For over 150 years, this model has worked pretty well. Sure, the college fraternity has taken its
lumps over the years, and fraternity members have made their fair share of
screw-ups, but on the whole, most fraternal experiences could be described as
developmental, and self-governance has played a key role in that development. Individuals from my generation, and previous
generations, often attribute their fraternity experience as a key to their
growth and development into responsible young men.
In principal, I think self-governance among college students
is a good thing, and an erstwhile goal for higher education administrators.
Research from the National Study of Student Engagement suggests that student
agency, a fancy term for self-governance, is linked to a number of positive
outcomes on campus. Allowing students to take ownership over their choices, and
to reap the rewards and pay the consequences of those choices, is a powerful
developmental tool. This idea has found its way into my teaching – In my
student development theory class, my students have become familiar with
“McCreary’s Laws.” Law Number Two is “Never do for students what they can and
should do for themselves.” You would be
hard-pressed to find a bigger advocate of student agency and self-governance
than myself.
Despite my enthusiasm for self-governance, a number of emerging
trends point to an inescapable truth: college students today are
developmentally much less prepared to effectively self-govern than previous
generations.
A 2010 study by researchers at the University of Michigan
point out that empathy among college students is at an all-time low. Empathy,
or the ability to relate to another person by putting yourself in their shoes,
is a uniquely human trait and, as suggested by moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt, is at the core of human morality. Several explanations have been made
for the decline in empathy – my friend Stephen Black would suggest that it stems
from our decreased levels interaction with those who are different from us – the civic disconnect of our society. Some argue that levels of empathy are down because children have less unstructured time and less opportunity to resolve conflicts among themselves as adolescents. Regardless of the reason, this lack of
empathy has a profound impact on one’s ability to govern oneself and one’s
peers. Simply, how can a student who is unable to put himself in someone else's shoes be expected to responsibly make decisions impacting his peers? How can
a student lacking empathy be expected to hold peers accountable in any
meaningful way?
The decrease in empathy has been coupled with steady
increases in narcissism. It does not take a long time to surmise what this
combination means – students are much more concerned about their own lives and
struggles than they are with the lives of their peers. Again, the implications
for self-governance are obvious.
Perhaps most troubling, the research of the co-chair of my
dissertation committee, Dr. Steve Thoma, is pointing to the clear trend of
students coming to college exhibiting lower and lower levels of moral
development. In his research with Micky Bebeau he has found that not only are
post-conventional moral development scores on the decline, but personal
self-interest (PI) scores are on the rise. In a nutshell, this means that
college students today are much less likely to make decisions about right and
wrong based on universal ethical principles (i.e. do unto others…) and much
more likely to make those decisions based on coarse self-interest (i.e. I don’t
care if my fraternity brother is struggling with substance abuse problems and
is abusing his girlfriend, as long as it doesn't affect me) or based on
maintaining group norms (i.e. I have a problem with the rape culture in our
chapter, but nobody else seems to have a problem with it…). We also know that
the moral development of college fraternity members stagnates during college,
while non-affiliated students experience tremendous growth during the college
years. Expecting students with these
attributes to self-govern in the same way that previous generations have self-governed
may be a tall order. These phenomena may also be responsible for the increase
in behavioral problems (hazing, substance abuse, sexual misconduct, etc.) we
see across the board in the college fraternity today. Today's college student is much less prepared to confront others, resolve conflict, or foster an ethic of social responsibility when compared college students of previous generations.
All of this begs the questions: Are our models of fraternal
self-governance adequately equipped to provide for the development of today’s
college student? Is the free reign and
autonomy given to undergraduate fraternity leaders adequate in properly
developing them as future leaders of society?
Or are we using an outdated model that needs to be adjusted to meet the
needs of today’s college student?
A Model of Shared Governance
Instead of a model in which undergraduates are expected to
make all decisions in a vacuum, completely insulated from the input of
responsible adults, I would offer that we should begin investigating models of
shared governance for undergraduate chapters.
At the national level, Alpha Tau Omega has flirted with a
version of shared governance with their Board of Trustees chapter advisory model. I have worked with some very high-performing ATO chapters in my career,
and can directly tie the success of some of those chapters to highly involved
BOT’s who ACTIVELY INSERTED THEMSELVES
into the decision-making apparatus of the chapter. They assisted in the new
member education process. They helped oversee the budget. They were involved in
recruitment. In a word, they did more than show up at a chapter meeting once a
month – they were actively involved in making decisions and running the
chapter. And these chapters were
incredibly high performing – large chapters with incredible grades, sound risk
management programs with members involved in all corners of campus life. These
were model chapters; award-winning chapters.
Notice I did not say these BOT’s ran the chapter. The
president still ran meetings. The new member educator still delivered the new
member education. But none of these individuals operated in a vacuum. They were
actively supported by, and were in frequent consultation with, a responsible
adult.
I think this issue is much bigger than just active advisory
teams. How can we infuse alumni into chapter operations in a way that allows
them to play an active role in the governance of the chapter? In a previous blog post, I have argued for a model in which alumni play a role in decisions about
membership. We should also involve them
in the internal standards/accountability process, the recruitment process, and
in all facets of chapter operations. These processes should not be run by
alumni, but alumni should not be limited to the role of passive bystander. They
should be actively involved in shared decision-making.
Transitioning to such a model could have multiple benefits.
It would improve chapter operations. It would reduce risk management issues. It
would provide more opportunities to develop meaningful mentoring relationships.
It would provide alumni with meaningful volunteer opportunities and lifelong
engagement. Perhaps most importantly, it
would allow for meaningful student development by giving students an opportunity to work hand in hand with adults on important issues. There is a
reason that most collegiate sororities operate at a much higher level than
their fraternal counterparts – the alumnae advisors play a much more active
role in the day to day operations of the chapter.
One thing is certain – our current model is unsustainable. Sigma
Alpha Epsilon has decided to address its issues through the elimination of
pledging. While this model may have merit, would a move to shared governance not have been less painless and would it not be capable of similar results? Only time will tell, but we need more organizations willing to challenge the status quo and experiment with new ways of doing business. Moving towards models of shared governance may provide some answers to the questions vexing the fraternal community.
I once heard a great comment that social media and selfies have created a generation of Vanity Smurfs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for good information that comes out to read.
ReplyDeleteGrand Jurisdiction
Very informative article, thank you.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI will always advice, that when you want to trade, you should seek the assistance of a well trained personnel. I've been trading with Richard Smith and it would be selfish of me, if i don't recommend them. With their well guarded signals and forever active(master class) strategies i have been able to make over 11,200usd weekly, he offers services to both experience and inexperience trader and also make recovery of lost funds So feel free reach out to him on email: richardsmith2488@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +1 225-277-1646