Gifts Recently Received in Lexington

The hazing debate has been tweeted. What next?

By Nathaniel Clarkson (James Madison)

Many observers of the recent Arab Spring theorized that the massive public demonstrations associated with the movement were made possible largely by Twitter and other forms of new media that are capable of reaching millions in an instant. So it was little surprise when Malcolm Gladwell’s piece “Small Change – Why the revolution will not be tweeted” ignited a passionate discussion over the use of new media in starting social movements.

In what became an instant New Yorker classic, Gladwell contrasted 1960s Woolworth counter sit-ins with ongoing demonstrations around the Middle East with emphasis on the way in which each movement spread.

“Where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools,” Gladwell wrote. “Facebook warriors go online to push for change.”

The best-selling author contends that journalists and other commentators overestimated the role Twitter played in facilitating the Arab Spring. The uprisings in Moldova, he notes, quickly earned the moniker “Twitter Revolution.” But there were very few Twitter users in the country at the time. Gladwell also highlights how English-speaking journalists attempting to cover the uprisings in Iran simply followed the #iranelection hashtag, failing to realize that tweets from inside the country would have been written in Farsi.

Gladwell’s critics offer counterpoints. Twitter usage may have been low in Moldova, but how low? What’s to say the small number of existing users played no role whatsoever in organizing the protests? Maybe journalists covering the uprisings in Iran were operating inside a big echo chamber of other writers. But surely the global exposure made those in power think twice about a violent crackdown. The Arab Spring demonstrations continue, as do the debates surrounding their origin and what role social media is playing.

The main point of Gladwell’s New Yorker column on the limits of new media, which appropriately enough spread like wildfire on Twitter and the blogosphere, is well worth considering. He cautions us to recognize the distinction between merely committing to a cause versus actually doing something. Signing a petition is not the same as participating in a Woolworth counter sit-in.

Which brings us to Sigma Nu’s 40 Answers in 40 Days campaign. For those unfamiliar, the campaign started in August of 2010 when two Sigma Nu staffers acted on an idea to take the hazing debate to Twitter. The goal was to crowdsource answers to the 40 most common excuses for hazing and build momentum for National Hazing Prevention Week in the process.

This year the Fraternity decided to team-up with longtime partner HazingPrevention.Org to attract even more contributors. The partnership paid off. The second annual 40 Answers in 40 Days campaign, co-sponsored with HazingPrevention.Org, attracted 1,250 contributors, representing a 5,000% increase from the previous year. The answers were then compiled, edited and made available for the public.

Though the anti-hazing Twitter campaign has yet to result in a sweeping paradigm shift, the #40Answers campaign got the boulder rolling. Members looking to provide the genuine fraternity experience now have significant intellectual firepower necessary to reform their chapters. Courageous leaders must take the next step and practice bold action.

Disturbing the status quo can be a major sacrifice for a college student attempting to lead his peers. Thankfully our Twitter and Facebook newsfeeds are filled with inspiring examples of people around the world who show us what courageous action looks like.

By Sarah Giarratana

Captain Bobby Woods (first row, second from left) gathers with friends, family and fraternity brothers in the Georgia State House.

The Georgia House of Representatives did more than just clap — it broke into hoots and hollers Monday morning as it passed a resolution recognizing a University alumnus who bravely served his country.

Woods was injured in May of 2010 when his platoon was ambushed in Afghanistan. Photo Courtesy Woods Family

While leading his platoon outside Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2010, Airborne Ranger Capt. Bobby Woods, a 2008 University graduate with a double degree in criminal justice and psychology, took a bullet to the head.

Woods bandaged his own head, made sure other injured soldiers were evacuated and led the rest of his platoon back to base, all before he sought medical treatment.

He was stabilized, transferred from Afghanistan to Germany, from Germany to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and from D.C., to Vanderbilt University throughout the next year as he tackled rehabilitation programs quicker than expected.

“I’ve made it through rehab very quickly — instead of the first stage taking six months, I did it in just over two, with an expected two to three years of rehab at Vanderbilt — I finished that in just over four months,” Woods said. “I think a lot of it is just how much effort you put in. I had a lot of support from my family and my fraternity brothers and did my best to do it as quickly as possible.”

Monday morning, Woods stood with family and his Sigma Nu fraternity brothers and watched as the Georgia House passed a special resolution honoring his service.

“It feels good. It means there’s a lot of support out there for soldiers in the states and especially here in Georgia,” Woods said. “I just hope everyone remembers the men and women who come home and are no longer with us.”

The resolution honored Woods — nicknamed “the Man of Steel” — as an American hero whose “selflessness stands in keeping with the greatest traditions of military heroism.”

Buck Dixon, University alumnus and Sigma Nu brother, said he brought Woods’ actions to the attention of his hometown representative.

“The House likes to give credit where credit is due, especially for wounded soldiers and people who put everything out there,” Dixon said. “Everything went really smoothly, it’s one of the first times I’ve heard hollering on the house floor — they usually just clap.”

The bill also recognized the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization which Woods’ father helped to found which aided him through his recovery process.

Captain Woods delivers remarks after being honored by the Georgia state legislature.

“It’s a good program,” he said. “They do everything from take guys on trips to give guys the help they actually need that they can’t always get from the government.”

Woods said the program is also good for people who do not have as many family members and continues to work with the project as a representative while he recovers.

