Wow! It has been awhile since I have taken some time to share how things are going or how I’m feeling about our world….and WOW, how things have changed!!
I say this with all positive vibes! Although there were times when our world was overwhelmingly uncertain, and at times it still seems that way, I still believe we have learned so much in those uncertain times. The world of fraternities and sororities has been impacted without question. Recruitment methods had to be updated and quickly! Most campuses, if not all, went to a virtual recruitment process within days of COVID hitting our campuses. Advisors, collegians, HQ staff members, and campus administration learned a lot about Zoom quickly in order to host formal recruitment processes so our membership numbers remained steady…or did they?
Looking back to the spring and fall semesters of 2020, how well did our organizations truly recruit? Considering the virtual environment everyone was working in at that time, not to mention the fact that we were all learning to live in our new pandemic world, how successful were our recruitment efforts?
Yes, we made virtual recruitment happen and yes, new members were welcomed into our organizations, but then what? Virtual sisterhood/brotherhood events and virtual new member education were offered, but was there true value in those experiences for our newest members? Did our collegians feel connected to one another during that time? Did our new members really feel like they belonged to our organizations, let alone their new brothers/sisters? Were our collegians even having a good membership experience? It seems as though there are more questions than answers at this point!
Yet all of those questions make complete sense, as our organizations were founded as social organizations based upon a set of values lived out by our members. As I have worked with several chapters and organizations there is a large disconnect between members and between members and the organization. Being social in a virtual world was HARD! Everyone needed to find new ways to connect with one another so have we actually, instead, done our membership a disservice by operating under a false pretense of a “social” experience when there really wasn’t one. Expectations were high, yet what we are facing now is our own membership lacking basic social skills, organizational knowledge, and operating norms as they continue to navigate how to run a chapter.
Leadership elected during the pandemic didn’t receive appropriate transition into their new officer roles. As much as we believe they should know more, the reality is that they never learned it to begin with. Frustration levels may be high with our young men and women, but we need to remember they didn’t learn the “how-to’s” as they normally would. They simply don’t know what they don’t know. Who can blame them honestly? What we can do at this point is offer patience and guidance as the semester goes on and then get some more in depth training sessions planned during the summer. Remember although we may have new leaders move into roles at the end of this semester, poor information will always be poor information. We have to do better for the future of our chapters and organizations.
Let’s also consider our members who have been recruited since the spring of 2020. These are possibly our juniors or seniors in our chapters currently. They haven’t experienced what we would consider a “normal” collegian semester ever! We owe them more than what they have received during their membership so far. We need to be gentle and offer more support and guidance than ever before to these men and women. Those that are graduating will never get the past 2 years back, so local alumni(ae) need to be prepared to go out of their way to welcome them with open arms and role model lifetime membership. For those who may have more time in our chapters, we need to make sure they are experiencing membership in as normal a way as possible. Our older members and young alumni(ae) should take the time to develop some relationships with with these men and women so they can feel connected, while remaining involved and loyal to our sisterhood/brotherhood.
Too much has happened in our world to just sit idly by and see how all of this may play out in our chapters and organizations. We have a large responsibility that was given to us when we become members of our own beloved organizations! The trust given to us is not an easy task to complete on an everyday basis, let alone during a pandemic. We will continue to have a responsibility to live as our Founders did and teach the next generation how to grow up and grow old together.