[17859] in APO-L
Re: Alum
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ellen Kranzer)
Fri Dec 5 11:59:13 1997
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 11:59:54 -0500
Reply-To: Ellen Kranzer <ellen_kranzer@HARVARD.EDU>
From: Ellen Kranzer <ellen_kranzer@HARVARD.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Vivs Scott Laliberte <lalibr@RPI.EDU> wrote:
> Brother Brown raises a good point, alums do deserve a voice in APO
>they have sen a lot, done a lot, etc. However there is a distinct difference
>between a voice and a vote... I view alumni similarly to the way I view
>advisors... They are there as a great and valued resource to the Chapter
>(and to the larger Fraternity) but the act of directing the body needs to
>be left to the Actives...
I completely agree with Vivs here.
Personally, I'd like to see the alumni voting delegate changed to an alumni
rep with voice but no vote.
> On the issue of alumni representation ... is anyone out there representing
>the thousands of alums who DONT fall to region I-X?
Actually, who is actually representing the bulk of the alumni in Regions
1-10? The reality is the alumni delegate is chosen by a very small number of
alumni (typically between 1 & 10). They certainly aren't representing our
alumni population at large, if things are working properly they might be
said to be a representative of the recognized alumni associations in a
region, more often they are representing the views of regional and sectional
staff -- assume of course that the individual sees his role as actually
representing someone and asks for input rather than just voting his or her
views.
Personally, I think that the alumni voting delegate system is *extremely*
broken. The bylaws specify a procedure for selecting alumni voting
delegates. It's a procedure that doesn't really work because we don't really
have the infrastructure in place that the system assumed. If Rules &
Credentials rigorously enforced the procedure vigorously, 1/3 - 1/2 of the
alumni voting delegates probably wouldn't get credentialed. At least things
have improved any you don't get things like the regional director simply
appointing the alumni voting delegate very often any more.
I've been looking at this stuff up close for more than a decade now. I've
been on the National Alumni Committee(NAC) for something like 10 years or
so. I was the regional alumni rep. for Region 1 for 6 years or so (I'm
really bad with the exact dates). I was actually the Region I Alumni Voting
Delegate at the 1992 National convention in Boston. Region 1 has been
considered one of the 3 regions that most has its act together with regard
to having a Regional Alumni Council and handling the voting delegate
selection and as the person who was running that process for six years, it
felt very, very broken the whole time that NAC members from other regions
where telling me how impressed they were.
I could probably go on for hours with specific issues, but my boss does
expect me to get some work done today so I'll stop now.
Just one more rambling on the subject of alumni & voting:
There is a truism that alumni don't vote on most issues. This isn't a reason
for or against giving alumni votes at the convention. It's also not true,
while many alumni delegates have chosen to only vote on alumni issues, many
others have taken the attitude that the reason the convention gave them
voting privileges is for them to exercise them and they do so on every vote.
Y.I.S.
Ellen c.c. Kranzer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Email: ellen_kranzer@harvard.edu or ccrazy@world.std.com
Permanent Email address: ekranzer@alum.mit.edu
U.S. Mail: Ellen Kranzer, 18 Riverdale Street, Allston, MA 02134
Phone: (w)617 495-0573, (h)617 254-0057 <*>