“Some things will never come back — I’m still blind in one eye, but I do feel like day to day I’m almost there,” Woods said. “I do feel like my writing is still pretty good but needs a little more work, so I’m working with a professor on that.”

But the most challenging part of his recovery process had nothing to do with work.

“I would say the most challenging part for me personally was leaving all the guys that looked up to me and counted on me every day when I first came back,” Woods said. “I wanted nothing more than to go back and fight with them and I wasn’t able to do that. I would say that was definitely one of the hardest things.”

Regardless of his challenging recovery, Woods said it was worth it.

“I think if you don’t serve the community some way in life, then you’re not doing your part,” he said. “I never planned on making a career out of the Army or anything like that, but I think it was worth it. I learned a lot through airborne ranger school and leading men in times where you know men are dying and people are getting hurt pretty often. I think it helps you grow and see that a lot of the things here day to day just aren’t as important as you thought they were.”

When Woods is medically discharged from the Army, he plans on going to business school and in the meantime will serve as a representative of the Wounded Warrior Project in England.

“I’m representing the U.S. with the Wounded Warrior Project as one of the guys who has been wounded,” he said. “We’re meeting up with some Englishmen who were wounded in the war. People who are financially able to help, I think it’s a great institution.”

Donations can be made to the Wounded Warrior Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

This story originally appeared in The Red and Black and is reprinted here with permission.

Eight Brothers from California pile in an RV for a pilgrimage to Lexington.

By William Stuart (UC – San Diego)

Tire pressure. Check.

GPS system registered. Check.

Keys to the 34-foot RV, christened the mighty USS Majestic and our home on wheels for the next eight days. Double Check.

The endless black ribbon of asphalt stretches off into a desert sunrise breaking between two mesquite-scrubbed hills, the yellow hash-marks flashing by as we take advantage of these 90 mph west Texas speed limits. Having departed the night before from Tucson, Ariz., we found ourselves in Jefferson Davis County, aptly named for the beginning of our grand journey through the American Southland. The intense sunlight and open vistas serve as metaphors for the optimism we held for the odyssey we had just embarked upon.

The pilgrimage to the Rock: 3000 miles, 12 states, 17 chapters, 8 Kappa Rho brothers, heading to one big old slab of Virginia limestone. “The Road to the Rock,” as we entitled our trip, was born out of a story told by a Class of 1988 alumnus during our “KP 500″ event. This occasion celebrated the 500th initiate into the Kappa Rho Chapter of Sigma Nu at the University of California at San Diego, which brought in our past brothers from far and wide. One of these elder statesmen told of an impromptu journey when four guys piled into a wood-sided 1977 Pontiac LeMans stationwagon and headed off to the East Coast. His ability to recall those fond memories in vibrant detail a quarter-century after they had occurred spurred a strong desire to live the same trip that very summer.

The first lesson learned from this whole project: some people need to be convinced to have the best time of their lives. It is a well-versed adage that “the success of 90% of the chapter will be determined by a highly motivated 10%,” and it was the same experience planning our excursion. People are generally content in their current inertial paths, and must be cajoled, persuaded, and sold on any update to the generic. Like a corporate marketing plan, those few motivated brothers must originate the idea, create the plan, make the calls, run the numbers, before others can be convinced to participate. The reward was some of my most dearly held college memories with the guys I still call my brothers.

Do not lose yourself in the near impossible task of assembling the “perfect” collection of participants. If you get along with each other generally, a trip of this magnitude will only serve to cement those fraternal bonds to a greater degree. Sure, eight days and 3000 miles in an isolated 34-foot bubble of a RV will serve as an incubator for brief flashes of testosterone, but that is where half of the good stories originate. Channel that energy into equally unproductive competitions of manhood and skill: epic Rock-Paper-Scissors tournaments, Roman Candle duels (taking advantage of South Carolina’s liberal fireworks laws), mobile “swoll sessions” with the 50lb dumbbells that were an illogically heavy last-minute addition to our cross-country baggage. It was a unique opportunity to transcend different candidate classes and collegiate years in order to increase intra-fraternal bonds, and to cultivate the next generation of chapter leaders.

More than anything the trip was a lesson in relying on each other to overcome the obstacles that fate deemed to place along our literal and metaphorical path. The first occurred less than a mile after our departure from Tucson. Unbeknownst to us, one of the lower storage compartments had become unlatched, thus spilling its contents, brother Robby’s baggage, along the side of the highway. This came to our attention over 600 miles later when a Good Samaritan managed to contact Robby’s parents with information from a luggage tag. Thus within the first few minutes of our eight day trek, one brother was already deprived of every article of clothing he had packed. It was not too great of a setback as we each willingly offered up the very shirts off our back; and while Robby may not have been the paragon of fashion for those eight days, he was clothed.

Some obstacles were self-imposed. In an effort to reduce vehicle weight, and thereby save on gas mileage, we had decided to empty the RV’s water tank. The unintended consequences of this thriftiness was that eight guys in a confined space need to shower frequently in order to keep the RV habitable, and were now deprived of the convenience of the onboard shower. It became an adventure guessing which body of water would serve as our wash closet each day. Our alternate bathing locations were as follows: the Texas River in Austin, a tornado-specked thunderstorm outside of Shreveport, the Gulf of Mexico proximate to Biloxi, the Beta Theta Chapter house at Auburn, the historic Beta house at Virginia, and finally the Atlantic Ocean off Daytona Beach. Sometimes it is the inane and unnecessary acts that become the fondest memories.

