Theta Chi International Headquarters supports Gleaners Food Bank of Central Indiana

Calling all Indianapolis area alumni!

These past few years have been tough on Central Indiana, so last year the International Headquarters (IHQ) of Theta Chi Fraternity, with the support of the local Indianapolis Alumni Chapter of Theta Chi, provided a Thanksgiving and Christmas donation of food and money to the Gleaners Food Bank of Central Indiana.

This upcoming holiday season, the Theta Chi International Headquarters will be collecting money, toiletry items, and non-perishable food to provide to The Lord's Pantry at Anna's House.

The Lord’s Pantry at Anna’s House, Inc. (303 N. Elder Street) has been providing support and food for the poor in the Stringtown/Haughville area of Indianapolis from an empty field. Since 2005, no one has had to stand in the cold or guess where to go to receive assistance.

The facility is designed to provide a place for the weekly distribution of food as well as a home for weekly community dinners, tutoring neighborhood children, a site for life skills training and job placement, and a house for an after-school healthy snack program.

Once again, IHQ will be holding two food drives during the holidays:

• The Thanksgiving Drive will start today and go through November 19.
• The Christmas Drive will start November 22nd and go through December 17th.

Donations can be brought to the IHQ (3330 Founders Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. For more information, contact the IHQ at 317-824-1881 or e-mail ihq@thetachi.org.

Here are examples of items that can be donated: toiletry items (toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, diapers, soap, detergent, etc.) and non-perishable food (jelly, peanut butter, canned fruits, vegetables, soups, pasta, crackers, beans, cereal, etc.).

For those Indianapolis brothers who would like to help out even more, Anna's House passes out food to disadvantaged families from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday. Visit their website for more information.

Building Heros

In “Beyond Hazing,” posted earlier this week you read that hazing teaches people behaviors that will hinder them from making significant contributions in others’ lives. When our founders were imagining the organizations that became fraternities and sororities, they were creating organizations whose purposes were to transform ordinary men and women into people who would change the world. Is your chapter ready to continue their legacy? Read on.

What does it mean to be a hero?

Almost everybody can name a hero, whether it is somebody who had a significant impact on you personally, somebody who has made a significant impact on the world, or even a fictional character who exemplifies heroic qualities. Some of you may now be thinking of a mother, father, coach, teacher, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., a former president of the United States, a religious leader, or Batman and Spider-Man. What do heroes have in common?

According to Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo’s The Banality of Heroism (2006-07), heroes:

• Work to preserve ideal/value or life
• Confront an actual or anticipated risk/sacrifice
• Engage actively (fight) or passively (resistance)
•  Engage in an one-time act or on-going

In the context of fraternities and sororities, heroism is what lies at the far right side of the continuum – it is the ultimate realization of our organizations’ purposes. It is going way beyond the minimum expectations, to the place our founders wanted us as lifelong members to go. In other words, if we give every single member what we promise to give them, we are preparing them to be our generation’s heroes.

Hazing ---------- | ---------- Not hazing ---------- | ---------- Heroism

When you look back at the greatest heroes of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, do you think it is a coincidence that so many of them are affiliated with fraternities and sororities? Of course not. Those heroes embraced their personal values and their organizations’ purposes, and made it their life’s work to preserve or pursue those ideals and values.

In your chapter, how can you move toward the far right side of the continuum. In hazing or unhealthy organizations, people are taught to blindly follow a group of leaders, to not stand up for their values, and to not rock the boat. In heroic organizations, people are taught to (Franco & Zimbardo, 2006-07):

• Question what is, what could be – to ask: How does this fit with my chapter’s and my personal values.
•  Stand up for beliefs/values – to ask: What does it say about me if I stand up against behavior or ideas that do not fit my personal values? What does it say about me if I do nothing?
•   Be grounded in who they are – to ask: What would my mother, father, coach, teacher, etc. think of me if they knew what I was doing or thinking right now? What would my future employer, colleagues, neighbors, etc. think of me if they knew what I was doing or thinking right now?
• Lead the way (don't wait for others) – to know that by standing up, you may be giving others the strength to follow your lead.
• Sacrifice short-term for long-term successes – to know that anything worth something is worth standing up for.

 The greatest gift that we can give the newest members of our organizations is the gift of preparing them to be our generation’s best leaders, its best servants, and its best heroes. Indeed, it also is the greatest gift we can give back to our organizations, and ourselves

Chad Ellsworth is Coordinator, Office for Fraternity & Sorority Life at the University of Minnesota, in addition to serving as President, Board of Directors for HazingPrevention.Org

Iota Theta alumnus honored by UCF Alumni Association

[Editor's note: The below article, with minor edits, was provided courtesy of Bridget Holt of the University of Central Florida's Burnett Honors College]

The UCF Burnett Honors College is proud to announce that Charles “Chas” Short (Iota Theta/Central Florida 2006) has been awarded the 2010 Rising Star Alumni Award. The Rising Star Award recognizes a recent graduate of UCF who displays promise and excellence in his or her career, and Chas exemplifies those attributes.

