Staying in the family

There must be something in the water at the Quinnipiac SigEp house.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle Staying in the family | The Quinnipiac Chronicle:

Sig-Ep member elected SGA president for fifth time in a row

The past five student body presidents, including newly elected Mostafa Elhaggar, have been members of the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon. However, Student Body President Matt Desilets said there is no direct correlation between the fraternity and Student Government Association.

“It really has nothing to do with Sig-Ep,” Desilets said. “I joined SGA and then I started hanging out with the guys who were in Sig-Ep and they became some of my best friends. It’s not like internally we’re like, ‘we need the SGA president [to be in Sig-Ep.]’”

Former Student Body President Ben Cloutier was both Desilets’ and Vice President of Student Concerns Evangelos Milas’ big in Sigma Phi Epsilon. Milas is Elhaggar’s big. Continuing the family line, Elhaggar is newly elected Student Body Vice President Jonny Atkin’s big. Atkin is Freshman representative Joey Mullaney’s big.

About 68 percent of SGA members are affiliated with a Greek organization on campus, Desilets said. Though 26.16 percent of Quinnipiac students are Greek, Desilets does not think SGA is misrepresenting the undergraduate population.

“I don’t think Greek life has a real role in us representing students,” he said. “I just think it’s kind of more coincidental. It’s our job to be doing our best to represent all students.”

The student body presidents’ involvement in Sigma Phi Epsilon is “coincidental,” Elhaggar said.

“I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “I was in student government before I was in Sig-Ep and so was every student body president since I have been here.”

Cloutier was Milas’ mentor when he first joined SGA, but Milas said Cloutier never pushed Sigma Phi Epsilon on him.

“Just by hanging out with [Ben], I naturally gravitated to [Sig-Ep] by me looking up to him,” Milas said. “I would ask about it every now and then and he would just brush it off. In no sense was he ever like, ‘Hey listen, I really want you to do Sig-Ep.’”

Desilets said having Cloutier as a big was a reflection of their friendship more than anything.

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Plan Now for Your Next Elections

Make changes now to avoid endless elections
from our friends at The Apathy Myth: a Blog for America's College Student Leaders

If you are that rare and beautiful student organization that has an efficient and effective elections process, then skip this entry. If you're one of the majority of student organizations that has an elections process that's as much fun as a root canal, this is for you.

If it takes you longer than a 2-hour meeting to elect new officers, you should start working now to implement some changes to improve your process. Some people love a long and drawn-out election meeting, but the rest of us (with a life) think it's dreadful. Dreadful. Dreadful.

First, a note. I hate the concept of "slating" officers. I think it's unfair and suggests that a small group of people know better than the entire group being led. I am a fan, however, of having qualifications for those running for office (grade point averages, first and foremost), and having a process by which people become candidates. But, if four people want to run for Treasurer, I think all four should be given a chance to throw their hats in.

Here are my suggestions. Your advisor might have many more.

1. Make people register their candidacy at least two weeks in advance. Knowing who is running for offices allows the necessary conversations to happen before the election meeting. A little campaigning is a good thing. Maybe even offer some informal gatherings where people can ask the candidates questions. The two-week registration forces people to be thoughtful about running, but it also allows people to approach each candidate to ask questions. Better that they do that informally, person-to-person, than during an 8 hour elections marathon meeting. I think a group organically vetting its candidates is more fair than a slating process which is almost always biased.

2. If people want to run for multiple offices, let them file candidacies for all of those positions. Chances are, someone who puts his name in the hat for multiple offices won't be elected to any of them. You'll need to decide on a process for how you'll handle it if a person wins more than one office. For example, letting the person choose which office she wants then having a run-off for the other office she won. This might require a bylaw change, so think it through.

3. Allow the candidates to submit a written statement (200 words or less) that outlines their qualifications, their motivations for running, and their priorities if elected. Or, do it as a 3-5 point questionnaire that each candidate can fill out with brief answers. Then, distribute these to all members via website or some other means at least a week in advance of the meeting.

4. At the elections meeting, allow each candidate to nominate someone to speak on their behalf for 2 minutes. Or, allow the candidate him/herself to speak for 2 minutes. You do not need to allow time for people to speak "against" candidates. That's counter-productive. All the negatives will have circulated informally in the two weeks proceeding. Your elections should not be a vehicle for ripping people down or discrediting their leadership talents or motives.

