michael mizrahi

Had to write a response to my UIFI experience for UConn's OFSL as part of the scholarship agreement. Enjoy.

Upon returning from the Undergraduate InterFraternity Institute, a five day leadership institute with 104 other student leaders, I found myself recounting the experience to a friend from high school (who is a member of a Fraternity at another University.) Before I could begin to explain the content or significance of what I had learned (as I hadn't yet had a chance to sum it up succinctly in my mind), he immediately commented on what a great time it must have been spending time with other college students for a week. Indeed, it was a great experience, but not in the way that my friend envisioned- as there was no partying, and no drinking- those activities instead replaced by meaningful dialogue and relationships that one would normally be hard pressed to find among a hundred college-aged fraternity men and sorority women who hardly knew one another.

Without a doubt, the content of the material being taught at UIFI is important. Understanding the basics of ones' leadership style, learning to balance strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and all other aspects of "leadership training" is helpful for those in attendance to go back home and make a tangible difference in their community (the end-goal of UIFI.) Furthermore, the true understanding of the purpose and mission of Fraternity and Sorority Life as values-based organizations is something that many people leave UIFI feeling moved by and having a new perspective on. I wasn't particularly swayed, perhaps because I was already on “the right side.”

Instead, for me, the strength of UIFI is in the environment and aura that it creates and nurtures for close to four days. An energizer before a group session early in the Institute involved "taking off cool-caps." Indeed, it was comical and “lame”, but the implications of this energizer had a notable and almost immediate effect on everyone in attendance. Before it, early conversations over meals at UIFI were about exactly what one would expect among this demographic: campus reputations, binge drinking ability, and fraternity and sorority rivalries- with each person trying to one-up the next. However, as more students began to buy in and "trust the process" (to use UIFI buzz phrases), the institute began to bring forward bigger ideas and topics. The conversation during structured meeting time as well as during free time turned in to discussion over values and their relevance in college, meaningful philanthropies and community service, and constructively discussing the contemporary issues and image that faces our organizations and Greek Life at large today. (It is important to note that while these dialogues happened, they were hardly always in full agreement. Attendees respectfully, but fervently, challenged each other’s ideas on today’s controversial issues.)

It was precisely that shift in conversation, mindset, and passion, that had an effect and left a lasting impact of what UIFI meant to me. Above and beyond values, leadership, and tactics for enabling change, the Institute taught me- or rather, showed me- that student leaders today (even those who come from misguided chapters and some potentially in jeopardy) care about what's right and are willing to commit themselves to making a change.

What seemingly sounds like an everyday truth was a thorough realization process that UIFI put me through. It’s that energy and sense of purpose that I am looking to bring back to UConn. (As a side note- while at UIFI, I gained an appreciation for the strength and richness of our Greek System. The infrastructure of our Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the graduate assistants in place, and the numerous Greek Community organizations such as HuskyTHON, UNITE, Greek Leadership Team, GAMMA, and Order of Omega, among many more, is a system that we are lucky to have and that many Greek Systems are striving to replicate. In spite of all these resources, or perhaps because of them, UConn UIFI attendees have an even deeper obligation to make change and build off of our existing System to create an extremely strong Community well within our reach.)

Even so, the safe environment that allows for growth will be hard to recreate. Back at school, people know one another. There is no room for identical name tags among both students and "facilitators" so that people can't differentiate and find themselves in deep interaction with anyone around; people are instead focused on their established reputations and positions, and their respective chapters’. Nor is there time at school for five days of open conversation about values and leadership. Instead, we're thrown in to a fast-paced college environment overflowing with smart phones, class schedules, chapter events, and the arguments of an over programmed community. And as a crucial cornerstone of our purpose as fraternal organizations, scholarship and academics must also be attended to. What can be replicated though is the sense of purpose that was created at UIFI. Social fraternities and sororities exist for a specific reason and members, when put in an environment that promotes that purpose, actually care about values and care about their organization’s success and future.

Ultimately, it's the cool-cap that distorts that line. If we can take off some cool-caps, we will be a big step closer to giving our community a stronger sense of purpose.

           

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uifi2010-reflection-paper-fvHcwmfsJeCEBFvubJlh.zip (416 KB)