NEXT GENERATION

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will."
"When the Road you're trudging seems all uphill"
"When the funds are low and the debts are high"
"When you want to smile but you have to sigh"
When care is pressing you down a bit"
"Rest if you must, but don't you quit!"
"Life is queer with its twists and turns"
"As everyone of us sometimes learns"
"And many a failures turned about"
"When he might have won had he stuck it out"
"Don’t give up though the pace seems slow"
"For you might succeed with another blow"
"Often the goal is nearer then it seems to the faint and faltering man"
"Often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor’s cup"
"And he learned to late when the night slipped down how close he was to the Golden crown"
"Success is failure turned inside out, the silver tint and the clouds of doubt"
"And you never can tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems so far"
"So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit, its when things seems worst that you must not quit!"


Dear Next Generation,

I hope that by the time you come around Greek Life has improved.  Right now the NPHC is in shambles and it seems like we keep on going in circles.  Just when you think that everything is finally starting to go well the probates start and the disses come out and all of the drama that you have been trying to squash all year comes right back up.  I hope that by the time you are on the e-board all of the organizations on the yard will actually support the NPHC and respect it's authority rather than disown it and not even bother to show up to it's meetings.  In an authoritative position you will quickly realize that you are going to face lots of adversity no matter what you do and how good your intentions are.  You could try and create a simple fundraiser that would give money to all of the organizations and people would shoot down the idea and say that nobody will support it and that it is a waste of time.  My main words of advice would be to develop a tough skin and learn not to take things personally.  Secondly, DO NOT...I REPEAT DO NOT ever show emotions or show that you are agitated, people feed off this and once they realize that they have got into your head they will continue to do it.  Lastly, you must realize that all change is slow and that it will not be easy.  You are going to have to fight and push for every step and you will sacrifice countless hours of work to help better your organization and council that most people will never know about or recognize.  So basically, do not constantly seek recognition for everything you do because it will be hard to find; however, people will always find stuff to criticize you about.  You must keep a positive mind, and attitude and be as optimistic about every situation as possible because if you do not show confidence in a leadership position then you can not expect your peers to do the same thing when they are suppose to follow your lead.  The most important thing that you should know is that not everything you try is going to work and that you must be able to accept failure.  Whenever I start to doubt myself and question whether or not I will be able to accomplish something I think of the poem I wrote above because one will never accomplish something if they do not PERSERVERE and STICK FIGHT THE FIGHT.  I hope that you have an enjoyable GREEK EXPERIENCE and continue to help build and uplift the GREEK COMMUNITY.

P.S ...Make sure you go to AFLV!!!! and win lots of awards the stroll comp!!!

Sincerely,
Robert Rutland
MT. OLYMPUS SP 10

What does citizenship mean to you and what role does your council and chapter play in that understanding?

I believe that citizenship is being an active member in your community and being a positive member of society.  A good citizen helps their community and is aware of the problems that exist in the community.  I believe that my chapter plays an active role with me being a citizen and being active in the community because of the various types of community service that we complete.  It also helps me keep in touch with the community and remain aware of their problems and concerns.  I do not think that my council help me be a good citizen.  I do not think that the NPHC as a whole does any form of community service.  Granted, all of the organizations within the council do some form of community service on their own, it is never as a community.  As far as my actual understanding of what citizenship is, I do not think that either my organization or council helped me develop.  I think that my idea of citizenship developed long before I became Greek or even entered college and it was based more off of how I was raised and the fundamentals that were instilled in me growing up.  I think that my fraternity is simply a way to demonstrate my idea of citizenship, not what cultivated that idea.  Ultimately, I think that being a citizen is being a moral person who stands by their beliefs and always does the right thing despite the adversity that they may face and most importantly exemplifying the high ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.

GOMABBBBBBBB!!!!!

Oath

An oath is a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth and to keep a promise.