That first day of driving took us through the flat scrubland of Trans-Pecos region of West Texas, but 90 mph speed limits quickly whisked us eastwards from the last stretches of the Chihuahua desert. Soon fairytale churches of Bohemian extraction begin to dot the landscape where we sampled several of the darkly flavorful bocks and pilsners brewed by the Czech and German transplants. Leaving the Interstate we traveled through the heart of Texas Hill Country towards the capital of that immense state. Austin saw us stock up on Shiner Bock and Lone Star Beer before hitting the bars along 6th Street. For those who have yet to experience this mecca of nightlife, 6th Street does not pause in its parade of bars, saloons, lounges, and other variety of drinking establishments, upon which the 50,000 students of the University of Texas descend after dark. We had discovered earlier that the Upsilon Chapter at University of Texas – Austin was no longer active, and thus we had still to actually meet up with any Sigma Nu’s, yet we thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality shown to us in the Lone Star State.

Our route was planned to take us down to New Orleans by the most direct route, back to I-10 through Houston and Baton Rouge. However, something was brewing that would put a serious dent in our plan. A tropical disturbance near the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa was rapidly building itself into the most intense Atlantic storm of 2008 and the third costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States. We had been monitoring the development of Hurricane Ike for some time (though some of us half-jokingly regarded hurricanes as a false creation of media bias), we were not truly concerned until we began to notice the westbound lanes of traffic were choked with cars appearing to be loaded down with all their worldly possessions, while the eastbound lanes were occupied solely by convoys of National Guard Humvees and one wind-buffeted RV filled with eight naïve Californians. Eventually we heeded the radio warnings and roadblocks and headed north to avoid the worst of the storm. Not a minute too soon. Ike made landfall only a few hours later, right when we had planned to enter Houston, where winds over 110mph would have taken our RV airborne. As it was we spent a harrowing night driving through the windswept darkness while the hurricane crashed over us. Stopping outside of Shreveport we showered in the driving rain, when between thunderclaps the rising wail of a klaxon horn was heard in the distance. A very amused looking proprietor came out of his mattress store and informed us that the alarm signified a tornado warning, another natural disaster alien to us West-Coasters, and we would be best served to seek cover. Eventually the storm passed by and we were able to make our way to our first chapter house: Eta Zeta of Louisiana Tech. This was a perfect first chapter to visit as they exemplified the fraternal goodwill and Southern hospitality that would be the hallmark of the Sigma Nu houses we visited across the nation.

As the winds subsided and the rain lessened we pushed further down into Louisiana’s bayou country. The extreme weather had delayed us to the point of missing a legendary experience—Saturday night in LSU’s Tiger Stadium. We made our eastward crossing of the Mississippi River just as the sun was setting behind us, offering an exceptional vista from the Horace Wilkinson Bridge of the famed Tiger Stadium. Phi Chapter at LSU welcomed us warmly by inviting us to their post-game festivities, which were made appreciably better by LSU’s 41-3 rout of North Texas. With a live band pumping out the music and plenty of alumni streaming through the house, the effect was a collegial mix of boisterous hospitality.

The regularly bustling City of New Orleans is a relatively quiet place on a Sunday afternoon, and we moved with equal malaise after a heavy lunch of gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish etouffee. The city has certainly made commendable strides after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, though the evidence of that disaster could be seen on the high water marks on many buildings. We wandered through the French Quarter, along Bourbon Street, and through the picturesque Cajun neighborhoods. Heading out eastwards from Louisiana, we drove along the coast of the Gulf States which were littered with the flotsam and jetsam of Hurricane Ike.

Heading inland from the coast we made it into Auburn late that night and were kindly offered room and board by the brothers of the Beta Theta Chapter, who were studiously applying themselves to their first round of tests. Those of us over 21 headed out to sample the college bar scene. We opted to wind down the evening in what we had been informed was the traditional Southern manner — last night breakfast at Waffle House.

Compared to the distances we had covered it was but a short jaunt from Alabama up to Atlanta. We headed over to the Xi Chapter at Emory University, where once more we were shown nothing but the highest level of hospitality by those brothers. They were in the midst of Rush Week, of which we promptly joined in, for what exemplifies dedication and commitment to one’s fraternity than a cross-country pilgrimage to the founding location? We continued northward that next morning, briefly stopping over at the Mu Chapter at the University of Georgia, Eta Omicron at Wofford College, and Kappa Chi at Furman University. That afternoon we pulled in front of the historic home of the Psi Chapter at UNC-Chapel Hill, where the guys gave us a full tour and treated us to lunch. In terms of visiting individual collegiate chapters of Sigma Nu we were fast making up for the slow start. That night the hospitable brothers of Gamma Chapter at Duke University extended an invitation for us to join them for a previously planned social.

