BUILDING A COALITION I N T I M E S O F U N C E R TA I N T Y
ALEX ZERNECHEL
There has never been a more critical time for community or strong partnerships than where we currently find ourselves. As professionals, we constantly stress the importance of community and relationshipbuilding to the student leaders with whom we work; however, as a profession, we are left trying to encourage our student leaders to maintain chapter operations virtually, with little to no idea how to do so ourselves. COVID-19 upended our sense of normalcy, and as our institutions began to send students home, I struggled to adjust to this change. I found myself at a loss to encourage student leaders on our campus to continue normal operations, while also attempting 13
to move forward and prepare for what the fall semester may bring. How do I advise chapters to conduct their initiation ceremonies or chapter elections? How do we honor community and individual accomplishments at the end of the year? What do we do about housing for the fall? These were only a few of the endless stream of questions I had, and I wasn’t finding the answers within my own institution. Throughout the summer months, a racial awakening compounded the situation, and as I settled into my own “new normal” (working at a home office in a closet), I realized I had no idea on how to move forward. My initial desire was to create a sense of community for my
own benefit, but as I attempted to navigate how to support our fraternity/sorority community at the University of Toledo in preparing for the upcoming semester, I became aware of how much my colleagues across Ohio seemed to need a professional community just as much as I did. I started conversations with the hope that someone could help guide me on how to do my job in this new environment and how I could continue to support the students I worked with when their world had been flipped upside down. What I found were peers who were just as confused as I was, who had their own questions and concerns, and who had little guidance from our respective institutions.