                Everyone in a Greek organization took an oath of some type when they decided to join their organization.  Typically the oaths were about upholding the principles and goals of our organizations and vowing to always remain loyal to our organization for the rest of our life.  In my specific organization I took multiple oaths before I came a full fledged member; they were the Crescent Chant and the Sigma Creed.  I can not what was said in the oaths because they are considered secret information of the fraternity but basically they were statements in which I declared that I would remain faithful to my organization and uphold the principles created by our founders.

                Oaths are used outside of Greek Life and can be found everywhere in the world.  People take oaths when they are married, when they are in court, and even the president takes an oath.  The purpose of an oath is to make a person swear to remain honest and loyal to whatever they are becoming apart of.  Unfortunately, oaths are not taken as seriously as they used to be; divorce rates are skyrocketing, presidents are being impeached for perjury, and more “letter wearers are entering Greek organizations.

                Why are oaths not taken as seriously as they used to be?  They used to be one of the most important ways to show loyalty.    Has spoken word lost its power or are people in today’s society simply less loyal.  These are all questions that need to be addressed because if one can trust a person when they take an oath to something how is it possible to trust anyone?  More importantly how can we hold people accountable if swearing to be faithful does not mean anything to them?

What do you have to say about your experience at the conference?

AFLV reminded me of why I joined Phi Beta Sigma to begin with; unconditional brotherhood.  I met fraternity brothers from all over the nation ranging from Texas to Indiana to Colorado.  The brotherhood was real and I had an instant connection with all of the bruhs I met.  I was extremely impressed by the entire conference.  From the opening ceremony to the banquet I could tell that much time and effort was put into the entire weekend.  I thought that the speakers that they had at Pathways were high caliber and still young enough to know what is really going on in the Greek Community.  I was lucky enough to have my pathway instructor be the instructor of the Greek life class that I am taking at OSU.  I enjoyed having him as an instructor because he is still fairly young and in touch with Black Greek Life.  Most importantly, I enjoyed meeting people who were in the same situations as I am whether it was on the Chapter level or the Council level.  I was also able to meet people who once had the same problems that my chapter and the Council are currently facing.  We were able to brainstorm and I got a lot of helpful suggestions on what to do that I plan on implementing this upcoming quarter.  I enjoyed all aspects of the conference and especially that it left room for social interaction between all of us.  If the conference was focused strictly on leadership skills and did not leave any room for down time I do not think I would have enjoyed it as much because half of the experience is networking and socializing.  I was also impressed by the stroll competition and  how all councils were incorporated in it.  Ohio State will be in the Stroll Competition next year and WE WILL WIN!!!  I learned about all of the awards that universities can receive and I am positive that OSU will be receiving several accolades when we return to the conference next year.  My goal is for OSU to have the most awards out of any school and hopefully get one of our advisors up there as well.  Thanks to Tyler (squared), Sami and everyone else who helped plan the trip.  I appreciate all of the work you put into it and I just want to let you guys know that it did not go unnoticed.  Can't wait till next year!!! 

What is your sorority/fraternity’s mission statement/oath/creed/object? What are the values of your council? These are broad, sometimes abstract statements. What are one or two ways you will commit as an officer of your council exec board to these values to change the community? Not just that you’ll be honest or study hard, but something tangible, actionable, and measurable.

The principles of my fraternity are Brotherhood, Scholarship, and Service.  The motto of Phi Beta Sigma is” Culture for Service and Service for Humanity.”  My fraternity also has a creed but it is kept secret to only members.  The motto of the NPHC is the "Unanimity of thought and action as far as possible in the conduct of Greek letter collegiate fraternities and sororities and to consider problems of mutual interest to its member organizations.”  As the Greek Liaison on the NPHC E-board I commit to making sure that every decision we make as a council is meant to help out all of the organizations and that we have the entire Divine 9 in mind when we implement new rules.  The purpose of the NPHC is to create a strong community among historically black organizations and to support the different fraternities and sororities in their endeavors.  As a member of the NPHC E-board and a Greek in a general I am always striving to improve the community.  This can range from going to another organizations event to show support or something as simple as waving at another fellow Greek when I see them walking across the street.  I have learned that little gestures such as these make all the difference when trying to build relationships with people.  Within my fraternity I am the education chair.  One of the core values of all Greek lettered organizations is education or scholarship in some shape or form.  It is my goal to promote education to all Greeks, especially within the NPHC.  Education is the reason we are in college to begin with.  None of the organizations would be in existence if there were not universities.  On the Ohio State campus the average Greek GPA already exceeds the average GPA of the undergraduate population, but there is nothing stopping us from increasing the gap and making the difference more drastic.