Heading out in the middle of the night we finally made our penultimate destination of Lexington, VA, just as the summer dawn broke through the sun-dappled hills of the Shenandoah Valley. Descending along winding roads into the quaint township, it seems little has changed since James Frank Hopkins followed these same country lanes up from Arkansas a century and half earlier. Our unbeknownst presence was welcomed at Headquarters, though I would advise others to call ahead, and we were supplied with a quick tour through the main building and adjacent grounds. Much fraternity history was learned, many prerequisite pictures were taken, and necessary meetings were held. This was an unsought corollary to our visit to The Rock, especially as a far-removed West Coast chapter, to sit down across from the financial, judicial, and governance positions that we deal with as chapter leaders and discuss any and all issues in a much more personal manner. After spending sufficient time at the namesake boulder of our epic “Road to the Rock” we sadly pointed our RV southwards towards the fast-approaching end of our voyage.

Regretfully, too few stories have made it into this short travelogue. For the sake of space and propriety, I have been forced to omit our fun with South Carolina’s lax fireworks laws, Ed’s terrible driving skills, the Prettiest City in the World, and so many other memories that I will hold dear for a lifetime. Our bonds of brotherhood were strengthened not by having visited the actual tangible stone upon which our founders first swore allegiance to the Legion of Honor, nor by visiting the imposing historic chapter houses of the Deep South. We discovered that The Destination Matters Not. It was the three thousand miles of stories, close calls, and pointless adventures that made the “Road to the Rock” the experience it will always remain. We were the most carefree and intrepid of men for those nine days. Now we are MBA candidates, Sales Consultants, Law Students, Neurobiology Graduate Researchers, Post-Baccalaureate Students, Corporate Financiers, and Army Officers. This journey is crystallized in my memory as the quintessential college experience. Before bills and bosses, deadlines and deployments, there were just eight carefree Brothers on a 34-ft hurricane-battered RV debating America’s top college towns. In essence, the “Road to the Rock” was three thousand miles of Freedom.

Is higher education the next bubble to burst?

By Kathryn Masterson

Five years after graduating from Butler University, Greg Moser (Butler) and his wife are looking forward to doing the things considered rites of passage for generations of young adults pursing the American dream: buying a house and starting a family.

Those dreams may take longer to realize than for those generations past. The couple have a combined student debt load over $100,000 (for two undergraduate degrees, two Master’s, and Moser’s expected law degree this May), a hefty financial obligation that plays a major role in their decisions about where to live, what house to buy, and when to start a family.

“Our debt is something we think about every day,” Moser says.

The pair have been looking for a house in St. Louis for a year, but have yet to find one in their budget in a neighborhood they like. They are staying in St. Louis for at least two years after Moser graduates so that his wife, a math teacher in a local high school, will be eligible for a loan forgiveness program. And depending on what kind of job Moser is able to find after graduation — he’d like to practice public-interest law, but knows the job market is tough — they may put off having kids for a couple of years in order to save some money.

They’re far from the only graduates today starting their careers and adult lives with a significant amount of debt. And as the cost of college continues to rise at a rate higher than inflation but incomes for many remain stagnant, there’s a growing sense that something is out of whack with the cost of higher education. In light of the country’s gloomy economy, it’s a situation that is prompting some people (as well as the media) to ask if higher education will be the next economic bubble to burst.

Consider these recent findings:

• For the first time ever, college loan debt exceeded credit card debt and could go as high as $1 trillion. (FinAid’s Mark Kantrowitz)
• The average debt level for the two-thirds of college graduates with loans went up 5 percent for the Class of 2010 to $25,250. At the same time, this group faces an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, the highest in recent years. (Project on Student Debt)
• In one year, tuition and fees went up 8.3 percent at public four-year institutions, 8.7 percent at two-year colleges, and 4.5 percent at private four-year colleges. (College Board)
• Federal student loan default rates are going up. In 2010, the default rate on student loans rose to 8.8 percent, up from 7 percent the year before. (U.S. Department of Education)

Taken with the nation’s high unemployment rate, these data points are adding to the talk of a bubble. Will higher education and student loans go the way of the housing market and dot.coms, markets that rose sharply with inflated prices and widespread faith in higher returns, then came crashing down when the funding sources disappeared? And if that happens, what does it mean for families, students, and organizations such as Sigma Nu?

A few outspoken voices are encouraging borrowers and lenders to be wary. Moody’s Analytics published a report on student lending in July that said the long run outlook for student lending and borrowing remains worrisome, and “fears of a bubble in education spending are not without merit.” PayPal founder Peter Thiel made headlines with his claim of a bubble and offer to pay 20 students under 20 $100,000 each to drop out of school for two years.

Other experts who study higher education disagree. While there are some similarities between the housing market and student loan trends, the comparison is not a fair one, as housing and higher ed are more dissimilar than alike. People aren’t buying a degree in the hopes of reselling it for more money. Many colleges provide aid money to offset the sticker price for those who can’t afford it. And over the long term, people are still better off financially when they have a college degree than when they don’t.

“I don’t think we have a bubble — not a student loan bubble or a higher education bubble,” says Mark Kantrowitz, who runs the FinAid web site and an expert on financial aid. “What we have is a long-term, continuing trend toward decreased college affordability.”

It’s hard to recognize a bubble until it pops, says Kantrowitz. But they typically happen when there is an oversupply of liquidity, which drives up the price of an asset. In the case of housing, easy-to-get mortgages drove the boom. And when that liquidity is withdrawn, people can’t buy anymore and prices plummet.

