Chuck Eberly, former EIU faculty, receives honor

Former faculty receives honor

By Chacour Koop/Special Projects Reporter

On a warm spring afternoon, Chuck Eberly is barefoot and relaxing in the living room of his Charleston home.

At least it looks like he is relaxing.
 
The former College of Student Affairs professor retired two years ago this May, but this is the first week he has not helped former Eastern master’s students complete their dissertations. So, he has spent the spare time uploading his research and articles onto Booth Library’s repository, The Keep.

“I haven’t really noticed what I hear people call retirement. All I can say up to this point is I no longer teach classes,” Eberly said.

Though he no longer teaches, and has since handed over his adviser duties of Eastern’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon last November, at the age of 71, Eberly is still being recognized for his service to Greek life.

Eberly received the Alumni Award of Distinction for the North-American Interfraternity Conference Sunday in St. Louis. Founded in 1909, the North-American Interfraternity Conference is an association representing 75 fraternities from both the United States and abroad.

Eberly was in the Sig Ep pledge class of 1960 at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and was an adviser at Eastern for 20 years.

Bob Kerr, Greek life coordinator at Oregon State University, nominated Eberly for the award because he advocates for fraternity students and works with them on the front line. His first memory of Eberly was a fraternity conclave in Dallas.

“He was working with a new computer software that would help students,” Kerr said. “He was tireless in gaining support for the work and helping students.”

In a press release for the award, colleagues of Eberly also recognized him for his work with hazing prevention. He formed a coalition with colleagues after a conference in Hollywood to prevent hazing.

In fact, a hazing incident at Eastern played a part in how Sig Ep established a chapter at the university.

In 1990, the Sigma Tau Gamma chapter was removed from Eastern after a fraternity member was found unresponsive in front of a science building because of alcohol use at a hazing related incident, Eberly said.

“That was the last straw with that group. A lot of the fellows that were going to become Sigma Tau Gamma were some of the men that started Sigma Phi Epsilon,” Eberly said.

Sig Ep was officially founded in the living room of Eberly’s Charleston home more than 23 years ago.

Kerr said it is Eberly’s hands-on work with students that sets him apart from other candidates for the Alumni Award of Distinction.

“All too often, the scholars and people in the front lines go without the recognition they so richly deserve,” Kerr said.

And even as Eberly sat in his upstairs home office where he uploads his past research, he got a phone call from a former Eastern master’s student who told him he had received a job at a university in Colorado.

For Eberly, it is important that he stays connected to his former students and helps them receive their doctorate degrees — even forming a Facebook group to stay in touch with students he had 20 years ago.

“That’s something which I believe in deeply,” Eberly said.

Greek system must improve to survive

Jerry Miller, of Miami University of Ohio, reflects on a career spent advising Greek organizations.

When I began here, fraternities attracted men who were leaders on campus, including those in Associated Student Government (ASG), The Miami Student, the Miami University Student Foundation (MUSF) and several varsity sports. Each fraternity had a member of Miami’s faculty as an advisor, a chapter advisor and, until the late ‘70s, a housemother. Advisors’ meetings saw attendance of 80 percent or more of the fraternities. Unfortunately, hazing was fairly prevalent.

In the mid-90s, fraternity life began to take a downward spiral, one from which it has yet to return. From 1995 to 2010, many fraternities received disciplinary sanctions, mostly from the Office of Judicial Affairs (now the Office of Student Ethics and Conflict Resolution). Many of these sanctions included suspension of the chapter for up to three years, with the reasons ranging from hazing, theft, drugs, vandalism and underage drinking — irresponsible and unacceptable behavior.

More important, though, is the fact that fraternities strayed widely from their core values. They became near-sighted rather than far-sighted — the present was more important than the future. “How can I satisfy my wants and desires today without being concerned about negative spillovers?” Many of the quality men previously attracted to the fraternity system began to reject it, and rightly so. The fraternities that used to see 300 men queuing up each night during formal recruitment to meet active members saw their numbers dwindle. Again, appropriately so.
{...]
I have reflected and asked myself, “What has happened to the fraternity system?” I am an economist, not a sociologist or psychologist; I can simply make observations and theorize. Here they are. (Please note these are generalizations, NOT applicable to everyone and every fraternity. They are, however, quite prevalent.)

• 1. Students have changed. They arrive with a strong sense of entitlement, “I deserve it because I am special. The rules of common decency and respect for others don’t apply to me.” This fact is reflected in their attitudes and actions, and often in their lack of commitment if or when they join fraternities.
• 2. There has been an increasing lack of respect for what belongs to others. Have you walked into a fraternity house recently? Have you read the reports about off-campus events after fraternity men leave? Recently graduated alumni return and destroy property. Off-duty police have had to be hired to protect some fraternity houses during alumni weekends. What has happened to respect and responsibility?
• 3. There has been a lack of role models for the men in fraternities. Some advisers have shirked their responsibilities. Where there is a strong, local advisory group, there is a strong fraternity.
• 4. Fraternity men responsible for inappropriate actions have not been held fully and consistently responsible. In certain fraternities, there has been an all-too-pervasive culture of immaturity with few or no consequences.
• 5. Fraternities no longer know the distinction between ritual and tradition; these terms have merged into one.
• 6. Helicopter parents try to externalize the blame for their sons’ transgressions and lack of cleanliness of the fraternity houses.
• 7. With the new second-year live-in requirement, fraternity houses are remaining half-filled, mainly with sophomores, as few juniors and seniors are willing to be live-in role models.
• 8. There is often a “code of silence” when it comes to discussions with the advisors.

