In the Loop (and Prepped for Soup? And Shooting Hoops? And... you come up with one.)

Brothers,

The summer tends to be a time of relaxation and rejuvenation for much of our Brotherhood. Lots of us make plans to travel, to work and recoup funds lost during the previous semester, to lounge around the house doing absolutely nothing for a change…

And some of us are National Officers who manage to find something to do to keep Fraternally active during these quasi-slow months. Unfortunately, it often happens that all the busy work and planning done in the summer is lost on the rest of the Brotherhood until AFTER the first NEC meeting of the fall semester (which, in my experience, makes it terribly hard to prepare for what’s coming in time for its arrival). I’ve taken it upon myself to prevent that this time by updating you with the following program:

What’s up N.O.W.? (National Officers of Win)

On the desk of the National President (that’d be me, Garrett Cooperman) is, well, my main job – keeping track of the rest of the organization and trying to keep everyone in touch – and also the National Scholarship Program. The committee got off to a good start towards the end of last semester, and we’re taking our careful time with the document that will govern such a momentous, novel undertaking for the whole organization. We’re ready to kick back into full gear with Articles 1 and 2 of the policy in September. Oh, and I went to Israel – my first trip overseas.

Our neighborhood friendly National Vice President of Chapter Maintenance, Sarah Flourance, is working on the CM website and planning to begin some necessary updates to the CM handbook – you know, that wonderfully large and unbelievably helpful binder you all should have, with everything you need to know about managing a Chapter of Mu Beta Psi. She’s also been to Long Island and seen an epic ton of Brothers this summer.

The sensational Andy Stephens, National Vice President of Expansion, got a message of interest from a student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, and hopes for a response to his follow-up early this fall. He’s planning to facilitate work on the Colony Handbook with his committee this semester. With all of this excitement he managed to squeeze in graduating, too!

Famous National Treasurer Jennifer Staten has received her last EIN verification letter and can move forward on our Tax-Exemption Application! Huzzah! She’s soliciting audit materials from all Chapters, so get those in to her ASAP, please. I don’t know how she keeps up with everything while having a brand new baby to take care of 24/7. She’s either insane, Wonder Woman, or both.

Chrissy Fleming and alter-ego Benjamin Griffeth have been serving spectacularly as a tag-team Acting National Secretary to keep that office going. They’re also Alumni Association President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, respectively, if you were unaware. Chrissy ran Mid-Year in Baltimore, MD as part of her summer and Griff spent some time on the beach.

By the way, they’ve been doing a fantastically helpful job, but they really shouldn’t have to. I know we have a ton of Brothers who are more than capable of handling this office with dexterous flair and fervent zeal. Seriously, start considering running for that position now. It’s never too early to get prepared, people. Brother Cooperman wants YOU for NS!

National Historian Nathaniel Kulyk, who needs no verbose introduction, has done us all a solid and begun securely storing the archives. He added some storage bins to better protect documents, etc, and set the oldest documents in sleeves for safety. The rest of the archives should be in the storage unit sometime around Labor Day. Nathaniel’s had a busy summer and apparently hasn’t done anything worthy of note for fun.

Kate Capehart, creative National Editor of the Clef, will be completing Clefly online publications and publishing the next issue this fall, so stay tuned for informatively festive literature (or was it festively informative?). Her favorite part of the summer so far was visiting friends and family in North Carolina.

Chairman Benjamin Griffeth and the Board of Trustees met quite recently, as a matter of fact, and began parsing through the National Goals. They have a lot on their plate for the rest of the year, so expect a high volume of activity in that department.

I hope today’s program has helped you prepare for the upcoming semester with our wonderful Fraternity. It would be cool if everyone who read this the whole way through could post their favorite part of the summer as a comment. ^_^

In Brotherhood always,

Garrett I. Cooperman

National President

The Facebook Privacy War: What is Personal Data?

The Facebook Privacy War: What is Personal Data?

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Papwork and Praise

I think deadlines are the bane of everyone's existence. Though some people find them exhilirating, some find them annoying, and others find them to be nothing more than a whooshing sound in their ears as they fly by almost unnoticed, sooner or later, everyone is held to a deadline.