Many familiar with the subject recognize the role rising costs play in fueling the higher education bubble. Columbia University, pictured above, is consistently on the list of top 10 most expensive colleges, according to Forbes.com

The student loan market is different, he says. Most of the money funding it comes from the government, which isn’t likely to withdraw it anytime soon. Even with today’s record-high default rates, the government still makes money on its loans.

What there is, he says, is an increase of people over-borrowing for their college education. Kantrowitz says one’s student loan debt should be no higher than the starting salary one expects to get out of college. While student loan debt has long been considered the good kind of debt, because it is an investment that has shown to pay off over a lifetime for people, “too much of a good thing can hurt you,” he says.

That seems to be the case for many Occupy Wall Street protesters with $80,000 in debt, a number far above the national average of $25,000 (an amount that adhered to Kantrowitz’s suggestion of keeping debt equivalent or under to a starting salary). Where the suffering over student debts is most acute, he says, is with students who enrolled in the most expensive colleges but majored in the least lucrative fields.

The Moody’s Analytics report that raised the specter of a bubble points out that some borrowers carry unrealistic expectations about future earnings, and warns them to make good choices about how much they take out and what they major in.

“Unless students limit their debt burdens, choose fields of study that are in demand and successfully complete their degrees on time, they will find themselves in a worse financial position and unable to earl the projected income that justified taking out their loans in the first place,” the report says.

The financial impact of that $1 trillion in student loan debt, which unlike other debts cannot be discharged in a bankruptcy, has implications not only for individuals, but for society, too.

According to a Pew survey of 2,142 adults this spring, almost half of those surveyed who had college debt said their debt made it harder to pay other bills. Twenty-five percent said their debt made buying a home harder, and 24 percent said their loans have had an impact on their career choices.

Kantrowitz foresees an economic impact further down the line, when today’s new grads are still paying off their own loans when it’s time for their children to go to college. With wages and family incomes mostly stagnant and college costs showing no signs of going anywhere but up, the percentage of people who say their loans make it difficult to pay other bills may not be able to save money for their children’s college educations.

“There’s going to be a kind of cascading effect,” he says. “Potentially one third of the next generation of college students won’t be able to count on parental support.” And if the cost of college continues to increase at the rate it has been — and it hasn’t shown signs that it won’t — those future students will need to borrow even more than today’s students if they want a traditional degree.

“The debt will be a much bigger issue then,” he says.

Underneath the debt debate lies a much is a bigger question: Is going to college still worth it?

Though it may be fashionable to argue that one is better off in today’s economy starting a business than pursing a traditional degree — in addition to Thiel’s provocative dropout challenge, a new book by Michael Ellsberg called “The Education of Millionaires” argues that some people do better by skipping out on college — many involved in higher education decry that argument as misleading. It is the exception that one can do better without higher education, not the rule. 

Sandy Baum, an economist and senior policy analyst at the College Board, which issues the yearly reports of college prices and aid levels, says college grads earn a premium over those who never went to college. “That is not remotely going to stop being true,” she says.

Even with monthly loan payments, that still holds true, she says. “The vast majority will have more money left after paying back their student loans than they would if they hadn’t gone to college. That’s the relevant comparison.”

The Pew survey on the value of college echoes that. While three-quarters of adults said that college is too expensive for most Americans to afford, an even higher percentage of college graduates — 86 percent — said college has been a good investment for them personally.

That doesn’t mean people aren’t struggling when they’re in school. Because education must be paid in a lump sum, before those lifetime earnings kick in, and because families real wages have declined or stagnated in recent years, paying for college can feel like a financial crisis. “Even if tuition were free, you’d still see struggling,” Baum says.

Even as prices escalate, a phenomenon partially caused by declining government support for higher education, colleges are raising their financial aid (a practice Baum says isn’t sustainable in the long run). And higher prices aren’t affecting market demand. College enrollment keeps going up.

It looks likely to keep going that way. President Obama has issued a challenge to have the U.S. have the highest rates of college graduates by 2020 (a stretch to accomplish in the next 8 years). Organizations such as the Lumina Foundation have taken up the cause of educating more Americans, too. Lumina’s Goal 2025 aims to have 60 percent of adults with high-quality degrees and credentials by 2025. That means more people likely entering the higher education market, rather than a trend of students who were considering college deciding to dump higher education all together.

To be sure, not every college costs $50,000 a year. Higher education comes in a variety of price points — the expensive private, the state flagship, regional public institutions and community colleges — and there are already indications that some people are shifting to less expensive options.

Sallie Mae, the student loan company, said this fall that more affluent students choosing to attend community colleges than in years past. And Kantrowitz sees families looking closer at the tradeoffs between the cost of a particular education and the expected returns, which can include quality of education, likelihood of graduating, and experience.

“We’re seeing families willing to sacrifice a little for better quality, but not a whole lot more,” he says.

In the midst of the cost debate and the push to educate more Americans, higher education policy makers and even some colleges are exploring ways to offer education at a lower cost.

“Our current business model is very expensive and the sustainability long term is really at question,” says Holly McKiernan, a vice president with the Lumina Foundation. “Can you continue to be able to keep the system that is very bricks-and-mortar based and residence based? Is that the model we can actually use long term to be able to drive the economic engine of the economy?”

To provide more Americans with high-quality education — a necessity in our current economic environment, where manufacturing jobs have given way to gains in productivity and a sizable skill gap exists between what today’s jobs require and what skills jobseekers have — a new model is needed. The current one is not sustainable, and cannot be scaled to reach the growing number of Americans Lumina wants to see educated, McKiernan says.

