I found out at the Acacia Fraternity’s 100th anniversary conclave that we indeed may not exist in another 100 years due to a declining membership. The 350 intelligent, motivated, and ambitious brothers who represented chapters from various schools were called upon to take action.

In this call to action, I realized that a fraternity is not only a group of people with whom I live, but a national association of men who wish to take an active part in their communities. My chapter no longer existed in a vacuum, but as part of a group of men who wish to better themselves, their fraternity, and the world. With this realization, a problem emerged: how could we convey to our chapters the excitement a meeting of this magnitude elicits?

With the current short-sighted view of many fraternity members, it may be impossible. These men selfishly drink alcohol irresponsibly, only form superficial relationships, and are not willing to solve problems by working together. They do not value the balance between fun, work, and self-improvement. A fraternity cannot survive with this kind of man and will surely die.

The alumni who attended the event, proudly recalling memories of their fraternity days, left us with the immutable truth that we need to preserve our fraternity so that we will never have to face the heartbreaking day when our last chapters have closed down.

Many chapters of Acacia will never face that possibility if they continue to set positive examples. One chapter has raised $108,000 for charity, another chapter has an overall 3.5 GPA, and yet another wins intramural sports tournaments. At RPI, fraternities do not deserve serious recognition, as they continually choose not to do right, leaving us in serious danger of not having active chapters when we are alumni.

During discussions, I felt proud when we had overcome similar problems as at other chapters, and was saddened when I realized we have an arduous task to become a chapter worthy of the values in which our fraternity’s founders believed.