Sending Off

Constructing our new, redefined American Fraternity was an inspiring and rejuvenating experience. Outlining what the ideal Greek Life should be triggered many personal thoughts and reflections. As we look to expand Greek Life in the next five to ten years at Ohio State, how can we make sure that we do so in the right way? How can we work as an entire community, rather than individual groups, to achieve this new, reformed Fraternal Movement? On another note, it was also very pleasing to see that as we "redefined" the American Fraternity, many of the changes fell in line with the current values and ideas of FIJI. To me, this speaks volumes of our Fraternity. It shows that we truly are making an impact on each other and FIJI is having an incredible impact on each of us.

Some key aspects that separate our redefined Fraternal Movement from the current one. First and foremost, as I briefly mentioned, our Fraternal Movement is a collaborative one, one that emphasizes all fraternities and sororities coming together as one to promote the growth and development of undergraduate students at this University. No chapter bashing, however, friendly competition. By friendly competition, I mean competition in the regard that we are pushing each other so that we all can get better at X, Y, and Z, not put each other down in order to raise ourselves up. Competition has the potential to truly bring out the best in everyone, so long as we can respect and honor each other as individuals, fraternities, and sororities. 

Second, our Fraternal Movement puts the majority of its focus and emphasis on personal development. Greek Life proposes a tool for individuals to grow personally in many regards: it allows an undergrad to develop creativity, collaborative skills, and most importantly, leadership. The redefined American Fraternity opens doors for students to take whatever passion(s) they possess and make a real difference with the entire Greek community as their support system. In many ways, this aspect already exists in today's American Fraternity. However, in our redefined version, Greek Life promotes values-based leadership in order to assure that Greeks act with congruence and consciousness of self in leading their fellow brothers and sisters. In other words, one must understand their own values before they try to teach and lead others. Leadership is something that is difficult to teach in a classroom, but very easy and ideal to be taught through experiences in extra-curricular settings. The redefined American Fraternity provides such a setting.

Lastly, our redefined American Fraternity heavily relies on and utilizes its Men's and Women's Councils (IFC, PHA). These bodies work in conjunction with each fraternity and sorority, making sure all voices are heard. They also work collaboratively with the University to recruit, program events, and so forth. This sort of liaison role these councils play is critical to the development and reinforcement of the Greek community. In order to grow, we will need the University to have our backs, and the Men's and Women's Councils provide this.

This final project was perfect to encompass all that we've learned this quarter about the SCM and how it can apply both to FIJI and the future of Greek Life at Ohio State. It's been real guys, thanks for a great quarter.

The Future of OSU Greek Life

What will it be? This is my question.

After our discussions last week in class, I started to really think about this. President Gee said he wants to expand Greek life at Ohio State (essentially, double in size) in the next five years. This doesn't seem feasible at first glance, at least in my opinion, but with the switch to the semester system I start to see it become a real possibility.

Right now, around 2,730 students are actively Greek at Ohio State, 6.5% of the OSU undergrad population. Let's be a little more conservative and say we don't double, but still increase in size from 6.5% to 10%. Should that be the case, the OSU Greek population would increase from 2,730 to 4,208 members. I don't think the numbers really do this justice. This change, I think, would be huge, and have an impact on this Greek life and this entire campus that we cannot even fathom at this point.

With all that said, I have a strong concern with this. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE for Greek Life to expand at Ohio State. However, with this expansion, I think we as members of the Greek community need to be very cautious. I have learned from visits to other campuses and conversations with Greeks at other schools with strong Greek involvement that their version of "Greek life" may not be one that is tasteful, especially with the current struggles of the fraternal movement. In essence, what I am saying is that I have a little fear in the back of my mind that if Greek life expands at OSU as President Gee and others are pushing for it to do, many Greeks might become caught up in the media version of what it means to be in a fraternity or sorority.

I may be totally disconnected with this assumption, so please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Social Change Model

For me, the Social Change Model put together a lot of things I already had an idea of regarding effective leadership and social change. In other words, I had a pretty good idea of the different qualities it took to be a solid leader, but not necessarily how they worked together to promote even more effective leadership. The Social Change Model provided me with this structural knowledge.

