Maintaining a Climate for Learning
One of the most important ingredients for a program which leads to a tradition of high scholarship is that of a Fraternity/Sorority atmosphere which is conducive to learning. The type of chapter environment where good study habits can develop and be effective involves a consideration of both chapter policy and the physical facilities available.
- Plan the activities of the Fraternity/Sorority so that they do not infringe upon study time. This necessitates planning in advance so that undue demands are not placed upon members in order to meet a deadline, such as Homecoming projects, spring weekends, etc.
- Consider compensating a graduate student who could serve as a counselor in residence. This man/women may or may not be an alumni/nae member of the fraternity/sorority. S/He could render guidance in maintaining an academic atmosphere and providing individual assistance through regularly scheduled office hours.
- Make the goal of sound scholarship the first emphasis of all chapter publications, including recruitment information.
- Remember that extracurricular activities have meaning for the individual and the chapter only if they are chosen freely by the individual. Forcing individuals into campus activities is inconsistent with the basic objectives of the fraternity/sorority.
- Propose that your scholarship committee develop a proposal for quiet hours and means of enforcement. This proposal should be developed with the assistance of members of the fraternity/sorority and voted on in its final form by the membership.
- Minimize the possibility of distracting noises and interruptions of study from television, radio, stereo, card games and bull sessions through a program of rigid enforcement of quiet hours by the members of the fraternity/sorority scholarship committee. Make changes in the program of quiet hours if they are necessary.
- Check to be sure that there is adequate lighting in study areas/room.
- Invest in study space or other needed study aids for group review sessions.
- Designate if possible, a room or area other than the library where group studying and review may occur. Keep the library separate so that members living out of the house may have a quiet place to study. Alumni/nae and parents clubs might well provide an d equip the physical plant with an eye toward making it a better place in which to study.
- In prompting a fraternity/sorority library, one must bear in mind that the library is not to be a replacement for the university or college library, but rather something useful for reference purposes of a brief nature. Such standard books might be an unabridged dictionary, a set of some major encyclopedia, some of the textbooks which have been abandoned by wo/men in the fraternity/sorority for use in courses, and some well-selected magazine subscriptions. The scholarship committee might well encourage each graduate to give to the chapter the book that S/he enjoyed most during her/his college career.
- "Party space or study space?". Have you considered making a community space in our fraternity/sorority house a conference and study room. Could it house a computer lab?
*Adapted from resources from Tau Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity
