What’s up SeaWolves I’m Dr Rick McClendon dean of students here at Stony Brook University and I’m Sixto Arias director of fraternity and sorority life we wanted to take a few moments to talk to you about the upcoming fraternity sorority recruitment season we know that many of you may be considering joining
One of our amazing organizations and we wanted to talk to you about the benefits of doing so being a member of a fraternity sorority can provide you with a strong sense of community in belonging and these organizations are a great way to meet new friends and form lasting relationships with your peers
So Sixto besides creating you know new friends and opportunities what are some of the other benefits to joining a fraternity or sorority so there are many benefits Dean Rick to joining a portraying sorority a couple of them come with leadership opportunities right so involvement within the organization
On uh core four positions or other cabinet positions other opportunities are academic support So internships are connected to that and think about the vast Network that you’re joining with the alumni that have been a part of this organization so your community is vast and large yeah
Um we also wanted to address the issue of unrecognized organizations so can you talk a little bit about what the impact of joining an unrecognized organization can have on an individual Sea Wolf absolutely so any unrecognized organization might participate in activities that might be
Dangerous to you as as a sea wolf so we want to really reiterate that um you know some of these activities might involve hazing and we want to let you know if you’re interested in joining an organization that we strictly prohibit hazing at Sunbrook University and we stand against all forms of hazing
Whether it’s subtle hazing or violent dangerous hazing so we definitely want to reiterate that and we don’t want our students to be involved in any of these unrecognized organizations now I know you might be thinking how do I know which organization is recognized or unrecognized right so a couple of things
That you can do is one visit our website where we have a list of our over 30 social and professional organizations that are recognized by us at Stony Brook University and we also have a list of unrecognized organizations so it’s important for you as a sea wolf to be
Informed of which organization you’re joining and the last way for you to know is by joining us at our fraternity and sorority life involvement Fair on Friday January 27th at 7 pm in the union Ballroom we’ll have representatives from all our organizations there and we hope
To see you there so Dean Rick I know that you yourself are an Affiliated man of a fraternity so what is one of your memorable or favorite moments of being in a fraternity oh my oh can it be can it be a personal story
Um I think for me is being a part of my fraternity I learned not only great leadership skill sets but uh from my own individual experience it allowed me to come out of my shell you know it allowed me to explore other parts of my own identity as I went through the college
Transition piece and I had really strong folks who allowed me to be my authentic self in those spaces so that’s my favorite part about being in a fraternity is that I get to be around people who share the same kind of values as me who allow others to show up in the
Space authentically but I think also I’m a Godfather to two beautiful children Nico and Lucia because they’re the kids of my pledge brother you know and I love being a Godfather so it’s those you know family connections that that that secondary family connection and friendships that I’ve created um over now
20 years wow of a relationship so that’s been awesome how about you I think it goes back to that point like you were mentioning right we remember that being Affiliated to a fraternity or sorority it’s not four years but for life right so I think for me it’s very similar to
Your story where I found Community as a first-year student when I joined my organization back in 2009 and ever since then my organization really helped me unlock my true potential and I really attribute a lot to the men that I was uh that I uh when I joined really helped
Shape me who I was and one of my mentors was also founding father of my undergraduate chapter so just a lot of community established and from being a member of my organization I you know being in this position I was director for Trans story life I love to see how our students
Engage with one another and really do give back to the community because I think ultimately that’s what keeps bringing me back is just the service that we do for mankind and others yeah so being a part of a Greek organization how does that show up in your
Professional life so you know as I mentioned I’m the director for starting a story like so I do this on a day-to-day basis and I love it right being able to serve a community uh that really values what they stand by right where values based organization so we
Stand by service we stand by education We Stand by Brotherhood Sisterhood siblinghood so it’s making sure that we are living by these values that we exemplify and also hold each other accountable right so when there are things that happen in our community we hold each other accountable so I think
For me that’s how it shows up on my day-to-day life being the director of this wonderful Community all right there you go go see wolves go see wolves
source
