FRATERNITY NEWS
Update from the Executive Vice President
By Bill Farkas (Butler 1988)
percentage of men, had higher grades, and had higher campus involvement. On the individual side, we have learned that associate members from chapters implementing the outer circle retained a stronger sense of self-awareness and self-esteem once initiated, compared to chapters not implementing the outer circle. This work is truly groundbreaking, not just for Lambda Chi Alpha, but for the Greek movement and the higher education community.
This past fall, I was in Boston, Massachusetts, and had a chance to visit some of our Fraternity’s historical landmarks. One of these places is 22 Joy Street — which is where it’s believed the words “Lambda Chi Alpha” were first mentioned.
2007 Stead Leadership Seminar In July, more than 750 brothers gathered at the University of Memphis, for the 2007 Jerre L. and Mary Joy Stead Leadership Seminar. There, the True Brother Initiative was introduced to the chapters, in addition to other programming that chapter leaders were able to take away, including updated tools and information about recruitment and ritualism.
This also is where founder Warren A. Cole (Boston 1912) and his friends began to brainstorm about what would one day become one of the world’s largest fraternities. The founders who met at 22 Joy Street could not have envisioned that their ideas would result in a Fraternity with more than 255,000 initiated members, or where 10,000 undergraduates would be experiencing Lambda Chi Alpha on 200 campuses across North America.
Alumni leaders assisted as facilitators, coaches, and mentors, bringing an educational experience of a lifetime to the undergraduates who attended. The event was the largest gathering of Lambda Chi Alpha members in decades, and many feel this single experience can be credited with the reason for a solid increase in membership this fall.
True Brother Initiative With our history in mind, today’s undergraduate brothers (the “Millennial Generation”) are very different than generations from the past. The Baby Boomers, the Greatest Generation, and Generation X have more in common with each other than they all do with the Millennial Generation. This new generation is not better or worse than the rest, just very different.
The Lambda Chi Alpha Educational Foundation granted $140,000 to underwrite the educational aspects of this program, essentially lowering the cost to attend by $200 per brother. We feel that this funding enabled several hundred additional men to enjoy the personal benefits of the experience and return to assist, lead and strengthen their chapters. What a difference alumni support makes!
To remain relevant to today’s students, who prefer an experiential learning model with a road map to success, the Fraternity has created The True Brother Initiative, an educational model with three progressions.
Neville Advisers College Attendees at the 2007 Stead Leadership Seminar also included more than 100 chapter advisers from across North America. These brothers joined together for a new educational certification program designed and facilitated by experienced Lambda Chi Alpha chapter advisers.
One of the single most important aspects of this new initiative is that we are measuring outcomes. Specifically, we are taking stock of our chapters, as well as individual brothers, to establish the direction we need to provide for the experiences we offer. On the chapter side, early information collected this past fall (August 2007 through December 2007) indicates that chapters implementing the outer circle, when compared to chapters implementing little or none of the outer circle, recruited more men, initiated a higher www.crossandcrescent.com
This experience has been named The Ronald A. Neville Alumni Advisers
Cross & Crescent
March 2008