Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
2. Beta | Greek University with Michael Ayalon
22 Plays7 months ago
Michael Ayalon loves Greek life, but he also sees a wealth of issues that need to be tackled. In this episode, the CEO of Greek University and former executive director of Sigma Pi talks about what drew him to Greek life, the issues he addresses, what he is researching, working with campus administrators, and his tips for chapters to get the most out of Greek life.
About the Guest
As a professional public speaker, author, social media figure, host of the "Fraternity Foodie Podcast", and CEO of Greek University, Michael Ayalon is a recognized thought leader in the realms of fraternity and sorority life, business leadership, and higher education. He has headlined keynote presentations on over 200 college campuses in 40 states to help solve problems such as sexual assault, hazing, alcohol and drug abuse, and recruitment for college student organizations. Mike and his team published the From Letters to Leaders book series for Fraternity and Sorority leaders, and he co-authored the book Using AI to Grow Your Fraternity or Sorority. Mike is pursuing his doctorate at Middle Tennessee State University in assessment, learning, and student success (higher education concentration). His dissertation is titled "Early Warning Signs of Hazing in College Fraternities and Sororities". He earned his master's degree in public service management from Cumberland University, and he is a graduate of the School of Management at the University at Buffalo. In 2023, Mike was recognized for outstanding Interfraternity contributions and selected to the Order of Omega at the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Annual Meeting. In 2022, he received the Ronald H. Jury Interfraternal Friendship Award from Phi Mu Delta National Fraternity.
Ethocast is a "For Our Edification" limited series and is supported by Edify Ventures, LLC.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Ethocast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to Ethocast, a podcast about sound leadership practices to boost life in college fraternities and sororities. I'm Eddie Francis, presenter of Followership to Leadership and the Black Greek Success Program, presentations designed to help Greeks become more effective.
00:00:19
Speaker
effective leaders.
Motivations in Greek Life
00:00:20
Speaker
On Ethocast, I'll share lessons learned from my college days, my career journey, and leadership research. Ethocast is a four-hour edification limited series and presented by edify adventures. This is Ethocast, leadership to the letter. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Ethocast. I'm Eddie Francis, your host. So
00:00:43
Speaker
How does one even get into Greek life? What motivates one to even become a member of their fraternity or sorority? I mean, what motivates one to stay in Greek life, even to the point of becoming an executive director or any kind of national or international leader of that organization?
00:01:01
Speaker
what makes one an advocate of Greek life even long after their college days have passed.
Michael Island's Greek Journey
00:01:08
Speaker
Well, Michael Island, he can probably tell you the man is so into Greek life that he did serve as an executive director of his fraternity. And he later founded a speaker bureau and consulting agency called Greek University. I should know in the spirit of full transparency. I am a Greek university speaker.
00:01:25
Speaker
But it's not all about living the wonderful life of Greek life. Mike talks about the issues that also plague Greek life, issues that he really wants to help solve very, very badly. Let's meet him on this next episode, episode beta of Ethocast.
00:01:44
Speaker
The views expressed on Ethocast do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts, guests, or any entities with which this podcast's participants are affiliated. Questions, comments, email eddie at eddiefrancis.com. Joining me on Ethocast is a very interesting person. You might say he is the most interesting man in Greek life. He is.
00:02:08
Speaker
Mike Ilan, he is the CEO of Greek University. In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the speakers for Greek University. So that makes it even more special for me to have Mike on. Mike, how you doing, man? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show. Episode number one. Let's go, Eddie.
00:02:23
Speaker
Yeah, man, let's
Sigma Pi and Greek Values
00:02:24
Speaker
go. So first things first, how did you get into fraternity life? What pulled you in? Well, it's a story just like anything else. I chose the University of Buffalo because my best friend from high school, he was a year older than I was. His name was Scott. And he told me he was having a great time at the University of Buffalo. So I applied and I got in thinking that I would join him for my freshman year, his sophomore year. And I called him about a week before school started and he said, Mike,
00:02:52
Speaker
I have some bad news for you." I said, what happened? He said, well, I failed out of school. And I was like, what? I chose the University of Buffalo because you were going there. Now I know absolutely nobody on campus. And he was a big guy. He got a job as a security guard at night, and he couldn't wake up for his morning classes, so he failed out. And when I got there, I tell you, in my entire first semester, I was always doing one of three things. I was either eating, sleeping, or going to class. That was it.
