PKT25: Fraternity Offices, Part 1
So what were all those office that we elected every semester? In this post, I'll try to give a high level overview of as many as I can remember. There were a lot of them, so this will take two posts. In this first one, I'll start with the high level officers and the ones who handled day-to-day running of the house.
The Ones on the Composites
These five positions were the only five that had their role called out on the annual composite with their names.
President - Nominally, the man in charge. Ran Chapter. Sober at Parties. One of our representatives at the Interfraternity Congress. One of the names on the checking account. On the hook if anything goes wrong. I think the President all ran room draw at the end of every semester, but I could be wrong about that. I held this position in the Spring 1999 semester.
Vice-President - Parliamentarian at Chapter. Responsible for putting together the awards packets for Founders Cup and Presidents Cup. As Ritual Chair, the VP worked with the Associate Member Educator to make sure everything we good to go for the various Ritual events during the pledge program. Nominally in charge if the President was not present. You'd think think that the VP would be a stepping stone to the Presidency, but almost as often it was a role people filled after being President. That was the case for me, as I was the VP in Fall 1999.
Secretary - Took the notes at Chapter. Didn't do much else, but was often perceived as a stepping stone position to more responsibility, which in retrospect I honestly don't understand, given that almost nobody looked at the notes after the fact. I was the secretary in the Fall of 1997.
Treasurer - In charge of the money. Built the budget that everyone else worked off of. Paid the bills for the house, and often their Chapter report was a semi-joking admonition to "Pay Your Bills!" Bills included utilities, paying the chef, expenses racked up by the committees, etc. Had their name on the checking account. We spent a lot more time thinking about the Treasurer then any other role, and thankfully the ones we had when I was an active were routinely one of the more competent officers in the house.
Risk Manager - The other person expected to be sober at parties. Basically a back up President in terms of dealing with risk. Responsible for signing off on risky activities. A recurring joke before doing something questionable was "make sure the Risk Manager isn't around!" I was the Risk Manager in the Spring 1998 semester.
House Operations
These roles kept the house running every day.
Assistant Treasurer - The Treasurer role was big and complex, and we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of people who were familiar with the various parts of it. The Assistant Treasurer was there to learn about all the parts of it, and as such was the third person whose name was on the checking account. Their primary duty was making sure the brothers got their invoices for their share of dues / rent. Their secondary duty was keeping the pop machine filled up. Failure to due so was judged harshly.
Steward - The Steward was responsible for everything relating to the fraternity meal plan. We served dinner five nights a week, Sunday through Thursday. The Steward hired the cook (a relative of Joe D during my years there), worked with the chef to set the menu, and made sure the kitchen was cleaned. My first few years there the steward bought the groceries, but after a few too many dinners that were "interesting" because of missing ingredients, we started paying the cook to do the grocery shopping. I'm not blaming the prior stewards, by the way. A few too many brothers had a casual attitude toward ingredients in the kitchen that were not theirs to use. Once the cook started doing the grocery shopping the median quality of dinner went up dramatically. The cleanliness of the kitchen varied. The steward assigned shifts to clean the kitchen from the roster of all the people on the meal plan, but there was a wide variance in how well they enforced it.
House Manager - The House Manager was responsible for making sure that the house was cleaned. Each semester cleaning shifts were assigned by seniority. These covered all the major public areas of the house: Chapter Room, Foyer, Red Room, Study Room, all the various bathrooms, basement hallway, 2nd floor hallway, 3rd floor hallway, TV room, pool room, and outside. These shifts were due on Tuesday night because Tuesday night was when we had to put the trash out for pick up. In addition, there were assignments to empty the trash cans whenever they were full. When we had more actives living in the house, the cleaning shifts were smaller. Everyone who lived in the house had a cleaning shift EXCEPT for the House Manager. The House Manager was also responsible for buying cleaning supplies (including trash bags) and light bulbs, which all lived in the House Manager's closet.
I was the House Manager in the Fall of 1997 and the Spring of 1998. Quite frankly, this is probably the position that people remember me for the most. I was very diligent at checking all of the assignments when they were complete and completely comfortable at making people redo ones that weren't adequate. My favorite story as House Manager was when Josh had to clean the second floor hallway as his assigned duty. He was supposed to move the furniture and trash cans in the area when he swept and mopped, but wasn't doing it consistently. One night I moved the trash can, took a piece of chalk and wrote "Hi Josh" in its place, and then replaced it. When Josh told me he was done mopping, I went to check. I picked up the trash can, and it still said "Hi Josh" on the floor. He turned bright red, and I said "come get me when you finish mopping." Never had a problem with him the rest of that semester. This was the start of a lifetime of being "the guy who is good at accountability" at my day job, to the point where I teach classes on it now.
The House Manager also had keys to every room in the house, and was responsible for making sure Newly Initiated Brothers got keys. I think he also made sure everyone got keys to their room every time we moved around too. Also, they deal with some of our contractors (boiler maintenance, the exterminator) and if something critical broke (the boiler, leaks in the roof) they dealt with that, which thankfully I never had to do.
Summer House Manager & Summer House Treasurer - These folks essentially ran the house during the summer. Even though CWRU always had summer classes, no organized fraternity activities (rush, intramurals, IFC, etc.) took place, and many actives went home. Late in the spring semester, the Summer House Manager was responsible for renting out rooms, first to actives and then to other students. During the summer they were a combination of President, House Manager and Risk Manager. They were assisted by a Summer House Treasurer, whose role was 100% identical to the regular Treasurer role, with a splash of Assistant Treasurer thrown in. The Summer House Manager was also in charge of the Summer House Party, although that role was often delegated out to a willing brother who effectively was the Summer Social Chair. The Summer House Manager and Summer House Treasurer got a substantial discount on their rent for the summer, which was was absolutely not equivalent to the amount of work they did.
Due to the need to get the rooms rented out, the Summer House Manager election was usually held somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the through the spring semester. The Summer House Treasurer was elected at the normal time - if whomever was elected to be Treasurer the next fall was living in the house over the summer they usually were the Summer House Treasurer too. If not, we would try to get a prior Treasurer into that role.
I was the Summer House Manager in the Summer of 2000. In retrospect, I had more responsibility in that role than I did when I was President. Actually, I had more responsibility in that role than I did at any day job I had before college, or for several years after college.
Funny
These roles did almost nothing.
Sergeant-at-Arms - Set up and tear down for Chapter. No responsibilities outside of Chapter.
Beavis - As described in the entry about Chapter.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters Fall 1996
Events Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings
Other Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1
Additional Commentary Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout
The Ones on the Composites
These five positions were the only five that had their role called out on the annual composite with their names.
President - Nominally, the man in charge. Ran Chapter. Sober at Parties. One of our representatives at the Interfraternity Congress. One of the names on the checking account. On the hook if anything goes wrong. I think the President all ran room draw at the end of every semester, but I could be wrong about that. I held this position in the Spring 1999 semester.
Vice-President - Parliamentarian at Chapter. Responsible for putting together the awards packets for Founders Cup and Presidents Cup. As Ritual Chair, the VP worked with the Associate Member Educator to make sure everything we good to go for the various Ritual events during the pledge program. Nominally in charge if the President was not present. You'd think think that the VP would be a stepping stone to the Presidency, but almost as often it was a role people filled after being President. That was the case for me, as I was the VP in Fall 1999.
Secretary - Took the notes at Chapter. Didn't do much else, but was often perceived as a stepping stone position to more responsibility, which in retrospect I honestly don't understand, given that almost nobody looked at the notes after the fact. I was the secretary in the Fall of 1997.
Treasurer - In charge of the money. Built the budget that everyone else worked off of. Paid the bills for the house, and often their Chapter report was a semi-joking admonition to "Pay Your Bills!" Bills included utilities, paying the chef, expenses racked up by the committees, etc. Had their name on the checking account. We spent a lot more time thinking about the Treasurer then any other role, and thankfully the ones we had when I was an active were routinely one of the more competent officers in the house.
Risk Manager - The other person expected to be sober at parties. Basically a back up President in terms of dealing with risk. Responsible for signing off on risky activities. A recurring joke before doing something questionable was "make sure the Risk Manager isn't around!" I was the Risk Manager in the Spring 1998 semester.
House Operations
These roles kept the house running every day.
Assistant Treasurer - The Treasurer role was big and complex, and we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of people who were familiar with the various parts of it. The Assistant Treasurer was there to learn about all the parts of it, and as such was the third person whose name was on the checking account. Their primary duty was making sure the brothers got their invoices for their share of dues / rent. Their secondary duty was keeping the pop machine filled up. Failure to due so was judged harshly.