Think of an organization that you’re familiar with (anything from a personal organization like a church to a multi-billion dollar corporation like Nike), that does an excellent job at displaying their organizational values to the public. Why did you pick that organization, and how do you know what that organizations values are?

I think that Above The Influence does an excellent job at demonstrating it's organizational values.  Above the Influence is a non profit organizations that targets teenagers and tries to stop them from using drugs by being "above the influence".  The group demonstrates through a series of commercials that are constantly being shown on TV.  The commercials typically show a teenager who participated in illegal activities such as smoking weed, drinking, or using various drugs and then shows the consequences from using them.  Sometimes the commercials have more of a positive attitude such as a waiter giving a kid a free meal because he told his friend he could not smoke weed with him because he had to study.  On the other hand, some of the commercials are negative and focus on scare tactics.  In one of the commercials a teenager crashes his mother's car because he used drugs the night before and his father is scolding him.  His friend then walks into the garage and hands him his brain and says "you left this at the house last night."  I believe that Above the Influence is one of the most effective companies at showing their values because their is no question at what they are tying to say after you watch one of their commercials.  Moreover, they never actually show the person using the drug in the commercial because they do not want to promote it in any way, shape or form.  The organisation has a purpose and a good cause which is why I support it.

MBTI Type

I thought that the personality test was extremely accurate because it listed all of the character traits people have always described me as.  All of my friends have always told me that I am "to the point" and blunt and that sometimes I come across as rude because I speak authoritatively.  I am also extremely organized and like for things to be structured.  Some may even consider me to be an asshole..  My MBTI type described me as being outspoken and enjoying "militaristic like structure."  It also said that I hate when people come in late to meetings.  I thought that this was funny because this is all true.  At the NPHC meeting everybody told me that I came across as being overly blunt because I was angry about the attendance and people coming in late to the meeting.  I said that "we will be voting on the new academic plan this quarter and we only need 5 out of the 8 organizations to vote, so if you don't show up I do not want to hear complaints because its your fault for not coming."  I did not mean to come across so rude but a lot of people told me after the meeting that when I said that, it seemed like I was saying "if you don't show up f*&% your organization."  I had another problem with this when I was emailing my professor about what I felt was a poorly worded question.  I put some words in bold to try and emphasise my points but my girlfriend told me that the professor would probably think the email is rude and that I should just go to her office hours.  I guess both my written and spoken word need some work lol..

in what ways can you see how you are becoming aware of your role as an NPHC member and how are those experiences shaping you as a leader?

I become more aware of my role as an active member of the NPHC by learning more history of the various organizations.  Moreover,  I believe that the more involved I am in the positions I hold I realize how much power I have as an individual and that I can actually make a long lasting change on this campus.  In class today we read an article that talked about historical African American Greek letter organizations.  One of which was the Boule which is an extremely hard society to become of a member and consists of only the most accomplished individuals of the African American community.  Learning this history inspired me because I would like to be considered an accomplished person when it is all said and done.  The members of Boule are all leaders of the highest caliber and I believe that I possess the qualities to join the ranks of these individuals.  However, in order for me to become a leader of this type I must continue to push myself in everything I do.  Practice makes perfect and I think that the NPHC is ladder that will allow me to reach my peaks as an individual.  Learning about the individuals who have laid the groundwork for me encourage me because if they were able to do it under all types of adversity there is no reason that I should not be able to do it with the support system that my family, friends, and fraternity provides.   My role on the NPHC is to be a leader not only among Greeks but a strong, influential African American leader among the entire community.

What Role does your fraternity or sorority play in your identity? Why are you greek?

