When we actively disengage our leadership and leave the future of our groups to little more than a roll of the dice, those "if's" become "intentional failures" (IFs) because the house always wins. If you play long enough, the house takes you down.
All in Fraternities & Sororities
As calendar pages fall to the ground on campuses throughout the country, the bitter cold and stiff winter winds have relented into more forgiving, more gentle spring breezes.
So too, the claims of rampant and systemic alcohol abuse, hazing, homophobia, racism, and sexual assault have become more tepid as the school year winds down, and the call for fundamental change that seemed so desperate now seems as though it will slip into the rhetorical abyss of "awareness" and starting a conversation.
We don't need yet another meeting. We need to put shovels in the ground and get to work.
I believe in Delta Gamma: My three lessons from the Delta Gamma Institute
From Thursday, February 13th through Sunday, February 16th, I had the distinct pleasure of facilitating at the Delta Gamma Institute in Columbus, OH, where thousands of women from across the United States gathered to hone their leadership skills and advance Delta Gamma's mission and values.
Although the Institute is targeted for undergraduate women, I couldn't help but take away three leadership lessons of my own.
In my opinion, these meetings are not that different from our online personas. Oftentimes, we can choose not to show content from people we disagree with, even without unfollowing or unfriending them, ensuring we do not have to acknowledge the disagreement, and thereby disrupt the herd.
But what does it say about us when we choose not to engage on those issues that we care about, because we do not want to cause a scene or make the meeting last any longer.
It's time for fraternities to die
For those of you who are not the "true believers" of the fraternal movement, you can probably cite any number of reasons for fraternities (and sororities) to go away. The most recent example is an article from the Atlantic, but you also could look up statistics about alcohol, hazing, or sexual assault in fraternal organizations, or you could save yourself a lot of time by just Googling "TFM".
It is possible to come up with any number of reasons for fraternities to go away, but the reason I offer you has little to do with any of those.