I've been a Brother for 9 years and have seen deadlines from the side of chapter rep, desperately trying to get the stuff I need to turn them in on time ("To which officer? In what format? Aww hell....") and from that of a national officer, desperately trying to get chapters to turn things in so they don't have to face fines ("Just fill out this form. It takes 5 minutes, you have a month, and it's online...why are you calling me at 11:50pm before the deadline?).

In my days as NVPCM I tried everything from bribery and competition to cajoling and even threats. Nothing worked all the time, but I did find that the more my representatives thought of me as a human being that they wanted to work with, the more likely they were to get their stuff turned in on time. Sometimes, the representatives would send me little notes of thanks or hello; this was my favorite part (hint, hint).

Just after accepting the role of Acting National Secretary, I was faced with the daunting April 30th deadline: 9 chapters submitting 10 different things to 4 different officers. I had heard at Convention that this past year was a terrible one for deadlines, and I was determined to get us back on track. Instead of harassing the chapters individually (a lot of effort on my part) I sent out emails to the national lists reminding of deadlines (as required) and making it sound like a race between the chapters (definitely not required). Two chapters, Zeta and Pi, took up the challenge with gusto, which really led the other chapters to get in on the fun. It wasn't until long after the guantlet had been thrown that I suggested there would be a prize, not just for the winner, but for everyone who got their stuff in on time. This was important to me because I had to see the chapters doing it for the right reasons before I was willing to reward this behavior.

It's May 1st and I'm waiting to hear back from my fellow officers to see how we fared. But if their experience is like mine, they've had 100% completion.

I don't think I can run every deadline like this. The "let's clean up the nursery" game only works so many times before kids realize it's still cleaning--that thing they hate to do. I think what has to happen is chapters get used to the communication, and the responsibility, and that national officers remember that just because we go through this every time, there's almost always some rep that's doing it for the first time. For now, we're off to a good start!

--Chrissy Fleming
Acting National Secretary

Convention is around the corner!

Psyched for UNConvention 2010? I am. Here's the link for the meeting schedule in case you missed it.

UNConvention 2010 Meeting Schedule

Don't forget to bring pennies for Penny Wars!

An update from the NP GIC.

Brothers,
Lots of stuff has been happening and if you happen to read this blog, this might keep you in the loop or bring you up to speed.
First of all, the skeletal bylaws are almost completely revised. This is a very good thing, because it will give us a set of documents which will expedite the process by which new Chapters create their rules during the colonization process.
Secondly, the national scholarship program is moving ahead swimmingly. The action plan I developed for its execution has been working great. The next steps include a couple of online discussions geared toward answering a few important questions about the scholarship itself. After that, we'll begin working on the framework for its establishment. Fun stuff.
Also, Convention is nearly upon us. There are several positions for which we will hold elections; get your letters of intent out soon, folks! It's going to be a wonderful weekend for us Brothers in Chapel Hill, NC, hosted by the always amazing Mu Chapter. You can thank the illustrious Logan Brackett for much of the hard work put in planning and organizing 2010's National Convention. I should have a schedule sent out early this week, but remember the NEC has to finalize it before it's technically... er... final.
If you've had your ear to the NCE ground, you've heard there is interest at Marist College in New York for a potential colonization. It's probably a good time to start thinking about whether your Chapter would be interested in hosting, should this become a reality.
The NCCM has been winding up for a helpful and mutually supportive semester.
NT Jen Staten's been guiding her NFC through the process we need to complete in order to gain tax-exemption, and helping me plan the financial side of the scholarship, among several other helpful endeavors. Remember to bring your loose change to Convention for the Penny Wars, hosted by Jen Staten and benefiting the scholarship fund!
Oh, and NEOTC Kate Capehart and I got engaged earlier this month. Just in case you haven't heard. ^__^

In other news... I'm still me. I know a lot of you tend to think about Psi business when my name comes up or when we're talking, but the office isn't who I am, it's just something I do for our Fraternity. I still love to hang out and talk about things that aren't Mu Beta Psi-related. Please don't forget that. =)

I hope everything's been going well for everyone. I'm looking forward to visiting a few Chapters this semester. I miss a lot of you guys. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll see as man of you as possible at Convention.

In Brotherhood always,
Garrett