I do not think the fraternity directly affects my personal identity.  It affects how other people view me.  Being Greek has made me be more conscientious of my actions because everything I do now is in the spotlight.  It is no longer "Bobby did this.."  but rather "the Sigma Bobby did this."  I do not like this aspect of Greek life because I still believe that I am my own person and that my organisation is not my claim to fame.  Unfortunately, this is how Greeks are viewed in the NPHC in my opinion.  People no longer look at your Individual identity but they view you as the Greek letters that are on your chest.  Although, I love my organization and am proud to wear my letters I would prefer for people to still view me as the original individual I am, and look at my fraternity as my platform to showcase it.  I decided to become Greek because I saw it as a great opportunity.  It would allow me to meet people that I would have never met before and it would provide me with the opportunities to become the leader that I know I can be.  Secondly, I saw Greek Life as a way to get real world experience by interacting with people from all walks of life.  One of the biggest challenges of converting from a college setting to a professional environment is learning how to interact and effectively communicate with people who you would not normally talk to.  Moreover, learning to go out of your comfort zone.  So far I have enjoyed Greek Life, I have met several people who I never would have met otherwise.  Phi Beta Sigma is slowly but surely helping me grow and individual, and hopefully by the time I leave Ohio State I will never have to leave my comfort zone because I will have had a enriched, diverse experience.

This is I Believe

The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) consists of Nine organizations, also known as the DIVINE NINE.  The NPHC was founded on MAY 10, 1930 on Howard University.  The purpose of the organization is "Unanimity if thought and action as far as possible in the conduct of Greek letter collegiate fraternities and sororities, and to consider problems of mutual interest to its member organizations.  The NPHC was created by members of all of the organizations and my organization, Phi Beta Sigma was on of the charter members and joined in 1930.

I believe that the purpose of the NPHC is to bring together the African American Greek community.  I think that the NPHC has a long way to go on this campus.  It does not have the respect of its member organizations that it deserve and people do not take it seriously.  I believe that the NPHC has the power to do great things for the Divine 9 and that its meant to bring us all together.  To be honest though I have trouble explaining what I believe NPHC is because so many things still need to be improved within the council.  I have dreams and aspirations about what I think the council can become but for now that is all they are.  I believe that in a couple years after much work and sweat has been put in, the NPHC will accomplish great things and hopefully be respected across the entire campus.  I believe that eventually the NPHC will create a unity in which individual chapters do not think about only their individual organizations but rather their entire community when they make decisions.  I believe that the NPHC is historically important in both  Greek and African American history. 

Yes we do more then step and stroll..but I thought some of you might enjoy this lol..

Who Am I?

My full name is Robert Oscar Rutland III.  I am the product of a single parent house hold and I am a first generation college student.  I am from Grand Island, New York which is a small town in between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.  I have two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister.  My brother attended Syracuse University for his undergraduate degree and Eastman School of Music for his two masters degrees.  My sister is currently a freshman at University at Buffalo where she is pursuing a degree in business.  I am a family oriented person and a Christian.  I am  a second year pursuing a degree in Accounting and would like to earn my M.B.A.  After graduation I would like to work at a Big Four Accounting firm and pass the C.P.A exam.

I became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. in spring quarter of last year.  Being Greek has been a challenging experience that has constantly caused me to push myself and better myself each day. The second part of the assignment was to explain how we would like to change the world.  I am honestly not sure how I would like to change the world at this point in my life but I have decided what I would like to change about Ohio State.  I would like for there to be better relationships between Greeks at OSU.  From my experiences here I have noticed that there are a lot of elitist attitudes about one's organization.  People spend more time trying to boost up their organization by bringing down each other and this is preventing the community from being uplifted.  I would also like for Greeks to be held at even higher standards.  In order for the rest of the population to look up to us as leaders we have to make it clear that we hold ourselves to higher standards and make it apparent that we achieve them.  Lastly, I would like there to be more interaction between Greeks and other non Greek Organisations.  Not only will this help eliminate the elitist image of Greeks but it will also increase the amount of people interested in being Greek.