00:03:22
Speaker
And at the end of my first semester, I called up my dad and I said, dad, I'm at this institution with 30,000 students. I'm just a number here. My professors, there's 500 kids in the lecture hall. They don't know if I'm in the lecture hall or not. They don't come knocking on my door and say, hey, Mike, where were you today? That doesn't happen. So I said, I've given it a lot of thought and I've decided I'm gonna drop out of school. And my dad, of course, starts yelling and cursing on the phone.
00:03:49
Speaker
And finally he comes back to the phone and he says, no, he says, I don't think so. My son is going to be a college graduate. And I said, but dad, you can't make me go back to Buffalo. And he said, well, as a matter of fact, I've rented out your room back home, so you got no place to go.
00:04:03
Speaker
And so now I go back to Buffalo. Now it's January. It's the start of my spring semester because I have no other place to go. I'm sitting in calculus class and it's snowing. There's already five feet on the ground of snow and it's snowing on top of the five feet. And you know, and the way the way you started that part is January and I'm back at Buffalo and I'm like, Oh, man, you know what that's like. Yes, I've seen it. And so now
00:04:31
Speaker
you know i'm looking at this five feet of snow and the snow that's coming on top of it i'm wondering why i didn't go to school in the south that would have been a smarter decision and um you know and finally i look over to my left because i'm just bored in class thinking what am i doing here and there's a kid sitting next to me he's wearing cutoff jean shorts and flip-flops to class
00:04:50
Speaker
and we all have a fraternity brother by the way that's just like this and uh and i looked over and he had sigma pi tattooed greek letters on his thigh on his thigh of his leg
00:05:02
Speaker
And I looked over and I said, man, this must be the greatest organization on the planet. Why else would you tattoo these Greek letters on your body and look at that every single day? And so after class, I pulled them aside. I said, can you tell me what is this fraternity? And he said, well, I can tell you about our history. I can tell you about our founders. But it's easier if you just come over to the house and meet the guys.
00:05:24
Speaker
So I looked at my calendar. Yeah, I got nothing going on today. And so I followed him back to the house. I met the guys, good group of guys. That was about it. And that was on a Tuesday. On Thursday, I went back to calculus class, sat next to the same kid. His name was Rich. And after class, he said, Mike, I'd love for you to come by the house again today. I said, let me check my calendar. You have nothing going on today either.
00:05:47
Speaker
And, uh, so I followed them to the house this time when I got to the house, they all greeted me. They said, Hey, Mike, it's great to see you again. Thanks for coming by. That's it. It was beautiful. I had a family now. I had people who, number one, use my name. Remember that during recruitment because your name is your favorite word in English language. And then number two, they actually cared if I came to the house or not, they were going to miss me if I didn't show up.
00:06:14
Speaker
That was the family that I needed in order to be successful at the University at Buffalo. It goes back to love and belonging and Maslow's hierarchy. Yeah, absolutely. And so you all right. So Sigma Pi it is. What was it about the values or the vibe of Sigma Pi that really vibed or matched who you are?
00:06:35
Speaker
I mean, in our creed, we talk about things like fellowship, we talk about brotherhood, we talk about truth and justice, we talk about scholarship, we talk about chivalry, we talk about culture, developing character, and we talk about service. All of these ideas are not unique to Sigma Pi.
00:06:53
Speaker
They're also in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. They're also in every fraternity on the planet. And so we all believe in the same things. And, you know, it just really connected me to the ritual, to the brotherhood, that they all espouse these values. And then today, you know, I connect with them because this is exactly what I do with my life. You know, when my kids ask me, well, dad, you know, why are you going out to talk about sexual assault prevention on a college campus?
00:07:23
Speaker
I actually go back to those values and my kids they know the creative pie this is why i do what i do every single day when we talk about chivalry it's not just something that we talk about in the creed of the fraternity it's something that i actually do in action that is how i want other.