No one knows quite what the college of the future is going to look like. Will it be online only? A hybrid of online and in-person courses? Or a stripped-down version of today’s traditional colleges, minus the tenured professors, residence halls and student activities that we all associate with the collegiate experience?

Whatever they look like, the consensus is they won’t look like our current bricks-and-mortar, ivy-covered institutions. (There isn’t much worry those will go away, though. While a few financially struggling colleges will likely go out of business, the majority will continue to exist and offer the more traditional experience. “They might educate a smaller percentage of students, but not a smaller number of college students,” says the College Board’s Baum).

So what will this change mean for those organizations—including fraternities and sororities—whose existence is centered around the current model of America’s college campuses?

Brad Beacham, executive director of Sigma Nu, is watching the trends and thinking about what they might mean for the fraternity.

If more students chose a model other than the traditional brick and mortar path, might Sigma Nu consider a change to its model? Beacham says the fraternity’s board of directors raised the question of a virtual chapter several years ago during a discussion of online degrees. We didn’t come to an answer,” Beacham said. “I have to think that is possible.”

Also on his mind is the rising cost of college and the escalating levels of debt students are taking on to attend. “Do students get to a point where their disposable income is completely used up by tuition and other fees and don’t have the disposable income to invest in fraternity membership?” Beacham wonders.

So far, the fraternity has not noticed a decline in membership or retention, he says.

“We still feel we’re a tremendous value,” Beacham says. Sigma Nu has not raised dues significantly since 2006, but the fraternity does need resources in order to compete with the other Greek organizations (the fraternity’s foundation has seen a drop in contributions, a widespread trend in philanthropy post-recession and something Beacham says is definitely on his mind).

There may be a silver lining, however, to the economic challenges and changes in the higher ed system. Lumina’s McKiernan, who served as the head of Alpha Chi Omega before her current job, says the current situation provides opportunities as well as challenges for Greek organizations. While the economics of higher education may mean fewer students can afford both tuition and the Greek experience, fraternities and sororities can also articulate the added value they can provide both individuals and society.

If there is a higher education bubble, and if it bursts, tapping a network of support will be even more important as a growing number of applicants seek a relatively fewer number of jobs. The social skills absorbed from fraternity membership, combined with the applied career and life skills learned from the LEAD program, will give an edge to the members who took full advantage.

“In our very technological society, we need people who are very effective at relationship building and that value the importance of connecting with people and solving problems together,” McKeirnan says. Her words call to mind the dueling but harmonious symbols of Sigma Nu. While the basic tenets of higher educations will remain in place, other aspects are likely to change significantly. As the Rock and the Rose remind us, Sigma Nu must remain committed to our core principles while placing equal importance on the willingness to adapt to our surroundings.

Editor’s Note: Kathryn Masterson is a writer based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Chronicle of Higher Education, Masterson worked at The Chicago Tribune, Associated Press and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

By Merritt Onsa

If you’ve spent any time around college football you know that Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant (Alabama) was one of the most successful college football coaches in the history of the sport. He’s been surpassed only posthumously in career victories by coaches who are still living and who have had longer coaching careers.

Football was a large part of Bryant’s life. With the offer of a football scholarship in 1931 to play for the Crimson Tide, Bryant left his home town of Fordyce, Arkansas for Tuscaloosa. At Alabama, Bryant played end opposite Don Hutson, who went on to play for Green Bay and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. They became close friends and both played in the Rose Bowl to win the 1934 National Championship against Stanford. Bryant’s reputation as a player was marked by his tenacity to stay on the field, even with a partially broken leg in a 1935 game against Tennessee.

For five years following his college graduation, Bryant held assistant coaching positions at Union, Alabama and Vanderbilt. When America declared war on Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Bryant enlisted in the Navy. He was stationed in North Africa and twice during his military service was assigned to coach Navy football teams, in Georgia and North Carolina.

Following his service in the Navy, Bryant began his head coaching career at the University of Maryland in 1945, at the age of 32. His time with the Terrapins was short-lived as he soon left to coach eight seasons at the University of Kentucky and four at Texas A&M. Then, in 1958, after struggling through three consecutive losing seasons, the University of Alabama asked Bryant to take the head coaching position of his alma mater. And the rest, they say, is history.

Expecting Excellence

He believed in hard work and individual and team discipline.

Bryant had the highest expectations for his players and for himself, always living in the moment and trying to learn something new each day. He expected players to have a winning attitude and to act with respect and responsibility. If you showed up late for a meeting, you were off the team. He gave written tests on the details of every position to avoid any surprises on the field. At the same time he was a man of faith and his players, if they weren’t afraid of him, were at least in awe of him. Many treated him as a father figure and came to him for help with their problems.

Coach Bryant retired in 1982, after beating Illinois in the Liberty Bowl. Having lost to three key rivals that season, he felt he was keeping the team down and decided it was time to let someone else take over. Though he’d recently been given a clean bill of health, Bryant was checked into the hospital on January 26, 1983 with chest pains and by the next morning he was gone, just 28 days after his retirement.

In his 38 years of coaching, Bryant’s record boasts 37 winning seasons, including six National Championships and thirteen SEC Championships. Twelve times he was voted Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year; and he was a three-time National Coach of the Year (in 1961, 1971 and 1973).