Steward - The Steward was responsible for everything relating to the fraternity meal plan. We served dinner five nights a week, Sunday through Thursday. The Steward hired the cook (a relative of Joe D during my years there), worked with the chef to set the menu, and made sure the kitchen was cleaned. My first few years there the steward bought the groceries, but after a few too many dinners that were "interesting" because of missing ingredients, we started paying the cook to do the grocery shopping. I'm not blaming the prior stewards, by the way. A few too many brothers had a casual attitude toward ingredients in the kitchen that were not theirs to use. Once the cook started doing the grocery shopping the median quality of dinner went up dramatically. The cleanliness of the kitchen varied. The steward assigned shifts to clean the kitchen from the roster of all the people on the meal plan, but there was a wide variance in how well they enforced it.
House Manager - The House Manager was responsible for making sure that the house was cleaned. Each semester cleaning shifts were assigned by seniority. These covered all the major public areas of the house: Chapter Room, Foyer, Red Room, Study Room, all the various bathrooms, basement hallway, 2nd floor hallway, 3rd floor hallway, TV room, pool room, and outside. These shifts were due on Tuesday night because Tuesday night was when we had to put the trash out for pick up. In addition, there were assignments to empty the trash cans whenever they were full. When we had more actives living in the house, the cleaning shifts were smaller. Everyone who lived in the house had a cleaning shift EXCEPT for the House Manager. The House Manager was also responsible for buying cleaning supplies (including trash bags) and light bulbs, which all lived in the House Manager's closet.
I was the House Manager in the Fall of 1997 and the Spring of 1998. Quite frankly, this is probably the position that people remember me for the most. I was very diligent at checking all of the assignments when they were complete and completely comfortable at making people redo ones that weren't adequate. My favorite story as House Manager was when Josh had to clean the second floor hallway as his assigned duty. He was supposed to move the furniture and trash cans in the area when he swept and mopped, but wasn't doing it consistently. One night I moved the trash can, took a piece of chalk and wrote "Hi Josh" in its place, and then replaced it. When Josh told me he was done mopping, I went to check. I picked up the trash can, and it still said "Hi Josh" on the floor. He turned bright red, and I said "come get me when you finish mopping." Never had a problem with him the rest of that semester. This was the start of a lifetime of being "the guy who is good at accountability" at my day job, to the point where I teach classes on it now.
The House Manager also had keys to every room in the house, and was responsible for making sure Newly Initiated Brothers got keys. I think he also made sure everyone got keys to their room every time we moved around too. Also, they deal with some of our contractors (boiler maintenance, the exterminator) and if something critical broke (the boiler, leaks in the roof) they dealt with that, which thankfully I never had to do.
Summer House Manager & Summer House Treasurer - These folks essentially ran the house during the summer. Even though CWRU always had summer classes, no organized fraternity activities (rush, intramurals, IFC, etc.) took place, and many actives went home. Late in the spring semester, the Summer House Manager was responsible for renting out rooms, first to actives and then to other students. During the summer they were a combination of President, House Manager and Risk Manager. They were assisted by a Summer House Treasurer, whose role was 100% identical to the regular Treasurer role, with a splash of Assistant Treasurer thrown in. The Summer House Manager was also in charge of the Summer House Party, although that role was often delegated out to a willing brother who effectively was the Summer Social Chair. The Summer House Manager and Summer House Treasurer got a substantial discount on their rent for the summer, which was was absolutely not equivalent to the amount of work they did.
Due to the need to get the rooms rented out, the Summer House Manager election was usually held somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the through the spring semester. The Summer House Treasurer was elected at the normal time - if whomever was elected to be Treasurer the next fall was living in the house over the summer they usually were the Summer House Treasurer too. If not, we would try to get a prior Treasurer into that role.
I was the Summer House Manager in the Summer of 2000. In retrospect, I had more responsibility in that role than I did when I was President. Actually, I had more responsibility in that role than I did at any day job I had before college, or for several years after college.
Funny
These roles did almost nothing.
Sergeant-at-Arms - Set up and tear down for Chapter. No responsibilities outside of Chapter.
Beavis - As described in the entry about Chapter.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters Fall 1996
Events Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings
Other Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1
Additional Commentary Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout