Expansion Manual

WHERE DO I HELP TO GET FARMHOUSE ORGANIZED?

A FarmHouse chapter may be established in any college or university granting a Bachelor's Degree. The membership of a chapter is open to any student studying toward a Bachelor's or an Associate's degree, who demonstrates the qualities of character, scholarship, and professional excellence to which FarmHouse men aspire.

HOW DO I HELP TO GET FARMHOUSE ORGANIZED?

1) The first step is to contact the FarmHouse Fraternity International Office. The staff will be able to help you plan your next steps and can provide names and addresses of FarmHouse alumni living in the area. The staff will also discuss the best time to visit the campus.

2) Contact the university official who will most likely be concerned with the formation of a FarmHouse chapter. These will most likely be the Vice president/Dean of Student Affairs and the Dean of Agriculture (if the university offers degrees in agriculture). They will probably suggest that you talk with the Fraternity Affairs Advisor and the Associate Dean/Dean of Resident Instruction in the College of Agriculture. These people will most likely have the most direct contact with the students who join FarmHouse.

It usually is a good policy to contact these university officials before they have heard from other sources that FarmHouse hopes to generate a new chapter on the campus. This action confirms the integrity of your intentions. If, however, for any reason, you have questions about doing this before a FarmHouse staff member arrives on campus, you should call the International Office to discuss the situation.

If you do not know the selected official, try to take someone with you who is known and respected by this individual. The ideal person would be a FarmHouse alumnus. It is very desirable to arrange an appointment in advance, including the purpose of your visit. Let the FarmHouse alumnus introduce you and state your purpose, but you must be responsible for presenting the FarmHouse story - what we stand for and how we have lived up to our ideals. Explain to the university official that your purpose for visiting with him is to inform him that you would like to see FarmHouse start a new chapter on that campus, and that you would like to know his thoughts on the possibility of such. Ask him what the university requires from fraternities regarding financing, housing, supervision, reports, and membership. (It is unlikely that the College of Agriculture will require any such information.) It would be a good idea to ask the Fraternity Affairs Advisor what the possibilities are for assistance from the university in housing the group (such as purchasing or renting property from the university). Leave a copy of the FarmHouse Pledge and Membership Handbook and any other information from the international office with each of these people.

Lately it is common for Fraternity Affairs Advisors and university officials to be against any fraternity expansion of any type. They sometimes see it as yet another headache and will try to convince you that FarmHouse would not survive here, that students would not respond, that the university will not support such action, etc. If the effort is at a private university, the university has the right to disallow FarmHouse form colonizing. However, at a public institution, the First Amendment allows for Freedom of Association, and the university cannot disallow FarmHouse from forming on campus; they possibly can keep FarmHouse from achieving official recognition as a fraternity and out of IFC, but they cannot keep the group from being recognized as a university student organization.

3) The most important step is to identify outstanding male students and tell them the FarmHouse story. These students then become the contact with fellow students with information about FarmHouse. If you are a FarmHouse alumnus, tell them of your own FarmHouse undergraduate experience. Tell them how you think they, the campus, and the community could benefit by the establishment of a FarmHouse chapter. These students should have leadership ability and should be willing and able to interest students of like mind and attitude in FarmHouse. Ideally, most of them should be underclassmen, but do not exclude shard upperclassmen; in fact, outstanding leaders will often be upperclassmen who command respect and attract others.

A very effective tool is to obtain a list of all first-year male students with either their home or campus address. This list can be used so that a mass mailing can be sent to each of them, informing them personally about their chance to be a "founding father" of a fraternity chapter. If a list of all of the first-year students cannot be obtained, usually a list of all first-year agriculture students can be obtained, at least. Mailings have proven to be cost and time effective.

Try to obtain the names of a few top rated independent students (agriculture students, if Ag is offered there). Ask for the names of students who are attending on scholarships, for a list of honor students, and for lists of officers of Ag and campus clubs. Outstanding faculty members who teach undergraduate courses are an excellent source of names.

Outstanding FFA and 4-H members attending the university often are excellent sources of potential members in the colony. These students can be identified by contacting the State 4-H Leader and/or other Ag Extension personnel, and by contacting the State supervisor of Vocational Ag and/or the Ag Education faculty on campus.

4) After the number of approximately 15 students or 25% of average fraternity size on campus (whichever is higher) are seriously interested, contact the International Office. A staff member or International Board member will arrange to visit the campus and conduct an informational meeting. He will remain on campus for the purpose of conducting individual interviews, and hopefully a pledging ceremony before he leaves, so that a FarmHouse Interest Group can be formed and be ready to work toward achieving colony and chapter status. He will also want to make arrangements for visiting with alumni, university officials, and potential associate members before he leaves.

The following pages list the guidelines for recognition by the International Fraternity of a FarmHouse Interest Group, and then guidelines to assist the group in achieving first colony, and then chapter status.