Chas graduated with both University Honors (a four year program) as well as the Honors in the Major distinction (where he wrote an undergraduate thesis) with a 4.0 GPA. Chas was also a National Merit Finalist. During his time at UCF, he was an Honors Congress Director, a member of the LEAD Scholars program, founding Vice President of the Iota Theta chapter of Theta Chi Fraternity, and served on UCF's prestigious President’s Leadership Council.

He presently continues his involvement with UCF as an e-mail mentor to current Honors students and also by serving as the alumni advisor for Iota Theta. He currently funds a book scholarship awarded to a member of the chapter that demonstrates outstanding academic achievement.

Chas attended law school at the University of Florida where he served as the President of the John Marshall Bar Association (UF Law's student bar association), and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. He has authored an article of legal scholarship (Guilt by Machine: The Problem of Source Code Discovery in Florida DUI Prosecutions) that was published in a forthcoming issue of the Florida Law Review. It will be his second published article.

Chas is an attorney in the Miami office of the law firm Carlton Fields. His practice focuses primarily on corporate internal investigations and white collar criminal matters.

Chas will be awarded the Rising Star Award at UCF’s Annual Black and Gold Gala on October 23 at the UCF Arena in Orlando, Florida. Congratulations, Chas!

Beyond Hazing

As part of National Hazing Prevention Week, the National Eagle is featuring guest blogger Chad Ellsworth.  Chad is a Theta Chi brother who serves as the President of the Board of Directors for HazingPrevention.Org; he is also the Coordinator for the Office for Fraternity & Sorority Life at the University of Minnesota.

Beyond Hazing

We have done many of you a disservice in the ongoing debate about hazing in fraternities and sororities. As an undergraduate in the late 1990's, the education I received about hazing consisted of a list of prohibited activities, and I was told there was a zero tolerance policy against hazing. At the campus and inter/national organization levels, chapters were labeled as healthy/non-hazing organizations, or as unhealthy/hazing organizations. In other words, chapters either met the campus' or headquarter's minimum expectations, or they did not. But, by definition, to meet minimum expectations is to be merely mediocre.

As a fraternity man, I have been told time and time again that I am to be more than mediocre. As a Theta Chi, I took sacred oaths to perpetuate the ideals of my fraternity for the rest of my life. As a fraternity man or sorority woman, you have taken or will take sacred oaths to be the very best citizen, leader, scholar, and person you can be. As fraternity and sorority professionals, we have done you a disservice by lumping together those groups who have met those minimum expectations.

If you can imagine a continuum of unhealthy organization (left) to healthy organization (right) ...

Hazing ---------- | ---------- Not hazing ---------- | ---------- ?

What if we continued the spectrum to the right?  Where would that lead us as individuals, as organizations, and as a fraternal movement? Imagine the possibilities!

What is hazing?

I want to challenge you to think beyond a list of prohibited activities. Policies are important in some ways, because those are the standard by which violators will be judged in campus conduct procedures or legal proceedings. In other ways, they are not as important because they will not teach you to be an exemplar of your fraternity or sorority's values. They will not teach you to be a true fraternity man or sorority woman. The definition that I use is: whether or not it is against your/somebody else's personal values. Alexander Hamilton said, "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." If you know what you will stand for (your personal values), you are one step closer to realizing what lies at the far right of the continuum I mentioned above. I'm convinced that this is what our founders had in mind when fraternity and sorority were fragile ideas held strongly by a small group of committed leaders.

On the other hand, hazing teaches the newest members of our organizations to blindly follow a group of leaders, accepting a direction without question. It also teaches those people that, no matter how many times you may stand up or speak out for your personal values, you will be knocked down again and again until you accept the status quo. Lastly, it teaches that going along is getting along, despite a litany of research and scholarship that shows us that "challenging the process" (Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 2008) and introducing diverse, sometimes controversial ideas, are essential to leadership. Hazing reminds me of a "Whack-A-Mole" game, where no matter how many times somebody stands up, they're smacked back down. When our founders were meeting on campuses throughout the country, when only 1 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds were attending colleges, they gathered around the idea that more could be done to educate men and women, thereby serving their country and fellow man. They were creating organizations that demanded more of an already elite group of men and women.

When you think about what lies at the far right of the continuum I mentioned above, you may imagine a person who stands up in the face of adversity, a champion for those who are less fortunate, or in other words, a hero.

Is your chapter ready to go to the next level, to stop being more than mediocre, to start creating the types of members who will transform others’ lives, and their own? Watch for Part II – coming later this week to the National Eagle!

September 20-24, 2010 is National Hazing Prevention Week

National Hazing Prevention Week is observed on campuses and within organizations each year during the last week of September (or another time that is more convenient). Activities range from brown bag lunch discussions among faculty to movie or book discussions with students; training for organizational and team leaders, to the signing of anti-hazing pledges. Some plan an entire week of activities and programs and some simply plan one or two meaningful programs. Whatever you do, the important thing is to DO SOMETHING!

You can learn more about National Hazing Prevention Week at HazingPrevention.org.

Hazing is expressly prohibited by Article V, Section 11 of the Constitution and Bylaws of Theta Chi Fraternity:

The Fraternity prohibits absolutely all physical hazing, paddling, uncalled-for humiliation, and public display in connection with New Member education and pre-initiatory activities, and subscribes to the National Interfraternity Conference resolutions and the Fraternity Executives Association’s “Statement of Position on Hazing and Pre-Initiatory Activities” which condemn all forms of hazing in connection with New Member education and pre-initiatory activities. The active chapters shall carry out the Fraternity’s policy and conform strictly to this policy, not only to escape the danger of bringing discredit to the Fraternity and injuring the entire fraternity cause, but also to build higher respect for the chapters and the Fraternity in the minds of New Members and to instill a finer type of loyalty thereby. The Fraternity prohibits all forms of public initiation, and pre-initiatory and initiation activities shall not be permitted to interfere in any way with the scholastic obligations or class attendance of those involved.

Phil Vassar performs at his alma mater

Country music singer/songwriter Phil Vassar (Eta Kappa/James Madison 1984) stopped by his alma mater last Wednesday to play a sold-out set at JMU's new Forbes Center.

Brother Vassar is the first artist to perform at the Forbes Center. After the show, he took some time to catch up with his Eta Kappa chapter brothers. 

Click here for the full story.

Remembering The Brothers of 9/11/01

Gamma Rho brother named Fulbright Scholar

Brother Richard Benson (Gamma Rho/Florida State 2010) was recently named a 2010 Fulbright Scholar. Established in 1946 and operating in more than 155 countries, the Fulbright Scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the world.

Brother Benson graduated summa cum laude from FSU with dual degrees in economics and history and minors in business and history. Benson was an active member in FSU's World Affairs Program, was an Honors student, and served on the Student Government Association as a senator and later as chair of the Student Senate Finance Committee. He is also an active fundraiser for the Florida State Foundation, where he helped raise more than $80,000, all as an undergraduate. He is also an Eagle Scout.

Benson was equally involved in his chapter, and served as Parliamentarian and historian. He is an honorary member of the Gamma Delta chapter at Florida Southern College, which was reinstalled last spring.

"I've always had a passion for being a leader, while at the same time being a servant," he said.

As a Fulbright recipient, Benson will travel to Turkey to teach English and research alternative energy solutions for the developing world at Ak-Saray University. He will stay in Turkey for one year.

Brother Benson is the first Gamma Rho to receive a Fulbright Scholarship. Congratulations, Richard!

Theta Chi Fraternity and The Norwich Housing Corporation Support September as Fire Safety Month

Theta Chi Fraternity and The Norwich Housing Corporation are teaming up with the Center for Campus Fire Safety (CCFS) to recognize September as Fire Safety Month at universities and colleges across North America.

Regardless of a person’s age, fire kills. And with August and September typically being the worst months for fatal campus-related fires, now is the best time for everyone to get reacquainted with living fire safe. Fire safety skills are not just important undergraduate skills- they are life skills that will reduce the chance of death or injury. Unfortunately, most college students do not realize how quickly a fire can grow, or even worse, how to respond when a fire does occur. Therefore, spreading the fire safety message and imparting vital life preserving skills requires a team approach.

During Fire Safety Month, Theta Chi will do its part to support Fire Safety Month by providing facts, figures, and fire safety tips on the Theta Chi Facebook fan page and through Twitter. Articles and fire safety tips will also be posted on Theta Chi’s housing blog Within These Walls (www.thetachihousing.org). Finally, Theta Chi will be provide ideas for chapters to implement at their respective schools on www.thetachi.org. Theta Chi encourages its chapters to conduct fire drills, meet with their local fire marshals, and practice other important fire safety procedures during the month of September to recognize this month as Fire Safety Month.

Campus Fire Safety Month was first proclaimed by CCFS in 2005, and was formalized nationally in 2007 by resolutions from the United States House of Representatives and Senate.

The Norwich Housing Corporation is a non-profit corporation that provides loans for the purchase and renovation of Theta Chi chapter houses. Norwich is one of the first Greek organizations to provide low interest loans specifically for Theta Chi house corporations for the purpose of addressing life safety issues within the chapter house. Theta Chi house corporations wanting to learn more about the life safety loan program should contact the Norwich Administrative Officer at Norwich_Loans@thetachi.org or at 317-824-1881.

The Center for Campus Fire Safety is a national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting life and property from fire at our nation’s institutions of higher learning. Based in Newburyport, MA, the Center provides public education and support to the professionals who spend their life’s work making our campuses and communities safer. For more information about fire and life safety on and off campus, visit www.campusfiresafety.org.