Collaboration and Common Purpose, in conjunction with one another, had a profound impact on my studies for this class, an impact I immediately saw take hold on my daily leadership activities and projects. Yes, it is evident that in order to lead, you must have people to lead. That is, you must have people to collaborate with. What is more enlightening and motivating, however, is the potential posed in combining collaboration with working towards a common purpose. Not only does collaborating with others help you achieve your own goals, but it allows you to form new group goals and make an even greater difference. 

Congruence and Commitment, two additional connected pieces of the SCM, inspired me not only to always keep my personal values in mind in everything I work towards, but to stay committed to them at all times. Not only to say I support or represent a certain moral or idea, but actually carry out these words and demonstrate them through my actions. Talk to the talk, but more importantly, walk the walk. Leaders and social change agents do this last part not only sometimes, but every time. College is a time when so many different values are thrown at an undergrad, making it difficult to keep your personal morals in check. This is vital to leadership. If you don't lead with a moral compass, that what is the point of leading?

To me, the Social Change Model represents a structure that anyone, anywhere can learn and implement into their daily lives and become a leader. It takes simple concepts that we all already know and are familiar with from past experiences and puts them into action by demonstrating their interconnectedness with one another. The SCM has educated and influenced my leadership within the classroom, FIJI, and my daily action in general, even though my original impression had been that leadership was something that could not be taught out of a book. To some extent, it still can't, but the SCM proposes ideas and lessons that can be instantly implemented to real life situations. The SCM has a lot to offer, whether you are an experienced or new leader.

F1J1

I appropriately titled this blog F1J1, not because "...you know you want to be one...," but because it serves as a reminder (for me at least) that we need to strive to be number one in everything we do. Never settle.

That said, I'll start with a couple things that I personally would like to see FIJI improve upon. They are: social and service.

I know we already discussed the social aspect of our chapter in depth in class, so I'll try my best not to repeat what has already been said. I'll just throw around a few ideas. I brought up the dinner swap becoming a regular thing, and I would like to expound upon that. We all agreed that dry events are generally a better way to meet new people and form lasting relationships, so just consider the idea of having two dinner swaps with different sororities each quarter. A conservative estimate, especially with chapter dinners serving as a great tool for recruitment, it would be a bad idea to have diner swaps too often and take away from recruitment. Nevertheless, two dinner swaps per quarter means six a year, which means six more opportunities to meet people than we currently have. Not to mention, less planning would be involved with these dinner swaps, since they are already a part of each of our schedules. Then, should we have a TG with these girls in the future (which we most likely will), the "facade" many worry about, I believe, would no longer be an issue (or at least not as significant). Not only would we be adding a new element to the social aspect of FIJI (regular dinner swaps), but we would also improve another aspect (TGs). Maybe it's just me, but I see a lot of potential in this, so I'd love to hear each of your thoughts.

Service, one of our five values. Over my almost full year as a FIJI, I think this is the value we most neglect. I don't want to take anything away from select brothers who do do great things in the community, nor sound as if I live and breathe community service. However, I think improving our community service would have an energizing and extensive effect on our chapter. While it is great that brothers do individual community service projects on their own each quarter, I would like to challenge everyone to take that extra step and put just as much effort if not more into completing projects with their brothers. I am going to try and do my best to plan service events for all the brothers, in hope of improving this value of our chapter. Should our involvement in FIJI-specific service events improve, our brotherhood would surely follow suit. Once again, let me know your thoughts.

Now, onto the strengths of our chapter. We as FIJIs create and sustain a great image for ourselves and our chapter everyday. During my time as a potential, pledge, and brother, my interactions and impression of FIJI has been nothing but positive. Going off that, a major reason why we portray such a great image to undergrads and faculty is our strong involvement on campus. This not only serves as a great recruitment tool, but a great instrument for our chapter in general. Experiencing different organizations allows brothers to gain insight that transfers over to our fraternity and what we can do to be successful. Lastly, another thing our chapter does extremely well is it assists and promotes the education of each brother. Everyone is extremely focused and dedicated to their studies, and with that, every brother has always been willing to help anyone struggling or in need of guidance. This goes for non-school related matters, too. We as brothers of FIJI are always acting in each others' best interests. Thus, this and each of the other mentioned strengths are things I see FIJI do extremely well each and every day.



