2023 Convention
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Convention Business Meeting
Saturday, August 12
Convention Foreword
The Convention Foreward is published 90 days prior to the Convention per the Blue Book. This is an overview of all proposed legislation for the business meeting.
The following have been nominated for positions on the Octagon:
- Benji Bearman (Kappa/Minnesota, ’97)
- Doug Montgomery (Gamma Kappa/Texas A&M, ’05)
- Andy Raffel (Delta Nu/Western Michigan, ’92)
- David Sackler (Eta/Syracuse, ’84)
Proposed Blue Book Change for Convention in August 2023
Eta Chapter Has Proposed the follow Blue Book Amendments
Current Wording: Division _D_. Article _II_. Section _1_.: There shall be four executive officers of the Chapter: The Prior, the Vice Prior, the Exchequer and the Recorder, who together shall constitute the Chapter Council.
Proposed New Wording: There shall be at least four executive officers of the Chapter: The Prior, the Vice Prior, the Exchequer, and the Recorder, and any positions that the local chapter deems necessary for the advancement of the chapter and its members, who together shall constitute the Chapter Council.
Rationale: As chapters continue to grow in population, different positions may become more important and deemed necessary subjectively. Having positions designated by each chapter join the Chapter Council is an important step in allowing more seamless work between chairs and the Council. While it can be stated that too many people on one Council may overpopulate it, it should be argued that differentiating perspectives from different positions allow for further insight and awareness towards the overall well-being of the chapter.
In our personal Chapter’s example, the Risk Manager and Sergeant at Arms have had more and more responsibility as the Chapter has continued to grow. While it is simple enough to have conversations with these chairs, it should be duly noted that their range of responsibilities have reached that of the Chapter Council’s solely due to their positions. Some chapters may believe that certain Chairs are more important and would like to place these positions on their Chapter Council. Others may argue that other positions are deemed necessary to be placed upon the Chapter Council and therefore should be placed.
It is to be reminded that the Prior, Vice Prior, Recorder, and the Exchequer are to remain amongst all Chapter Councils no matter the chapter. Simply allowing each chapter to place positions upon the Chapter Council allows for the overall advancement and insight of the Chapter.
This is not done to dissolve the current structure but more to give chapters more autonomy if they do see that they need it for their situation. At our school, every single chapter has over six members of their executive board while we have four. Not to say that four cannot work but for our situation and I know others, a larger board with more representation and perspective can help chapters stay on campus longer. From what we learned at Chapter Leaders Day, some chapters are already operating with two vice priors and an assistant exchequer due to their size so more chapters could adopt councils to fit their specific needs.
Current Wording: Division _D_. Article _II_. Section _7f_.: N/A
Proposed New Wording: f. The local chapter may add officer positions in their own constitution as needed throughout the growth of the local chapter.
Rationale: One of the main goals of our chapter is to elevate our members and see them succeed at their highest potential. We want our members to have had leadership experience if they are elected so they can use their skills gained to excel outside of the college experience. Our chapter has been growing as each semester goes by, and we know it will continue to grow in the future. We feel that as we grow, certain officer positions will be needed to fulfill our chapters goals and allow our chapter to perform better. As the world around us changes, we want to be a forward thinking fraternity that gives people the opportunity to lead, express their opinions, and grow.
For example, we recently added a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion chairman who’s job is to work with our IFC and campus resources to help educate our chapter and represent us in the community if needed. Our IFC required all chapters to have a DEI Chairman starting this semester and they even have someone in charge of DEI on their executive board.
Current Wording: Division _D_. Article _III_. Section _1_.: There shall be three standing committees of the Chapter: the Council, the Initiation Committee, and the Recruitment Committee.
Proposed New Wording: There shall be three standing committees of the Chapter: the Council, the Initiation Committee, and the Recruitment Committee. The chapter may add committees if needed as the local chapter grows and officers need assistance doing their respective tasks and responsibilities.
Rationale: One of the main goals of our chapter is to elevate our members and see them succeed at their highest potential. Our chapter has been growing as each semester goes by, and we know it will continue to grow in the future. We feel that as we grow, certain officer positions will need help to fulfill our chapters goals and allow our chapter to perform better. As the world around us changes, we want to be a forward thinking fraternity that gives people the opportunity to lead, express their opinions, and grow. If we are able to add committees as our chapter grows, we believe that our overall chapter performance would be enhanced. Committees also allow those who are not in the officer positions to have a role of responsibility in the chapter as they often lead into the officer positions. Giving people experience and leadership skills that they can take into the real world before starting a new role would only benefit our fraternity and chapter as a whole.
Current Wording: Division _B_. Article _II_. Section _1b_.: All undergraduate fratres attending an institution where there is a Chapter of the Fraternity are members of that Chapter. Sufficient and proper grounds being presented to the Octagon any undergraduate member not otherwise entitled to alumni status may, at the discretion of the Octagon and with the consent of the Chapter and Chapter Advisor, be transferred to alumni status. Inactive status is not recognized.
Proposed New Wording:
- All undergraduate fratres attending an institution where there is a Chapter of the Fraternity are members of that Chapter. Sufficient and proper grounds being presented to the
Octagon any undergraduate member not otherwise entitled to alumni status may, at the discretion of the Octagon and with the consent of the Chapter and Chapter Advisor, be transferred to alumni status. Inactive status is not recognized.
- A member shall be considered “inactive” if he has not met his financial obligations to the chapter and/or is not fully in compliance with the outlines of a “member in good standing” as outlined in the Blue Book. A member may be determined to be inactive only by joint decision of the Prior and Exchequer.
Rationale: Inactive status is not recognized by the national Fraternity right now but it is recognized by our school. We believe this should be recognized nationally because if our school has inactive status, it is likely that many other schools allow inactive status. It is useful in case schools allow it since if members are inactive, chapters could be able to pay lower dues to their on campus IFC councils. It also provides an alternative to the suspension, as a suspension can only be 30 days and can only be done once per person and per semester. Inactive status provides a middle ground between suspension and special alumni status.
Convention Schedule
Coming soon.
Friday, August 11
Saturday, August 12
Sunday, August 13
A Note of Thanks
The 2023 Convention is supported by grants from the ΣAM Foundation & Endowment Fund. Thank you to our generous donors that have helped make this program possible.
Created in 1985, the Bobbi and Sidney Guller Leadership Development Fund has made it possible to provide outstanding programming at Sigma Alpha Mu Leadership Conferences.
