Many centuries ago, a man, or possibly a woman, noticed a rock rolling down a hill. He (or she) thought, “dang, that is sweet. It is moving nearly effortlessly. Perhaps this has ramifications for us, alleviating the burdensome, arcane methods of transportation that we currently use. Yea. I shall invent a ‘weel’ to replace our trapezoid-based infrastructure.” And there was much rejoicing.
This weel, or “wheel” as it was later spelled, came to symbolize many things, from currency to the zodiac. But the wheel symbolizes something much more important than all that. It symbolizes something so basic, so elemental, that its design is in the common domain, and it need not be reinvented.
The world is evolving into a more complex and interconnected space than ever before. The potential for collaboration is at an all-time high and shows no signs of slowing. Wikipedia is probably the most famous example, and is a wonderful illustration of the fact that, with the internet, one person’s expertise can become the whole world’s common knowledge. Thoughts, strategies, ideas, examples, images, sounds, videos…we have the ability to disseminate nearly every form of human expression instantly and to as wide or narrow an audience as we choose.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I spoke to a young woman in her school’s Panhellenic Council. A well-informed Greek, she nonetheless knew little about her school’s Multicultural Greek Council or National Pan Hellenic Council. Apparently, there is virtually no collaboration between councils, and not much more between chapters. In fact, only one major philanthropy event is cause for any sort of collaboration between fraternities and sororities, and even then only between the IFC and PHC chapters.
The student expressed frustration, because this is huge wasted opportunity. So many social events, service events, and friendships simply never come to fruition. And the councils that don’t speak to each other? Well, you can be sure that recruitment is a challenge at this school, yet each council does it on their own.
I applaud anyone who can put together a Rush week. I can barely plan a birthday party. But why is this process being reinvented four times over? Surely there must be a better way than sifting through Google searches for “rush events.” There is a lot to be gained through a more interconnected Greek community at this school. Come to think of it, can any Greeks out there honestly say they suffer from too much collaboration with other chapters and councils?
I understand tradition, secrecy, and the attitude that “I don’t need other people to tell me how to do it because I can figure it out myself.” I understand the old adage “this is how we’ve always done it.” But what is the ultimate goal? If it’s to further the Greek movement, to reach out to as many potential members as possible, to maximize the impact of philanthropy and service, and to have a good time doing it, then it would seem as though, as someone in this week’s Greekchat postulated, “pride and ‘tradition’ stands in the way.”
The Greek community needs to embrace the wiki-generation for the benefit of the individuals it affects and the movement as a whole. While tradition is what makes these institutions venerable, historical, and prestigious, tradition can also be confused with steadfastness, stubbornness. I know I’ve done it. In fact, I still use an old Nokia brick phone out of tradition. But as I cannot deny the benefits of having a smartphone, Greek organizations need to understand the benefits of opening up and sharing knowledge.
And speaking of tradition, did you know that the first group of men to get together and talk about interfraternal collaboration were 14 editors of fraternal magazines, and that they did so in the City of Brotherly Love back in 1883? Before the modern-day Fraternity Communications Association was officially founded in 1923, many such meetings took place. So really, cooperation is very much a part of Greek tradition. The medium changes, the spirit does not.
Open-sourcing is huge today. Beyond Wikipedia, you can take a gander at Curriki. The founder of Sun database software Scott McNealy got bought out, and founded a company that seeks to bring the Wikipedia model to the textbook industry. Obviously, the disgusting amount of money students (or their parents) have to spend on textbooks every year is indicative of an industry that needs to change. By crowd-sourcing textbooks, costs can be reduced at the same time as keeping information up to date. Add the benefit of being able to use only what you need instead of lugging around hundreds of irrelevant pages, and you’ve got yourself the future. By encouraging the free exchange of ideas, McNealy has brought a big battering ram to the institution of the traditional textbook.
So why not stand on the shoulders of giants? Use the wheels that others have invented, and collaborate on a sweet vehicle. Think about how many hours you might spend coming up with something that has already been successfully implemented on your campus, and multiply that across 12,000 chapters across the country. How many hours could we save ourselves, and spend tackling other issues? And if we open up all communication channels, how many new friends might we make, how many new ideas might we come up with, and how great would it be for non-Greeks to see a fully united, transparent, and above all, tightly knit Greek community? Think about some steps you can take right now to open the lines of communication. Make your fraternity a fraterniki, or your sorority a sororiki!
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