Known for his excellence in coaching and instantly recognizable in his trademark houndstooth hat, Bryant is remembered for his robust personality, enthusiasm for teamwork and personal integrity. His successes speak for themselves, and his legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of everyone who loves and respects the game of football. A 2007 article on ESPN.com quotes former Nebraska coach Bob Devaney saying about Bryant, “He was simply the best there ever was.”

The Bryant Coaching Awards

In 1986, the National Coach of the Year Award, which he’d won three times, and the Lifetime Achievement Award were renamed the Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards in his honor just three years after his sudden death from a heart attack. The awards, voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, acknowledge the accomplishment of NCAA football coaches, one of each per year, and are the only college coaching awards announced in January after all the bowl games have been played.

According to the official website, “The Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant College Football Coaching Awards is an exclusive event that honors a college football coach whose great accomplishments, both on and off the field, are legendary. The award recognizes the masters of coaching and allows them to take their deserved place in history beside other legends like Bear Bryant.”

Marathon Oil Corporation is the named sponsor of the awards to be held January 9, 2012 in Houston, Texas. In the past 24 years, since the awards have been in Bryant’s name, more than 4 million dollars has been raised to benefit the mission of the American Heart Association.

Sigma Nu Announces Partnership with AHA and the College Football Coaching Awards

The Heisman trophy of college coaching, named for Paul “Bear” Bryant (Alabama), on display during the media event in Tuscaloosa this fall.

A special ceremony took place at the home of Theta Chapter on the University of Alabama campus, where Bryant became a Sigma Nu, at the start of the 2011 football season. Regent Robert Durham (Georgia) declared that Sigma Nu Fraternity would sponsor the 2012 Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coaching Awards, in support of a new partnership with the American Heart Association.

Noting that the room was full of Auburn, Georgia and Alabama alumni, Durham observed. “If there was ever one man who could inspire a temporary peace between rivals for the purpose of a great cause, it was Coach Bryant,” he said.

Durham continued, “The mission of Sigma Nu is to develop the mind, heart and character of almost 10,000 young men in our collegiate chapters so that they can become ethical leaders for our communities and our world,” said Durham.

Durham shared the vision behind Sigma Nu’s decision to sponsor the awards, a process that was a year in the making. He spoke about the Fraternity’s leading strategic imperative to strengthen every collegiate chapter of Sigma Nu and how this sponsorship supports that imperative. “We must build a culture of excellence throughout the entire Fraternity and reject mediocrity in all of its forms or we will never fully reach our mission,” said Durham.  Crucial to that success, he said, would be Sigma Nu’s ability to provide examples of that “culture of excellence” and opportunities for undergraduates to lead. “There are no better examples of a culture of excellence than what Coach Bryant established everywhere he coached,” said Durham.

Coach Bryant‘s grandson Marc Tyson, left, and son Paul Bryant Jr., center, with Regent Durham during the kick-off event in Tuscaloosa this past fall.

“Paul Bear Bryant not only ‘Walked in the Way of Honor,’ as all Sigma Nus vow to do…but, he met his Obligation to Excellence…every day, with every team and for every player. Because of who Coach Bryant was and what he accomplished and HOW he accomplished it, he is universally loved and respected, regardless of rivalry and regardless of whether you are a fan of college football or not,” said Durham.

Bryant was inducted into the Sigma Nu Hall of Fame in 1988. “We believe that the legacy of this great man provides an example that can inspire our collegiate brothers to meet their own obligation to excellence in all endeavors, in the same way that Coach Bryant inspired his players, his colleagues and this remarkable institution,” said Durham.

Highlights of the Partnership

Sigma Nu’s partnership with the American Heart Association and the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coaching Awards was announced Fraternity-wide in October. Every collegiate chapter and member of Sigma Nu is being called upon to honor the legacy of Brother Coach Bryant by raising funds to support the Awards given in his name which recognize excellence both on and off the field. All funds raised will support the worthy mission of the American Heart Association, in honor and memory of the man whose life of excellence ended because of a heart attack.

“This partnership is a triple win,” says Fraternity Executive Director Brad Beacham (TCU). “It will further the mission of Sigma Nu by providing new opportunities for our members to develop into ethical leaders by serving a cause greater than themselves or their chapters. It will honor the legacy of excellence of Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, which exemplifies the kind of excellence we want to achieve in all of our collegiate chapters. And it will benefit the American Heart Association in their mission to reduce heart disease and stroke.”

This relationship will strengthen the Fraternity’s already successful Helping Hand Initiative, which Sigma Nu began in 2002 to promote and encourage service and philanthropy among chapters and individual members. According to Beacham, “In the last two years, growth in participation in the Helping Hand Initiative has been exponential, in the number of chapters participating, hours served and money raised.”

In addition, with the Founders Month of Service held annually in April, the fall is a prime opportunity for a new nationally-focused endeavor..

“This partnership intersects perfectly with our focus on chapter excellence. Coach Bryant exemplified a life dedicated to excellence and integrity. We can all learn from his example. It also creates a great new philanthropic opportunity for our chapters and all Sigma Nu Brothers. Everyone one of us is affected by heart disease. We can now help the Heart Association toward their mission of reducing heart disease in a unique, Sigma Nu manner,” said Beacham.

