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Consul Speech
“To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” -French Philosopher & Politician Charles de Montesquieu I’m not here, nor desire the honorable position of Consul, to “hold rank” or make my own decisions that will affect the fraternity. I’m here to listen/sort through/and organize YOUR wants and YOUR desires for Kappa Delta Rho. With YOU, my brothers, we will lead this fraternity to its deserved success. Be a leader, not authoritative figure 1.) Though we are all brothers, I understand that several of you may not know, or remember, a lot about me. I am a sophomore by year, junior by credit. My major is Exercise Science with a focus in Physiology and I’m double minoring in BioMedical Engineering and Disabilities Studies. One day I hope to be a pediatric surgeon or a Methodist Minister. That said, the majority of you are concerned with my experience within this chapter. Yes I pledged three semesters ago and yes I officially joined a year ago, but I have not gone one day of the past 365 days of being a member of this great chapter without thinking of and considering ways of bettering it. I have always been, and strived to maintain to be, a crucial and reliable member of Kappa Delta Rho. My attendance to meetings and fraternal events are superb as the past praetors can attest to : i. Earlier this semester I was blessed with the opportunity to induct the Temple “Xi Alpha” Charter. This was my first experience with the national office and it left a huge impact on me. To be a part of such an integral part of the new Xi members’ lives was a remarkable feat in my eyes. I made good acquaintances with several national board members and learned to respect our ritual even more so than I previously had. As I observed and participated in this ceremony, I found myself in an interesting position. On my left were 30 young men I was inducting, all my
own age or slightly older, about to join the organization I hold so dearly close to my heart, and on my right, the national office and twenty plus alumni, all proud to see their fraternal light carry on. To bear witness to all these proud men made my own candle of pride within me grow to a giant torch. It was during this ritual where I realized that I felt the need and desire to lead our remarkable fraternity, and take her success to higher and stronger levels than ever reached before; in the UD Greek world, but more so internally. ii. While speaking of ritual, I would like to note that I have never missing a ritual while being a member of Kappa Delta Rho. While holding the Centurian position, my knowledge of ritual has increased infinitely. The rituals we participate in to this day have been preformed since December 12, 1986 when Garrett Donley founded this beautiful organization at the University of Delaware. I hold ritual very seriously and it holds an endearing place in my heart. I fully expect and require ALL rituals to be taken with the utmost respect and sincerity while requiring the best attendance possible. iii. IFC- working directly under and with Lang To address my experience for this position, I would like to note that I have only ever been trained, and participated within, the external aspect of our fraternity. This external aspect of the fraternity is exactly what the Consul position undertakes. This past semester I have been a part of the IFC and worked directly under Lang on a newly established committee which, I would like to think, I have given a great deal of direction and hard work towards. To be honest, I have full intentions of running for an IFC executive position next semester, just as lang has done the past semesters, and Jeffrey with greek council. I feel that this will benefit the fraternity in many ways. Having someone on IFC exec will benefit us
have superb attendance for our meetings each Sunday, as I have the past year. 2.) Problems I see: Budget i. I would like to work with the Quastor and try to establish some type of reward and incentive for paying dues in full at the beginning of the semester. For example, if you pay in full upfront within two weeks you will have 10% deducted from your dues--- This wouldn’t happen until the fall semester. KDR has always prided herself as a fraternity of men who work hard for what they have. For these reasons, I feel it unfair to start this policy this spring while not all of us have ensured jobs over winter as we all have over the summer. ii. I also would like to work on building our reserve back up. As an organization, we should never have beneath a $3000 reserve. Unfortunately, the last EC came into position with a -$1000 deficit. They have worked hard and been successful in starting to build our reserve back up, but I think it is an absolute necessity to fully rebuild our reserve, aka- safety net. iii. In an attempt to get dues paid in a quicker manner, I would like to suggest listing all the brothers on the board before each meeting and besides their name, the current amount of money owed to the fraternity. No one wants to see their own name up there, especially with the highest amount next to their name. And since other brothers can see the amounts, they can help encourage and support their brothers in paying the dues to benefit the fraternity. iv. I would also like to keep the Quastor on top of all of the records. I would like to have a report at each meeting on how much each chair has to spend, and how
much money they have left in their account. This will help keep the fraternity more informed on the financial matters while also letting you all know what exactly the money is going towards. 3.) Fines/Point system: I do not believe in the fine system because that drives those already frustrated with the fraternity to become less active. The point system will be in place but not reinforced by fines. Instead it will intended to be used at elections to show the fraternity one’s involvement, or their lack of. The only fines I plan on enforcing are for those who miss Retreat and those who violate our risk management contract. Retreat is an integral part of the pledging process and there is absolutely no reason the brotherhood should not be in full attendance. The event is planned months in advance so every brother should be able to take off work or the majority of other excuses. The risk management contract, which was supposed to be enforced this semester but failed, is a contract of certain actions at social events deemed detrimental and harmful to the fraternity. These can include, but are not limited to, climbing on the roof during a nighttime party, any physical altercation with another brother, or disobeying the Risk Manager’s request. The Risk Manager and EC will meet to discuss this contract and the penalties for violating these contracts. Each brother must sign the contract and will not be allowed into any social event until signed. The goal of this is to decrease the outrageous number of brotherhood altercations that has been plaguing our infrastructure. 4.) I also believe altercations need to be made for the social chair. Would like to extend the position to a year long role, but so that we have two social chairs at all time. So each semester we still elect a social chair. As one social chair comes to the end of his year campaign, the new social will start his new position. (DRAW DIAGRAM ON BOARD) This will help keep continuity within our relations with fraternities and sororities. Since there will be two socials, they can divide themselves into an internal and external role. The internal role for fraternal social events on
My brothers, as I conclude, I would like to leave you with this notion. As consul of this beautiful organization, it’s not about what I want for this fraternity, but what this fraternity needs. Honor Super Omnia, and God bless Kappa Delta Rho. Year long- elect spring, elect fall Risk Manager- 2- elected each semester. -Up the reserve- currently $ -End with 5000 in spring because of national dues per bro is 75 in spring instead of 150 paid this fall -Quastor needs to be on his shit -Pledges’ 150 of dues doesn’t go to national cuz they don’t need to pay. -Don’t always go to EC for direction, surround yourself with ppl you believe have best interest of fraternity in mind. -Dues Contract -write dues owed on board before each meeting INVOLVED BIO i. $30 added to each member’s dues at beginning of the semester. ii. 5 dollars taken off per meeting for the first 5 meetings you go to. iii. Therefore if you come to 5 out of the average 14 meetings we have per semester you will be paying regular dues. This is less than 50% attendance. A 50% in anything else in life is failing, so this should not be a major problem. Any extenuating circumstances to this can be brought before the EC to be further discussed.
iv. If you come to every meeting with 2 Praetor excused absences, an additional $30 is deducted off your next semester dues. v. The money made from those who have low attendance can also benefit the budget since those that don’t actively participate in meetings and events don’t benefit the fraternity in any other way. 6.) Of course, all of this will have to be discussed with the EC and anyone else in the fraternity who would like to voice their opinion.
