[19502] in APO-L
Re: Thouhgts on Legislation
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Buddha Buck)
Mon Oct 26 12:26:25 1998
X-Licensed-To: Site License
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 12:27:41 -0500
Reply-To: Buddha Buck <bmbuck@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>
From: Buddha Buck <bmbuck@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
--On Monday, October 26, 1998, 10:57 AM -0500 "Richard Quodomine, Thomas
Register Rep. on Long Island" <trrdq@SPRINTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> I have the following thoughts on National Legislation:
>
> 1. Alumni/Advisors tend to have a long-term persepctive on legislation,
> having seen first-hand the lessons of history. Thus, they tend to submit
> legislation, out of either love for a past they believe is threatened,
> or a future they conceive of as necessary. Often, many undergrads do not
> have this view. Thus it is valuable when those with a long view of the
> Fraternity submit legilsation. This is not to knock undergraduate
> legislation, but to state the value and perhaps strength of elder
> brother legislation.
In addition, without knocking the undergraduates (I am one), the viewpoint
of many undergraduates is rather parochial. What is important is what
happens at their school, what directly effects them.
I am certain that the vast majority of Brothers in my chapter (Epsilon
Sigma, University at Buffalo) do not care if Region X gets split. It will
not change how we do business or have any other effect on us at all. That
is the same for most of the "big ticket" issues raised: If the Toast Song
is modified to "men of/true to", we won't change what we do; if extension
membership is removed, it won't affect us; we are already co-ed, and none of
our "neighbor" chapters are all-male, so that issue has no real effect on
us. The small ticket issues (who says what and when in rituals, or
clarifications of existing policy) are of even less importance to us
locally. Granted, things like region re-alignment when you are actually in
the region being realigned can be important locally, but most people aren't.
I am personally interested in these things, but I don't expect to be able to
generate any sort of enthusiasm for them among even a sizable minority of my
chapter.
However, Brothers on Section (or Regional) staff deal everyday with issues
that span more than one chapter. Alumni are out in the "real world", and
can see farther than the campus walls. So it is only natural that they have
a greater interest in these issues which are of larger scope.