00:07:44
Speaker
college students to know fraternity and sorority members is by actually living out their values, not just saying them. And I'm living them out every single day. Isn't it funny how that happens though? I mean, I have been wandering around for
00:08:00
Speaker
a long time trying to figure out, well, what do I, what do I really care about? What, what is the thing? What is Eddie's thing? And I'm having a conversation with my therapist one day and she goes, you know, you are such a value driven person and it hit me like a ton of bricks. And I went right back to the reason
00:08:17
Speaker
I wanted to become a member of Alpha Phi Alpha because I saw very strong values and the values were all ingrained in being some type of leader. No matter where you are, you know, just try to be the leader in the moment as much as possible. That's what I picked up for being an alpha.
00:08:35
Speaker
And it was so funny how it took me so long to go right back to the reason that I was attracted to Alpha, and I wanted to become an Alpha. And I'm like, if it's with my life, this is how I choose to live my life. So that's really interesting. And of course, you did something that no one in their right mind would do. You became an executive director of your fraternity.
00:08:59
Speaker
I did. I did. So what drew you to that? What made you step into that role?
00:09:07
Speaker
You know, nobody in their right mind ever actually thinks about doing this job, okay? Nobody does, believe me. And certainly, you know, you have this imposter syndrome. I remember having dinner with one of the board members for the fraternity and we were just talking about fraternity because that's what fraternity guys do. And I said something and he just looked at me, he dropped his knife and fork on the plate and he said, you're gonna be the next executive director of the national fraternity.
00:09:35
Speaker
And I said, you gotta be kidding me. I went to Stoody Buffalo. I mean, seriously, like you must be joking because there's gotta be somebody else in our 115,000 members that's more qualified to do it than me.
00:09:50
Speaker
And it was his belief in me that made me believe that I could do it. And that's a lesson to the undergraduates who are listening. You really have to make other people on your team believe that they can do it. And when you're a leader and they see you in that light, now suddenly you believe that you can attain it, something that would be unattainable for most people.
00:10:11
Speaker
And so from that point on, you know, they sent out the call for resumes. After that conversation, I submitted my resume. And sure enough, I was hired right away. And I did that for a little over three years. And, you know, certainly it was the most rewarding experience that I think I've ever had.
00:10:30
Speaker
in my career, it really was just a very formative position that really kind of led me on this track to build Greek University and to help not only my fraternity, but every fraternity and sorority in the country.
00:10:44
Speaker
Hmm. You're listening to Ethocast. I'm Eddie Francis and we're talking to Mike Iolane. He is the CEO of Greek university and that's a good segue. So as now, now as the CEO of Greek university, um, your work shows that you still have this passion for Greek life. Why is it still there?
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, I believe it's the best leadership experience on any college campus. I really believe that. And there are still issues that need to be resolved by no means am I saying that there are no problems. Of course there are problems. I want to make it better. I want to make it safer. I want to continue to grow this fraternity and sorority experience so that our children and our grandchildren will have the same great leadership opportunities that we were given.
00:11:29
Speaker
So really it's a way for me to pay it forward to the next generation of college students that they're going to get those leadership skills and experiences around communication and motivation and get all of that hands-on experience while they're still in college to be very prepared for what's ahead after graduation.
00:11:48
Speaker
You have a great TikTok presence. And one thing I've noticed in looking at your TikTok is you take some grief from people sometimes.
Social Media and Criticism
00:12:00
Speaker
They're just like, oh, you overgrown frat boy. Why do you still care about frats? And so how do you handle that when folks start asking you, why is it at your age, air quotes, you still care about fraternities and sororities?
00:12:16
Speaker
I mean, we took an obligation when we joined our fraternity at the altar, and we said that we were going to be a member for life. I've never subscribed to this theory. And by the way, NPHC organizations do a much better job of lifetime membership than do, let's say, IFC organizations or Panhellenic organizations. And really, that's what I'm trying to build out is this is a lifetime experience that we committed to. It's not just
00:12:40
Speaker
something we did past tense in college. It's something that we do for life. These are values that we commit to for life. When I think about the oath that we've taken, usually most people take like three oaths in their lives. The first one is usually around
00:12:56
Speaker
You know, coming of age in Judaism, it's bar about mitzvah, for example. So you take an oath there that essentially for me as a bar mitzvah guy, you take an oath that all the sins that you make as at 12 years old now belong to you, not to your parents. So you're taking personal ownership of doing the right thing. And you say that commitment at your bar mitzvah.
00:13:18
Speaker
The next oath, of course, was to the fraternity or sorority. And then the last oath is the one that you take to your spouse, to my wife, that I'm going to love her in sickness and health forever. And so all of these oaths that I've taken, these are all oaths that I intend to do for the rest of my life. It's not just something that I do today or this week. It's something that I'm committed to.
00:13:39
Speaker
And so I love those comments that come in on TikTok at Greek University. Of course, um, I have a lot of fans on there and yeah, there's always going to be haters. I think TikTok as a platform is always kind of aggressive, a little bit sharper than let's say Instagram, for example. And that's okay. It comes with the territory, but ultimately I love those comments, positive, negative. I think they're all great and they end up boosting all of my visibility. So I'm actually thankful for, for both the positive and the negative comments.
00:14:08
Speaker
Yeah. I remember that, you know, when I was in college, I remember the first time, um, I heard someone from one of the predominantly white organizations. I remember the first time I heard someone say, well, I was in a fraternity of sorority in college. And I remember talking to my frat brothers about it and some AKA's and some Deltas and friends of mine who are Megas and Capas and
00:14:29
Speaker
And we were just like, have you ever heard somebody say that they were in their fraternity? And we would sit around and go, I mean, how does that even work? I mean, what do you mean you were in? No, no, you're always in. And so for us, I mean, from the time we are initiated, and even before we're initiated, I mean, a lot of us who get
00:14:50
Speaker
into the NPHC organizations. The way we get in is from some alumni member a lot of times who says you would be a great member of and it's somebody who is a school teacher. It might even be a politician, a police officer, a business, an executive or somebody like that.
00:15:09
Speaker
But it is someone or our parents, but it is someone in our lives who is they are in a leadership position and they have lived a long time and they can see it in us before we can see it in ourselves. So I do remember the first time I heard somebody say that they were in a fraternity or sorority and I was just sitting there going, no, come on, please. No, no, no. And and and is really interesting.
00:15:37
Speaker
The shift, though, that happens over the course of time, you know, for for some folks, the shift doesn't quite happen for some folks, but the shift over time in realizing what the values and the aims and the motto and the mission, all of that meant in your undergrad years, but then how it all shifts like you mentioned earlier, how it all shifts to your life and how how it all plays into your personal life. Now, for instance, being a husband, your dedication to being a husband,
00:16:07
Speaker
You know, I joke with my wife sometimes. I was like, you know, being married is like being online sometimes. So you gotta watch your back, gotta watch your front. So let's talk about the issues that you talk about because you tackle some pretty heavy issues in Greek life.
Addressing Greek Life Issues
00:16:28
Speaker
You tackle issues like sexual assault, hazing, alcohol, drug addiction, other types of addiction.
00:16:37
Speaker
Based on what you have seen and what you have experienced, why is it that these are the issues that seem to bubble to the top a lot of times in Greek life?
00:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting that you asked that question because I'm actually writing my dissertation right now on the early warning signs of hazing in college fraternities. Let's hear it for the dissertation. All right, cool. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. I'm going to be defending in February, which is really exciting. I've already written 60 pages of my chapter one and two of the dissertation. And I really talk about this exact question. But first, I mean, let's talk about them in categories. Let's start with the alcohol piece.
00:17:15
Speaker
You know, alcohol use is so taboo in this country because we eliminated access to it until you're 21. If we just moved it back to 18 like it was before, then we would actually save lives. And the statistics in Europe are an example that proves that.
00:17:30
Speaker
But it's very hard to go backwards now in the United States, especially with all the political groups that we have in this country. So now what we've done, we've done it to ourselves. What we've done is we've driven this culture of drinking underground. And that's when we start to see pre-gaming behavior on college campuses, which is basically where we're trying to get as intoxicated.
00:17:50
Speaker
as we can in the shortest amount of time before we go out to the bars. Because you have somebody who's 18 or 19 years old, they don't have access to alcohol in the bars. So they have to drive that underground. And when they do that, and they're drinking a lot of alcohol, trying to get as intoxicated as possible, as quickly as possible, that formula leads people to the hospital. And sometimes even kills people.