Our Cabinet and committee chairs, for the most part, are doing a great job thus far. Although it's still early on in the game, if we can continue this energy and drive into Spring quarter with Greek Week, Islander, and then into Fall quarter with Rivalry Run and so forth, I can see FIJI doing a lot of great things in the future. However, the only caution I think needs to always be taken into account is one of the first things in my blog: Never settle. I cannot say that enough. This is what separates the good from the great, the respected to the elite. This is our only barrier to success, and we are fortunate enough to have complete control of it. If we continue to push ourselves, each other, and our Cabinet and committee chairs, FIJI will only get better.

Now onto the Greek community as a whole. Eli really hit it home with his last blog regarding "chapter bashing." This really is the greatest barrier to a more embracing, inclusive Greek community. We cannot work as a group with a common goal in conquering the fraternal movement if we are always at each others' throats with our demeaning comments. While we as FIJIs are a strong community ourselves, think about how strong an entire Greek community can be if it is united and supportive of each other. We are strong in that we are all generally very passionate about our individual chapters, their goals and interests, but we can be even stronger if we also act with each others interests in mind and work together rather than tear each other apart.

Now ke$ha is coming on in my shuffled iTunes, and that's an indication to shut up if I've ever seen one. Peace, bros.

Change Agents

"Change agents are already helping to shape their landscape simply by (a) being aware of how their actions impact others, by (b) including others in the process of change, (c) setting a direction and defining responsibilities, by (d) helping people develop the skills or attain the knowledge they need, by (e) embracing the process of working with others, and by (f) validating the importance of the change project."

This quote from the reading, in my opinion, sums up the entire purpose of a change agent and what it takes to be one. Each of these six pieces are integral to making a change, being a change agent and a leader.

"Being aware of how their actions impact others" To me, this means that change agents recognize and take advantage of the fact that people are affected by what we do, whether this is seeing or even just hearing about our actions. Change agents lead through their actions, not just through their words. The boundaries of our actions are much broader than we think, and I think we often fail to recognize how much of an impact our behavior has on others, both good and bad.


"Including others in the process of change" This goes back to the general idea that "two brains are better than one," and three are better than two, and so forth. In order to make a significant change, it takes the efforts of multiple people, personalities, and talents. This should also include multiple change agents, too. However, a real change agent realizes that he/she cannot accomplish much alone, and must embrace the power of a group working towards a united goal. This applies to the greek community and fraternal movement as well; while one fraternity or sorority can try and change the impression of Greek Life, no real change will take place without a united effort. Change agents recognize this.


"Setting a direction and defining responsibilities" Once a group forms to work towards social change, a change agent must emerge as the leader and set a unified direction and distribute responsibilities for each contributor. Change agents, in this regard, promote collaboration while preventing chaos. A group can have the most talented people in the world, but without direction and organization, they accomplish little if anything. This is where the change agent comes into play.


"Helping people develop the skills or attain the knowledge they need" Even if people are given responsibilities catered to their individual skills and interests, we are all only human and cannot expect perfection from one another. Change agents understand this, and do the best they can to help others develop their abilities and learn what is necessary to make a change. Additionally, change agents also recognize that when they don't have the expertise to help out in a given situation, they must find someone else who can. Change agents, while acting as leaders and directors, must act as facilitators and networkers as well.


"Embracing the process of working with others" and "Validating the importance of the change project" To me, these two parts go hand in hand, and are the ultimate goal of any social change project. While it is always great to make social change, the process in getting there must never be overlooked. Each time we are put in a position in which we work towards change, we must learn from these experiences. That way, the next time a project comes up, it can be tackled more efficiently. This demonstrates the common notion that "success is a journey, not a destination." Social change is a great journey, and change agents treat it as this each time they work towards social change.


This chapter really hit home for me, for it brought together all of the aspects of social change to demonstrate what it really means to be a change agent. In closing,  I leave you with a song by a man who knows all about change, or can at least sing about it.

Service

Community service can have a profound impact on an individual's life. I recognize that I don't do nearly as much community service as I should, and I have made a strong effort to change that this quarter and for the rest of my life.

The latest and most influential service project that comes to mind is one I have had going with members of my church in my hometown, Avon Lake, Ohio. I am a member of a rather small Methodist church of maybe 60 to 80 people, most of which are old, weak, and whose health is deteriorating each day. This requires the youth to take action in many aspects of the church, such as landscaping, visiting and taking care of elder members, and simply holding the door open for them and helping them get seated and prepared for service.

Whether it be taking a Sunday afternoon to work with other members in cutting grass, weeding, trimming, raking leaves or shovelling snow, serving the church and its elder members who built it formed a sense of unity amongst the younger members. This opened my eyes to a new piece of service, community. In combining our abilities and talents, we made a difference in our community, our church. And then during the week, for those of us who could drive, we would make trips to get groceries for those could not themselves. These simple little things added up to a greater difference, and illustrated the true importance of community service to me and my fellow youth members.

I have tried to keep up with this community service project long-distance here at Ohio State with a particular member of the congregation. Once member, Betty, has had a great impact on my faith and my growth as an individual, and I have kept in touch with her through writing and sending letters to her back home. She has not been able to leave her home for quite some time now, and she has often told me one of the greatest joys in her life is receiving letters from her friends. I sometimes wonder if this last piece qualifies as communtiy service, actually. But I think I am making an impact on her life, as big or small as it is. Or at least I am trying to. If that fits your personal definition of service - making a difference in someone's life - as it does mine, than it would be considered community service.

Community service has taught me the true impact only one person can make with a little time and effort. Even more so, I have learned that a group, in collaboration, can make an even greater impact on society at large. I have learned so much from the limited experience I have with community service, and as I make a concerned effort to perform more community service, I am eager to see what else I have to learn.

Rage

This is the stereotype of all Greeks: Frat boys, keggers, sex. Zero ethics. Maybe a little studying in between, but probably not. Eat, sleep rage.


Wrong.


The greatest barrier to the fraternal movement, without doubt, are the stereotypes it has not just on this campus, but on every campus in the U.S. This stereotype, created both by the media and past and present fraternities, is one that most if not all non-Greeks have of greek life.


Think about it, when you hear comments or conversations about greek life by non-greeks, what is the general mood or conclusion? That greek life is BAD! I was one of these people. I came into college with I HATE GREEK LIFE pretty much tatooed on my forehead.


In fighting the stereotype and promoting the fraternal movement, it really is difficult to come to some sort of solution. Both media and past stereotypes are powerful things, so how do we go about combating them? This is a common struggle I face everyday, as I see many people on this campus everyday who would make great Greeks (and specifically, great FIJIs). Unfortunately, stereotypical greek life is the only thing that matters to the majority of these people.


I think our President, Gordon Gee, touches on many of the great things greek life can do for a young student at a university, especially at a university as large as our own.

So, with the two major barriers to the fraternal movement (media and historical stereotypes), how to we fight them and represent the greek community in a positive light? I think the step has to be collaboration (and consequently, controversy with civility). While FIJI does great things for this university and demonstrates a great example of greek life and its impact on a student's life, this issue is one that cannot be solved by one man or one fraternity. In order to tackle the barriers to the fraternal movement, we must lead other fraternities and sororities in a collaborative effort in transforming the image of greek life at Ohio State.

Secondly, once we establish this struggle as a collaborative effort, we must commit to changing the image of Ohio State fraternities and sororities. It will take a great deal of commitment and years of effort to make a real impact. There will surely be a lot of frustration and turmoil in the process, but as the saying goes, "Anything worth having is worth fighting for." Or something like that. 

I leave you with a few statistics that also demonstrate the positive impact of greek life on an individual.

   63 percent of the U.S. President's cabinet since 1900 have been Greek. 

   Of the nation's 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men. 

   85% of the Fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity. 

   40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men. 

   76% of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity. 

   Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity. 

   A U.S. Government study shows that over 70% of all those who join a fraternity/sororitiy graduate, while under 50% of all non-fraternity/sorority persons graduate. 

   Over 85% of the student leaders on some 730 campuses are involved in the Greek community.

   1st Female Senator was Greek 

   1st Female Astronaut was Greek 

   All of the Apollo 11 Astronauts are Greek

   Over $7 million is raised each year by Greeks nationally 

   850,000 hours are volunteered by greeks annually

   The Greek system is the largest network of volunteers in the US, with members donating over 10   million hours of volunteer service each year