Looking Towards January 2012

This year’s Awards ceremony will be in Houston in mid-January. Fundraising efforts are underway, with numerous incentives offered to top fundraising collegiate chapters and individuals.

For more information about the Bryant Awards, visit www.sigmanu.org/aha.

By Merritt Onsa

From major Hollywood parties to movie premieres to weddings, Brian Worley (North Texas) plans some of LA’s biggest and hippest events. After trying everything from fashion photography to modeling and acting Worley says he “kind of fell into producing events.” He’s been at it now for 13 years and has clearly found his niche.

Event Planning for the Stars

Three years ago Worley and a business partner created YourBASH!, a full-service event production company dedicated to creating extraordinary experiences. Some of his favorite events to work on have been the 2011 Emmy Awards and Prince William’s polo match in Santa Barbara as well as the ongoing American Idol Top 24, Top 12 and finale parties held during each season of the show.

YourBASH! got involved with the 2011 Emmy Awards as designers of the red carpet and media tent. Worley’s company earned some big-time publicity for their efforts to help FOX ensure an eco-friendly event. They designed the red carpet—made out of 150,000 recycled water bottles—and drapes and incorporated solar panels and LED lighting for the length of the entrance. After the event the carpet and solar panels were donated to Habitat for Humanity.

Worley says “green” event planning has gotten a lot of attention as of late, especially since there are parties happening every night of the week in Hollywood. “When you throw a party there is so much waste. We try to make our events as eco-friendly as possible,” he says, which includes composting and recycling everything possible. He and his team work diligently to create tasteful and stylish “green” options, even for weddings. “You don’t have to use burlap and hay bales to be eco-friendly,” he says.  

Prince William and Kate Middleton at a recent event in Santa Barbara organized by Brian's company.

In July, Worley had the opportunity to meet Prince William and his new wife, the former Kate Middleton, the Duchess of York while coordinating the polo tournament the royal couple attended in Santa Barbara. YourBASH! handled the invitations, created a website, did the ticketing, designed the event space, worked with sponsors, and even coordinated the helicopter that flew William and Kate in and out. “Not many people can say they produced a polo event for royalty. That was a cool experience for sure. There are a lot of people who do what I do in LA, and the fact that we were the company that was chosen is an honor,” he says.

Worley also shares his event planning savvy with the digital world, writing for several blogs. His Yahoo blog—the life of hollywood’s social chairman—actually takes its title inspiration from Worley’s time as Sigma Nu’s social chairman during the 1990s at the University of North Texas. Sharing his event planning tips has led to other media opportunities as well. In fact, People magazine ran a 3-page spread in their November holiday entertaining issue featuring Worley’s ideas for a new twist on the at-home pizza party.

Making it on the Small Screen

Worley’s event producing experiences are impressive enough. But he also has some unique and exciting TV credits to his name. When he initially moved to LA he tried acting for a while with appearances on 90210, Melrose Place, Party of Five and Days of Our Lives. Although he decided acting wasn’t for him, the experience helped him meet people and get to know LA.

More recently Worley’s been able to mesh his event producing skills with television hosting opportunities, something he’s very excited about. He served as mentor, judge and host of E!’s Party Monsters—a take on Project Runway—in which event planning contestants compete with one another to host the best celebrity party. Worley also served as a wedding planner on the CW Network’s Shedding for the Wedding, a competitive reality TV show in which couples lost weight and got in shape to win their dream wedding.

However, neither show got picked up for a second season. “This industry is trial and error, and each time it opens doors,” says Worley of these experiences. “I always wanted to be a news reporter, or so I thought. Now I get to produce events, host TV shows and it just keeps growing.” In fact he’s in the process of pitching two new TV show ideas that he hopes will get picked up.

The Sigma Nu Impact

While at UNT, Worley majored in film with a minor in fashion photography. But he says his education didn’t come from the classroom. “My real education came from extracurricular activities, starting with my involvement in Sigma Nu.”

During his freshman year, Worley had his first brush with the national Fraternity through volunteering on a committee for Grand Chapter in Dallas. He especially remembers being excited to drive one of the national volunteers and his wife to the formal dinner during Grand Chapter. He says experiences like that laid the ground work for his future. 

Despite all the social events Worley is a part of in LA, it wasn’t the social events that drew him to Sigma Nu in the first place. “I joined mainly for the leadership skills that come along with being in a fraternity,” he says. He jumped right in as Sigma Nu’s social chairman (naturally), Homecoming chairman and then served as Lt. Commander for two years. He also served on IFC, was president of Order of Omega Greek honor society and served as a peer counselor for freshman orientation. His senior year he was recognized by Sigma Nu as an Alpha Affiliate. “Sigma Nu was the catalyst that got me involved in all these other things. It was a great experience for me and allowed me to excel in the areas I wanted to,” he says.

Today he attributes his professional success to his Sigma Nu membership. “I’ve always been an entrepreneur. But being in a fraternity opened doors and introduced me to avenues on campus that I wouldn’t have been exposed to had I not been a Sigma Nu. My mom still says I didn’t learn anything in college except for what I learned in the Fraternity. That’s where I gained my experience in dealing with people and running a business,” he says.

To learn more about Brian Worley or his event planning business in Los Angeles visit http://www.brianworley.com/ or http://your-bash.com/ or follow him on Twitter @YourBASHbworley.