5. If you have more than 8 officers, elect them in two batches: your top four officers at the first elections meeting, then the others at the subsequent meeting. This beats one long, draining meeting.

6. Knowing your candidates in advance allows you to do ballots which can be done at the conclusion of your elections meeting. You don't need to do voting for each office independently – that's a giant time suck.

There are probably lots of other ideas people have on how to streamline elections. If you have one, email it to me, and I'll feature it in a future posting.

My main point, however, is that if your elections are a draining, monotonous, exhausting process, then you need to start laying some groundwork NOW to make it better. If you need to make changes to your constitution or bylaws to improve the process, now is the time to do it.

Elections for many organizations are a month or so away, so take the initiative immediately to improve your process.

Breaking election news #sigep #conclave

This just in :

Garry Kief Elected Grand President for 2009-2011.

New SigEp undergraduate NBD members:

• Matt Eisen Yale,
• Adam Motycka, Toledo,
• and Zach Barilleau from LSU

...Congrats Brothers!

Chris Bittman confirmed as Grand Treasurer.

(update)New NBD members:

• Bert Harris
• Billy Madeline
• Shawn McKenna
• Tom Jelke

Congratulations to all.

See @SPEConclave09 for upto the minute information on resolutions and elections.

On Politics - Breaking News, Election 2008 & Presidential Candidates

Steve Dorsey from American University sent this in:

Several of our chapter brothers here at D.C. Delta-American University conducted a months-long poll on the potential affect of youth voters in the 2008 presidential campaign. The poll and analysis were just posted to USAToday.com this evening.

Thanks, Steve. The link goes to a long list of short items and "our" piece is pretty far down the page, so we have copied it here.

Our disclaimer: S&P is not taking sides in the election, We are trying to showcase work by and about SigEps in many contexts.

Analysis: 20-point gap between Obama & McCain among young voters

New_warning Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama holds a 58%-38% lead over Republican John McCain among voters ages 18 to 29, according to research done by students from American University's School of Communication in conjunction with USA TODAY and Gallup.

Obama's lead among young voters has narrowed since mid-September, when it stood at 29 percentage points, but he retains a "clear advantage," adds the AU Polling Analysis of Young Voters in the 2008 Election. (AU's summary of its findings is here.)

The latest numbers are based on an Oct. 13-19 USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 598 people in the age group. The results have a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Other details from the AU analysis:

• Young voters say "dealing with the economic crisis" is the most important issue facing the nation -- 91% said that is "extremely" or "very" important. Close behind were "creating jobs" (82%) and "making health care more available and affordable" (81%).

• Obama came out ahead of McCain as being better able to handle those and other important issues. Two-thirds of the group said he would do a more effective job handling the economy, health care and the environment.

On Politics - Breaking News, Election 2008 & Presidential Candidates

Vote wisely. Vote Well. Vote now.

The right to vote is one of the most precious rights we have in this country. "We the people" get to choose who will lead us and who will represent us in Congress, in our states and in our local municipalities. We at S&P urge all SigEps to due their civic duty and vote in the elections next week. Many states have an early voting program and you can avoid the rush and crush of election day by taking advantage of the early voting options. Plus, you can get a head start on celebrating your candidate's win (or mourning the loss).

The presidential election this year is one of the most hotly contested that I have seen - and I have been a political junky since the days of Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson. No matter which candidate you favor, chances are you see a win by the other side as a step down the road to ruin. The only way to have any affect on the race is to go and vote your beliefs. With so many people expected to turn out this year - the early voting in Texas is double 2004 - you may think that your vote will not make a difference. I would remind you of Florida in 2000. Less than a 1000 vote margin ultimately decided the course of the country for the next 8 years. Whether you think that course was the correct one or not, imagine how those Florida voters who did not bother to vote feel about their choice. Once when I was in college and working on the Mayor's race my candidate lost by 29 votes. Don't tell me "it doesn't matter"!

SigEp proudly claims to be "building balanced leaders for the worlds communities." One of the obligations of a leader is to participate in the change he would make. What better way to practice that on a personal level than to help chose the path our country will take?

Go. Vote. Now. You will feel good about yourself. You also get the right to bitch about those jerks in Washington when they screw everything up - again!