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I spoke at Cal State Chico this week, and I gave them the following strategy for improving chapter GPA. One student liked it so much, he told me that I needed to share it on my blog. So here goes.
Step One: Get your most recent grade report. Sort members by GPA, from highest to lowest. Draw lines dividing your list into equal thirds.
Step Two: Set the minimum expectation for holding a leadership position at the GPA that divides the middle and bottom thirds. No one with a bottom third GPA should have leadership responsibilities (or social privileges in many cases). Their priority should be getting their grades up. That's it. That's their job until they get out of the bottom third.
Step Three: Suspend anyone below your minimum grade standard. If you don't have a minimum GPA to be an active in your chapter, you should. Check your bylaws or check your national standards. If anyone is below it, bye. Probationary suspension. If you get the GPA up this semester, you can stay. If not, you're a sucky student, and you shouldn't be in a fraternity or sorority.
Step Four: Publicly congratulate all the brothers or sisters in the top third. Take an ad out in the paper and list them as your academic all-stars. Give them the best parking spots. Take them into your arms and tearfully thank them for not being idiots.
Step Five: Appoint a scholarship chairperson from the list of names in the middle third. Offer that person free dues for next semester if he/she can get the cumulative GPA of the middle third up at least two-tenths of a point.
Step Six: Focus all of your scholarship strategy on the middle third. Your chapter GPA will be most dramatically affected by focusing your laser-like attention on the men or women in the middle. When they spend more time focusing on their studies, the effect trickles down to the lower third. Get the guy with a 2.7 up to a 2.9. Much more productive than trying to save the guy with a 1.3.
Step Seven: Never, never, never initiate someone until they have at least one semester of college GPA, and never, never, never initiate a new member whose GPA would place them in the bottom third. The more you focus on recruiting in academically successful students, the more likely your chapter will be at the top of the Greek rankings in a year or two. If you can't enter in at least the middle third, you can't enter at all. It's called having standards, folks!
Step Eight: Reduce the amount of time that your new members are spending on chapter obligations. If you want them to bond, have them study together. If your new member GPA is consistently lower than your chapter GPA, it's a sign that you're demanding too much from your new members. It's that simple.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I make it sound simple. It's not always easy. But you have two choices: sit around and wish for better grades, or kick some serious accountability into place. These steps work for those who don't like to sit around wishing.