00:18:14
Speaker
So clearly 18-year-olds in the United States are now gonna experiment with alcohol at college because they haven't had access to it at their home with their family before. So now it's like, hey, this is taboo and I really wanna try this. And that's where we get into trouble. Now, talking about, let's say hazing, start talking about sexual assaults, there are certain rites of passage that happens in every society.
00:18:43
Speaker
We talk about hazing around transitions such as birth, puberty, conception, death. It certainly happens at college. It even happens in corporations as well. And all of these rites of passage reflect the social structures by which our society is organized.
00:19:00
Speaker
And the rites of passage include three things, separation from your old group, margin, where the person symbolically has nothing, and then aggregation, where they're invited in, but they enter at the lowest rung.
00:19:15
Speaker
So think about when you first got hired at a large corporation. This reinforces that hierarchy. It creates power relationships between all the participants. And in the case of a sexual assault, it's all about power over another human. That's why you frequently see sexual assaults happening among bosses and their subordinates or coaches and their players. There's a power differential. Same thing is true with hazing. You have the fraternity brothers, and then you have the new members or pledges.
00:19:44
Speaker
as they are called. So the whole point to hazing is that they believe that it increases group solidarity. The reality is the solidarity actually occurs mostly between the new members, not between the entire organization.
00:20:00
Speaker
And the participation in the hazing shows the new member's commitment to this new group. So when we talk about hazing, a 2019 study showed that students did it to feel more like a part of the group. They wanted a sense of accomplishment. They wanted to feel stronger. But there are also obviously a lot of negative outcomes associated with hazing, such as feeling stressed, trouble with academics, feeling humiliated, difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating in class,
00:20:29
Speaker
and feeling depressed. So you can see here that it's a complicated issue. It's not something that we can easily solve. Hazing is something that happens
00:20:40
Speaker
across all societies, all organizations, not just fraternities and sororities, you see it in the military, you see it in athletics, you see it in the land. I mean, it's all over the place. And, you know, when we're talking about sexual assaults or hazing, a lot of it is because of that power differential. And it allows that person to have authority and power over somebody that's lesser.
00:21:03
Speaker
Hmm. You're listening to Etho Cass. I'm Eddie Francis, and we're talking to Mike Hylon. He is the CEO of Greek University. You know, I can only imagine, you know, I haven't worked in marketing and communications at a university. One of the things I thought about often was
00:21:23
Speaker
I would be the one, if an incident happened on campus, I would get a phone call because I'm over PR and then I would have to figure out how to work with people, how to word an email, how to do this. But then I would think to myself, man, if I'm getting this call right now and I get to go back to sleep after I type a message out,
00:21:45
Speaker
What about the president and the student affairs people and the ones who have to stay up practically all night dealing with this kind of stuff? You know, I would ask myself that question. At least I learned to ask myself that question after a while.
00:21:58
Speaker
But then I would see times when I would wonder how much more an institution can do to curb some of the stuff happening, not just in Greek life, but in student life, all, you know, you know, student life overall. But since we're talking about Greek life, I'm wondering what can they do to curb some more of this stuff? I would hear some decisions that I'm sitting there going, no, this is a really bad decision is going to make it even worse.
00:22:21
Speaker
Um, but then there were times I was thinking, well, man, I don't know if there's anything they can do because these are, these are people who are young adults. They are coming of age. You know, they are transitioning from the teenage years into the young adult years and they have all kinds of stuff happening. They're brains all at one time because they are literally still growing. Um, from what you have experienced and from the conversations that you've had over the years and, and the work that you're doing in your dissertation,
00:22:52
Speaker
And I know this is kind of a rough question, but where do you see the responsibility of the College of the University ending and the responsibility of the fraternity of the sorority member beginning?
University and Student Responsibilities
00:23:04
Speaker
Or is that even a reasonable question?
00:23:09
Speaker
I think it's a reasonable question, but it's not an easy one to answer. It's so controversial because it resides at the intersection of community needs on campus and our own individual liberties as students, right?
00:23:24
Speaker
So there's a saying here in local parentis, which in Latin literally means in the place of the parent. And that views the institution, the college or university, as taking the role of the parent with regard to all student conduct.
00:23:40
Speaker
But that's not really applicable today. Then there's another theory. It's called contract theory that basically says that students enter into a contract by signing their registration document at the university and paying fees. And this is the student accepting all of the conduct rules and regulations at the university. Again, that doesn't really hold much water today. Today, it's more about what's called educational purpose theory.
00:24:07
Speaker
And that says that there's a relationship between the students and the institution, the college or university. This is an educational relationship. And discipline only happens when it adversely impacts the institution's mission.
00:24:25
Speaker
So this is really the other realistic basis for student discipline. It's really the only one that's realistic that still holds water today. So to answer your question, the responsibility of the university is to their mission. So you just go and read the mission statement of the university. The responsibility of the student, or in this case, maybe a fraternity or sorority member, is really to their own learning, to their own values, and to their own success beyond graduation.
00:24:56
Speaker
So the thing to me that, yeah, this is complicated. And I think what frustrates me sometimes is when I would hear administrators talk about this, and there would be this notion that there was a simple answer. It's like, just do this. Just do that. Just put this policy in place. Just do that. Well, if they do it. But then the other part of it that's complicated to me, Mike, is I view a college campus as a small city.
00:25:23
Speaker
And so you have the president, who's the mayor of this city, you have the administration, they help set the pilot policy. So there's your city council and some of the other business operations people.
00:25:36
Speaker
But the students are citizens. And then the student groups, the academic units, they're all the neighborhoods of this city. And the question is, I mean, to me, when I look at it as a city, it's not like the mayor of New Orleans can go out and just start disciplining all the people in the city. I mean, that's what you have a police force for.
00:26:00
Speaker
Even then, the waters can still be very murky about how you discipline people. And I used to hear these debates all the time in administrative meetings where there would be this high level conversation of the administration saying, we need to do this, we need to do that, we need to implement this policy better, we need to do that better. And then
00:26:22
Speaker
Ironically, the people from student affairs would say, yeah, but these are adults and they do have responsibilities and you can't just police them 24 seven. At some point, somebody's going to have to get to get expelled and just and just learn a lesson. You know, so is yeah, I can see, you know, with all those, especially with all the different theories that you point out.
00:26:45
Speaker
I can see how this is a very complicated question, which is why it's a question in the first place, because it seemed like a very complicated question. Are there times when you talk to administrators, are there times that you just stop and go, OK, wait a minute.
00:27:03
Speaker
We really need to kind of revisit some things here so that you can understand who exactly is on your campus, who's in those residence halls, because I don't think you really understand who's in there. Has there ever been a time you felt that way speaking to an administrator? Yeah, sure. I mean, you know, when I'm the executive director of the national fraternity, you know, sometimes you get sideways with administrators because, you know, there's two different, you know, we have two different lenses. We're coming at it slightly differently.
00:27:32
Speaker
You know, I never want to, you know, just like punish, you know, have like punitive punishments against, you know, a student. I don't I don't believe in that. I think that we're all imperfect. I'm imperfect. I made a ton of bad decisions. I made a ton of mistakes as chapter president of my fraternity. I made mistakes as the executive director of the national fraternity.
00:27:56
Speaker
And I make mistakes as a CEO of Greek University, too. I'm not a perfect human. I make mistakes. I'm built just like everybody else. And so I think we have to start thinking about when we do have these behavior issues that we need to address. The question is, can this be a learning experience for this student? And I think that's where sometimes we might get sideways with administrators is that
00:28:21
Speaker
We're all here to learn. And yes, we are going to make mistakes at times, but we have to really think about the punishment that we're putting in place and make sure that this can be a learning experience for this particular student as opposed to just off with their heads. And so I think that's really important to think about. And sometimes when I see these system-wide shutdowns, for example, where you have one or two organizations on campus
00:28:49
Speaker
Maybe one of them has a hazing violation and then we shut down the entire system. You know, I think we're sending the wrong message. We have to think about the punishment and basically say, wait a minute. Number one, is this really in line with the student code of conduct? Usually it's not. You can't really just, you know, system wide shut down an entire system when you maybe have one student or one organization.
00:29:12
Speaker
that's found responsible for, let's say, hazing behavior, for example. But also we have to think about what is the implication of that? We want students to come forward and report hazing in their system if they see it in another fraternity or another sorority. But if they see a system-wide shutdown, what does that tell them? That tells them that we're not gonna report anything in the future because it's gonna impact us whether we did it or not.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yeah. So it doesn't work. It's actually exactly opposed to the results that we want. We want students to report it so that way we can save them before somebody gets hurt. And you know, the thing that I often look at is often look at who in Greek life who's actually doing an excellent job, you know, the students who are really living up to the values of their fraternities and sororities,
00:30:06
Speaker
When is somebody going to tell them good job? Sometimes I wonder that. And sometimes, you know, I'm sitting there going, man, there's some students here who are doing excellent work. They have so many community service hours. They are great students. They have high GPAs, you know, the the the peers around campus trust them, you know, and they see a lot of value in what they do. Yet they're the ones who are getting thrown into this punishment. And I can only imagine how
00:30:35
Speaker
unfair that feels to them and how frustrating it is to them. So, um, so I want, I want to end with a, with a big, with a big mic solution here.
Leadership in Fraternities and Sororities
00:30:45
Speaker
So what is your big message, uh, to fraternity, uh, sorority members today so that they can be the best leaders that they can be not only on their campuses, not only in their chapters, but beyond. What's your, what's your big message to them?
00:31:00
Speaker
The big message actually has six components to it because it's that big. Message number one, component number one is you need regular education and training.
00:31:10
Speaker
as students, as leaders in your fraternity or sorority. So that means that you need to attend your national organization, leadership conferences, conventions, and then also at the university, because not everyone gets to go to that. At the university, you need all students to attend regular speakers and educational programming, both from inside the institution, and there are many people that are qualified to do that kind of work at your campus, as well as outside of the institution to hire speakers
00:31:38
Speaker
from outside of the institution that can share best practices from universities all over the nation because the problems that you're having are not unique to your own campus. I got news for you.
00:31:47
Speaker
So number two is you need mentors. I'm finding that a lot of students really rely on each other, other students for advice. And there are plenty of mentors out there that are more than willing to help you just use LinkedIn. And as a college student, more than likely that alumnus in your field or in your fraternity or sorority or what have you or the company you want to work for, they will probably allow a meeting between the two of you if you ask.
00:32:13
Speaker
It might not be today, it might be in two weeks because they're busy, but understand they will probably talk to you because you have nothing to sell them. You're a college student and you just want to learn more. So number two is get mentors. Number three, I want you to do community service and philanthropy. Do you know that there are two billion people in this world or 26% of the total world population that lack safe drinking water?
00:32:37
Speaker
We are very fortunate in life. We as fraternity and sorority members have an obligation to give back and help others in our community. That is our obligation when we joined our organization.
00:32:50
Speaker
Number four, DEI initiatives. We need to create a more inclusive environment in fraternity and sorority life and ensure that all of our members feel valued and feel understood. And going with that, we need to recruit a diverse membership. Diverse organizations can solve problems faster and much better than organizations that don't have diverse members. So it actually works to your advantage to have diverse organizations. And those DEI initiatives will allow you to do that.
00:33:19
Speaker
Number five, I want you to do self-reflection and self-assessment often and be open to constructive criticism. That is the only way that we can get better as humans is to be open to that constructive criticism and do self-reflection on a regular basis. What's going well? What's not going so well? What do I need to work on?
00:33:39
Speaker
And then finally, I want you to set goals for yourself and your organization and be accountable to those goals. We don't talk about goals enough within our organization. It's really important that you have those short term goals and the long term goals that you want to see in six months, a year. And I want you to be accountable to those things. So that means reviewing them on a regular basis to make sure that we're still on track. Those are the big message to fraternity and sorority members today so they can be the best leaders they can be.
00:34:10
Speaker
My guy, Elon, he is the CEO of Greek university. He's also an author, by the way. Yeah. He cranks out a book. You know what? He, he just cranked the book out. There's new book. It just happened. He's an author. And Mike, thank you so much for joining me on ethercast, man. It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
00:34:31
Speaker
Ethocast is a four hour edification limited series. If you like what you heard, like and follow this podcast for more leadership insights for your fraternity or sorority chapter. To find out how you can bring followership to leadership or the Black Greek success program to your campus or a campus near you, email today, eddy at eddyfrances.com. Until next time, spread brotherly and sisterly love wherever you go.