IMPORTANCE OF ALUMNI INVOLVEMENT

Our chapter impresses upon our members during new member education and initiation that membership in Theta Chi is for life. This truth is most prominently displayed through the dedicated alumni who continue to work with and support the development of the undergraduate chapter. Through the frequent interaction that alumni volunteers have with an undergraduate brother or the organization of an alumni event, Theta Chi greatly benefits from alumni who stay involved and committed. Whatever role you play within our fraternity, your efforts to help Theta Chi fulfill its mission are crucial.

Alumni volunteers add continuity to chapter programs and policies. The average undergraduate chapter has a complete turnover at least every four years. The turnover of leadership may be even more frequent, since the top officers of the chapter are generally upperclassmen. Because alumni advisors normally outlast these changes in the ranks, they act as facilitators in adjustment to changes in leadership and membership.

Alumni volunteers are a motivating force in the pursuit for excellence. It is their responsibility to remind the chapter constantly that Theta Chi is no ordinary fraternity. To survive on a college campus, chapters must operate at their full potential. When other efforts fail, the alumni volunteers must persuade the chapter to look toward future accomplishments, not back on past failures.

Often the chapter will be indecisive about certain issues. In this situation, an alumnus volunteer assumes the role of counselor. His judgment is respected if he is experienced and wise. The relationship fostered by the chapter’s reliance on the advisor’s judgment is not like that of parent to child or teacher to student, but friend to friend, a relationship based on mutual understanding and mutual contribution.