Are Fraternities Still Worth It?

Two Fundamental Issues

In recent conversations with alumni of several chapters, two issues have dominated our discussions:

1. Are fraternities, and the Greek system in general, still viable?, and
2. Is our chapter still able to be viable?

While we answer these questions completely every time they're asked, I often wonder how many times they are asked without being voiced?

Are fraternities and the Greek system still viable?

The short answer is yes, absolutely. Taken as a whole, the fraternity system is as strong now as ever. Our health, depending on the metric you choose, does cycle up and down, following social trends, demographics, and the economy, but our existence has never been seriously threatened.

If you are looking for the best and brightest, and those with the broadest range of skills necessary to succeed, you are still well served by seeking out a fraternity man. On any school campus that has fraternities and you will not find a better place for young men to learn leadership and organizational skills than in a good fraternity chapter.

Our future looks just as bright. On what do I base such a proclamation you might ask. Simple - need.

The need for what fraternities offer is as great now as ever, and the demand will continue until that need can be met elsewhere. The primary offering of a fraternity is fellowship, brotherhood, and comraderie. Sure we compete in the arenas of housing, meal service, and recreation, and the personal development benefits that we provide are immense, but our core product is brotherhood. I borrow now from William Eleroy Curis, who wrote for the Chicago Record from 1874 - 1911:

"A good fraternity is recognized as a good thing. Those who have enjoyed its fellowship understand its advantages. In those who have not experienced that blessing of boyhood life, no amount of argument can excite an appreciation of its values. The closest friendships you and I have today were formed before we became of age, in the walls of our chapter house. Age, occupation, distance, separation, new associations, have no influence upon friendships that are formed under such circumstances. You may not have seen him for a third of a century; you may not have heard his name for a generation; the path of his life may have led him to the Antipodes, but, when you come face to face with a boy who was initiated with you on a frosty autumn night, perhaps with absurd and silly ceremonies, the flame that often burns low, but can never be extinguished, will blaze up with a glow that will warm the lives of both of you; and you feel toward each other a sentiment that you have never felt toward any man since the day you graduated. I have met members of my fraternity in odd corners of the world. Among the Taoist temples in China; in the mines of the Andes; on the banks of the Nile, and although we were strangers before and have been strangers since, there was at least a few moments of gratification that encounters with other people could not have inspired.... There have been and always will be, abuses of the opportunities I have described, but those who are familiar with the history of college fraternities and will take the trouble to examine their catalogs will find that the high character of the men who have been members are the best endorsement of their advantages. By their personnel the Greek Letter Fraternities may justly be judged."

Is our chapter still able to be viable?

I wish this weren't a dicier question to answer, but it very much is. The existence of a single chapter of a single fraternity on a single campus is not so easily guaranteed by history or need. In fact, a chapter taken thus, is guaranteed its existence ONLY through the efforts of its stewards.

I'll repeat that a bit differently: the viability of a single chapter is completely determined by the choices of its stewards.

Who, then are the stewards of a chapter? The undergraduate members, of course, and their parents to some degree. Most importantly, the alumni of the chapter. Additionally, the general Fraternity, be it National or International, has a stewardship role. And finally, the school, if it is so inclined, may be a steward of its fraternities. As we all well know, we are rife with examples of schools who do not feel they owe any stewardship to fraternities. There are some who are outright adversarial; the U.S. Constitution notwithstanding. This is one of our greater challenges as a community, but may in fact be your individual challenge if your chapter is so located.

Rather than take an excessive amount of time to analyze each of these groups, I will cut straight to the conclusions:
- Undergraduate members can be counted on to be young men. By this, they can be taught and led and encouraged and fostered into doing great and glorious things. They can also be left to their own, at which point the chances of the "Lord of the Flies" effect increase with each passing day. If you do not expect of them excellence in every area, you are cheating them. If you blindly expect excellence from them, consistently, and in every area, without your stewardship, then you're deluded.
- General fraternities can be counted on to cycle in their support of a single chapter, depending on economy, politics, staff ability, and, at times, whim. What they cannot be counted on for is enough consistent support to insure that a single chapter will never need stewardship from its alumni.
- Schools cover the spectrum, from very supportive to very hostile. The only one that matters to your chapter, however, is your school. To a very large degree, you play the hand you are dealt there, until such time as your chapter and its alumni are enough of a force that you can enter the realm of making the rules rather than simply living within them.

This leaves alumni, the primary and most important stewards of a fraternity chapter. And the key factor to insure the viability of a chapter is that the alumni stewards approach the chapter as if it were a business.

Oops, I just quoted Curtis on the value of brotherhood and now I've reduced the chapter to a business. What am I thinking?

In order for us to offer the product of brotherhood, we generally have to 'sell' other products with it. Let's face it, brotherhood and fellowship are simply too intangible to be marketed on their own. They are our primary and most valuable product, yet they are almost impossible to communicate in a convincing manner to an 18 or 19 year old student.

So here we are with products: fellowship, housing, meal service, entertainment, scholarship, leadership opportunity, service, and networking to name a few. We have competition for all of these products: other campus organizations, other fraternity chapters, dormitories, apartments, dining halls, restaurants, internships, school jobs, etc. We have regulatory issues to deal with: general fraternity rules, school rules, government regulations on housing and food service, etc. We have customers: our members, their parents, the campus and greater community. We have shareholders/stakeholders: alumni, general fraternity, and the school. If this doesn't define a business, then I don't know what does.

In fact, a chapter with nothing but "brotherhood" and no attention whatsoever to the "business" of fraternity, will not survive. More importantly, I have never encountered a chapter that ran well on the "business" end of things that did not also have a strong "brotherhood."

The best chapters have involved stewards at every level, from the facility to the advisors. They are run like a good business. They frequently dominate the market, or more often, are a leader of a market niche on their campus. They are aware of and know their competition. They realize that THEIR campus is really the only campus they need to worry about; the fraternity system will take care of itself, their own chapter on their own campus will not. They are as concerned about production capacity (the house, the business plan, their leadership, their budget, etc.) as they are about production (this semester's rush, last quarter's grades, how many alums attended homecoming). They are not afraid to change as the market changes. In some cases, the stewards are not afraid to take drastic steps, such as culling leaders or members, or even taking a hiatus from campus. They are unlikely to change in matters of principle.

Is your chapter able to be viable? Take a look at your campus. Are there chapters that are thriving? If so, then yes, you can too. If not, then is it possible to improve the environment such that chapters can thrive? There are campuses where a chapter would have a very difficult time being viable, there are even campuses where it is nearly impossible. They are both tiny minorities. Most campuses are ripe with opportunity to not only be viable, but to be excellent. The plan and the steps to do it are not complicated. They do, however, require consistent, focused, carefully chosen, concerted effort on the parts of many people in order to complete successfully. The rewards are great.