Citizenship

I always thought of community service when I heard the word citizenship.  Working at a soup kitchen, picking up trash, cleaning up a park or singing carols at a nursing home were always the staples of citizenship for me.  I now recognize that citizenship is not just actively doing something to better the community, but it also includes simply being aware of what is happening in the community.  In the world of my chapter, I can be a more effective citizen by reading our magazine, To Dragma, and by contributing pictures or an article to the magazine.  In the world of the Greek community, I can be a better citizen by participating in other chapters' events and attending PHA and presidents' meetings.  In the world of OSU, I can be a better citizen by helping a sister with her campaign in USG.

I think members of my chapter consider citizenship to be direct service to the community, whether the community be the chapter, our national fraternity, PHA, Greek life, or OSU.  Most often, we consider helping at the animal shelter, walking in a 5K for Arthritis or raising money for Buckeyethon to be examples of citizenship, but we fail to see being a leader as citizenship.  Serving on an executive board is an example of citizenship because it allows you to be educated about the chapter or council.  You are also giving your time and services to better the community.  Citizenship does not have to be a direct service involving physical labor.  Instead, it can appear in creative ways.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek.”  -Barack Obama

People are often unhappy with the way things are, but they never do anything to promote a change.  They expect others to implement a change, but this cannot happen if the other people do not know about the need for change.  In my chapter, I often hear about how unhappy someone is with an event, but this unhappy member does not hold an office nor does she attend her committee meetings in which the events are planned.  Clearly, waiting for someone to change an event results in nothing happening because the member who desires change is responsible for making it happen.  This can be as simple as having a conversation in which the member shares new idea.  It can also include running for an office so that the member can make sure things are done differently.  I think these are examples of second-order change because they involve altering the member’s approach to the institution of change.  Simply changing the rules or procedures will not make change happen.

Post-elections, I have heard of a few women who seem to have an issue with everything we as a chapter do, but these women do not hold an office, nor have they approached officers with their suggestions.  Complaining to your roommate will not make things occur differently.  If your idea is as great as you say it is, the officer isn’t going to ignore the idea so chances are it’s not happening because the officer doesn’t know about it.  If members want change, they need to seek it out or at least tell the appropriate people about it, because it will never happen if no one knows about it.

Implementing Social Change

Although I was not one of the presidents who decided to place a ban on tabs at socials, I was involved in implementing this change.  During Homecoming Week, our president had to go home for family reasons.  She asked me to keep an eye on things, especially our social events.  She had received some information that there was going to be a private party with one of our partners, which would break PHA rules.  While she had squashed the first one, she had received a lot of backlash and believed there would be attempts for more.  She was right.  I had to stop a large group of girls from going to a house so it would not be seen as an AOII party.  Furthermore, we had a social at a bar later that week at which our partner decided they were going to have a tab.  Although our social chair had told them tabs were not going to be used, they still had one and we had to try and get our girls to not use it, which was an extremely difficult task.

I was hassled by the girls a lot at the time because they didn't understand why they couldn't go to the party and why they couldn't use the tab.  Looking back, our president had never clearly explained to them the reasons why before I had done so those nights.  Of course the girls would resist, they thought they were simply being told no for no reason.  I felt like such a bad guy, like a party pooper, because I was ruining one of the most fun weeks in the quarter by telling them they couldn't party the way they wanted to.  After Homecoming Week, we asked Sharrell to speak at chapter to help explain these decisions.  The girls asked a lot of questions, but afterwards they understood the decisions and had brainstormed ideas to prevent these occurrences from repeating themselves.  I learned that sometimes people are unaware of your reasoning.  When I receive resistance in the future, I am going to make sure that people are aware of why I believe things should be done this way.  This gives them the opportunity to see my side as well as the opportunity to work out a compromise.

Social Change

As I become more involved in Alpha Omicron Pi, I have developed motivations to work for social change.  The officers introduced new opportunities to be a leader this year by implementing several new offices, including class representatives.  I pushed to have class reps because I have spoken to those who feel marginalized in the chapter and have seen that they feel as though their opinions do not matter.  I saw class reps as being a great opportunity to eliminate this marginality because it would give them a chance to share their opinions and the opinions of others who feel marginalized.  I also try to specifically speak to those who I know feel marginalized so I can try and make their ideas happen because first as an officer and now as President, I am in a position to do so.

When I introduce these ideas to other officers, the creators of the ideas respect me and support me because I am taking the time to listen to them.  I am also showing respect for their opinions which in turn makes them respect mine.  These girls will then be more likely to speak to me about more ideas as opposed to feeling like they are unimportant.  This is shaping me as a leader by showing to the chapter that I respect all people's opinions and I will work to make sure everyone gets their desired experience out of the chapter.  This is also shaping me as a leader by making me aware of the views of other members in the chapter, not just fellow officers' ideas.  Sometimes officers live in a bubble because we are so involved through our office that we fail to see the chapter in the way less-involved members do.  Seeing the chapter from different perspectives allows me to find different ideas and solutions, as well as reveal problems that the officers are unaware of.  In turn, this will help me leave my mark on the chapter.