificing for the betterment of the whole will certainly have short term detriments, the end result is a stronger Greek system. Helping other houses that struggle with recruitment, safety, retention, programming and campus relations with suggestions, tips and ideas may cause our numbers to suffer as a result of increased competition. However, this challenge will force us to work harder, improve our methods and in the end become better fraternity men.
We cannot ignore other fraternities on our campuses and in the nation. Let’s stop assuming that we live in a vacuum. SigEp is a great fraternity that does great things, but if we wish to shed the ‘frat boy’ image and moniker, we must not only eliminate it from our own behavior but also remove it from the stereotype of fraternities in general. Why only look inside when our biggest threat is outside our red door?
So, how do we help the Greek system and at the same time help ourselves? Lets hear some ideas.
