Greek numbers are down nationwide. Universities donʼt want the risk and could use the real estate to repurpose as new offices or classrooms as more and more kids go to college. This isnʼt anything new (see: Animal House, Old School, or any movie involving frats). When chapters do risk losing their charter from poor recruitment or disciplinary problems, alumni and nationals typically step in with an irrelevant and out of touch approach to turn the house around.

Greek life is still relevant. Look at the success of ABC Familyʼs Greek or FratMusic.com. Even Abercrombieʼs stock has almost doubled since banishing that girl with the prosthetic arm to the stock room! What I fear for a majority of chapters is that management (alumni) may not be keeping pace with how houses need to operate to stay relevant.

If you were to view a Fraternity or Sorority as a business, membership numbers would be the bottom line. Member dues keep the house running and the social events funded. Recruitment is by far the hardest part of running a chapter. By day you preach about all the wonderful philanthropy events and alumni networking opportunities your house has to offer, and by nightfall youʼre toeing the line of a number of laws to establish the street credibility most freshmen seek. Iʼll let you run your own parties since the headlines seem to think youʼre doing a fine job.

Embarassing...

Instead, Iʼd like to offer some new-blood approaches to following through with your daytime rush promises.

Personal Finance

What rushee doesnʼt have something to learn about personal finance? Itʼs their first time away from home, vices out weigh necessities, and credit card applications are everywhere. Have the house treasurer make weekly presentations along with some sort of activity so recruits can practice being responsible with money. The Mint.com blog is full of ideas and topics generally geared towards young people. You donʼt think parentswho are on the fence about their son or daughter joining wouldnʼt love this?

The chapter will also benefit from this because member dues and social funds will have a higher likelihood of being paid on time. Reward pledges and brothers alike for making 3 or 6 or 12 months of payments on time just like a credit card. Odds are your alumni will step up with prizes to promote this responsible behavior.

Personal Branding

The internet and social networks have made information easier than ever to obtain. The simplest way to protect your good image is to put out more good information than embarrassing information. This goes for the chapter as a whole and for each individual member.

Offer Require everyone set proper privacy settings on social networks. Some brothers may have interesting Twitter feeds that deserves to be public, but for those more like @GaryJBusey, private may be appropriate. Everyone should understand the consequences of tagging each other in photos on Facebook and how to not share them with the public. LinkedIn is a great tool for greeks and can be used to everyoneʼs advantage. Connect with everyone in your house and write each other recommendations. When recruiters go to look you up, youʼll have tons of connections and a worthwhile profile thatʼll give you a leg up over the guy who just filled it out and left.

Having members invest in their own personal brand should lower the houseʼs risk as well. In an ideal world, your bro would stop and think, “if I get famous on the internet for this, would I show my grandmother.” More realistically, that anti-frat liberal school journalist will have a harder time making you out to be such a bad guy which reflects poorly on the chapter.

House Operation Automation

This will be the hardest for most houses to adapt because technology solutions like this are still resisted by a majority of people, but this is the kind of stuff thatʼll cut costs, increase communication, and make your chapter run more efficiently. Iʼm a huge fan of Google Apps, but there are also products more geared towards Greeks.

There arenʼt any parts of a houseʼs operation that couldnʼt use a little automation. Meeting notes can be collaborative and distributed immediately. Payments can be accepted electronically eliminating paperwork and snail mail. Email specifically for your house makes it easier to separate school and frat. It all starts adding up and soon youʼre saving time and money. Leadership positions become less burdensome while at the same time members become more engaged.

What are your new-blood ideas? Do you think Greek organizations risk failing like the traditional banks and automakers if they donʼt adapt to the changing college experience? Are your alumni helping or hurting your chapterʼs relevancy on campus?

About The Author

Max Beatty is an IT security consultant by day and a freelance
web designer/developer by night. He maintains his own blog over at http://maxbeatty.com.