There is much more in the full text of the article.

Cal Poly Adds Staff to Work on Greek Behavior

Poly to hire staff to deal with Greek behavior
By Nick Wilson

Cal Poly will hire two new staff members to advise fraternity and sorority members on responsible social behavior in the wake of a student’s fraternity-related death in December. It’s one of several steps the university is taking to try to prevent situations like the one that led to the death of 18-year-old Carson Starkey. Starkey died of alcohol poisoning after allegedly being hazed as he pledged Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Four students were arrested Thursday in connection with the death, and a university official said Starkey’s story will help poignantly instruct other students on what not to do in the future.

The university is conducting a national search for the new staff, who will be paid a combined $125,000 a year, including benefits, said Stephan Lamb, the university’s associate director of student life and leadership.

“We hope to have them on board by Aug. 1,” he said, noting that the university is using general fund resources to pay for them.

Students in Greek organizations also must sign agreements with the university to comply with a strict policy of no hazing and a risk-management plan for any alcohol-related event, Lamb said. Groups that violate the agreement will face scrutiny from campus officials and risk suspensions from recruiting new members on campus as well as disaffiliation from the university. Individuals also will risk losing their affiliation with Cal Poly for any improper behavior.

Lamb said it’s difficult to know everything that happens off campus, and the university doesn’t have authority to stop a party off campus, though officials can try to deter one if they find out about it in advance. But officials can work with members on being responsible and will revoke charters or implement other disciplinary action if necessary - particularly if police reports describe reckless or illegal behavior.

Cal Poly revoked SAE’s charter indefinitely and said this week that nine students have either permanently withdrawn from the university or have been suspended for at least one year as a result of the investigation into Starkey’s death. Greek organizations at Cal Poly now are strictly prohibited from having alcohol-related activities during the pledging process. Should they violate this rule, they likely wouldn’t continue to exist on campus, Lamb said.

But for off-campus events that don’t involve pledges and where members who are older than 21 are drinking, the new Greek compliance agreement says the groups must card attendees so underage students aren’t served alcohol, and must keep a certain percentage of partygoers sober to drive.

University officials already warn fraternity and sorority members, including pledges, of the dangers of binge drinking and other activities through talks and videos.

Since Starkey’s death on Dec. 2, the university has held four forums involving Greek students to try to change unhealthy culture and traditions that may still exist within the groups - including hazing. Much of those talks were targeted at leaders of the organizations who have the potential to strongly influence other students in their groups. These kinds of programs will be expanded next year, officials say.

University officials said that they have looked into banning Greek organizations from the campus, but found that at colleges where this has occurred, the groups operate independently of officials, which can be even more dangerous.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/728015.html

Care and Feeding of Advisors

The following post is an email that fellow SigEp Ron Binder sent to members of the Association of Fraternity Advisors. There are some excellent points here that can be adopted by local AVCs, the National Leadership, and the HQ staff.

Karen and Others,

The issue of engaging advisors with our groups is a daunting one, both for our campus based professionals as well as the headquarters. All can agree that an engaged advisor improves our chapters, provides mentors for our undergraduates, lowers the high-risk behaviors, and generally helps our groups achieve their intended outcomes. The tricky part is how to recruit, train, and reward these volunteers. While there is no magic formula, here are some suggestions that I have found that help.

1. Treat your advisors as equal partners in the relationship between your office and the chapter.
2. Copy advisors on almost all communication to the chapter.
3. Use inclusive language whenever possible (Grad Advisor, Chapter Advisor).
4. Try to learn the various titles of advisors (Chapter Counselor, Purple Legionnaire, High Pi, etc.).
5. In any disciplinary action, be sure to include the advisor (either by calling yourself or making sure they are called by the chapter president).
6. Send advisors internet stories, both good and bad, that will educate them (I attach them to the weekly email to presidents and advisors).
7. Provide training for advisors, realizing some are seasoned and some are not.
8. Try not to have them play the “heavy” in situations. Staff member are much more in a position to do this.
9. Realize advisor’s capabilities and don’t overload them.
10. Encourage an Advisory Team approach to advising, rather than a Jack of All Trades advisor (who probably has never existed).
11. Realize that advisors don’t sign up for life, but rather go through stages in their lives; much like undergraduates (see Erik Erikson’s theory).
12. Use the summer to spend quality time with advisors (lunches, coffee, etc.).
13. Meet advisors on their own turf (houses and their office), not always in your office.
14. Take new advisors out to lunch or coffee to orientate them to their new position (don’t assume the previous advisor transitioned them).
15. Realize that things have changed since many advisors were undergrads and bring along your advisors.
16. Most advisors don’t go around the rules, rather most don’t know the rules have changed (rarely have I found a bad advisor, just those who are not up to speed).
17. Provide books for them to read. At a recent meeting I took along some books from the office and let them borrow them. Volunteers: How to Get Them, How to Keep Them by Helen Little is a good book to buy advisors (we are doing this for the fall).
18. Provide an outstanding Grad/Chapter Advisor award. We make them for small, medium and large chapters to include more advisors.
19. Remember they are always volunteers and treat accordingly (this is not their job).

If we want quality advisors then we need to spend quality time with them. The same way we develop good undergraduate leaders, by investing our time in them, we need to do with our advisors. The best advisors I know don’t spend all their time with undergraduates, rather they spend some of their time with those that interact with undergraduates (advisors, headquarters, parents, campus administrators, etc.), especially if they want their message to undergraduates reinforced.

Other suggestions from advisors?

Dr. Ron Binder
Director of Greek Life
University of South Carolina
Email: rbinder@mailbox.sc.edu