The Internet Is Official Distribution Like It or Not

A recent decision regarding the distribution of proposed amendments for the upcoming Grand Conclave by the IHQ has gotten under the skin of more than a few Brothers.

In the past, the proposals were distributed via printed hardcopy and this year someone made the enlightened decision to distribute the proposals via the official Fraternity's website.

This is a decision that I fully applaud whether or not it can be debated that the stated Constitution & Statutes has been bent, broken, or manipulated. Bottom line, the spirit of past actions has been violated but at the price of maintaining a 21st century organization.

By using a means of the internet, the distribution of any document or multimedia file is an official declaration of transacting business and/or sharing information.

There is no possible need for anyone, any group, or any council to waste time in taking a vote to declare the internet as a means of official communication. No one made a motion to propose creating the internet and allowing various levels to communicate with IHQ within the various aspects and capacities already, so now the debate has already progressed beyond the various levels and individual Brothers regardless of their age and internet usage.

The internet makes a phase shift and a paradigm shift within the lives of individuals and organizations alike.

The decision to not maintain the non-cost effective and inefficient mailings of proposed amendments in hardcopy form clearly saved enough money this year alone to justify a hospitality suite within the upcoming Grand Conclave at a minimum;)

Even though I will not be there, I ain't mad at cha;))

This is an unique moment in history where the actual usage of the internet has caused a greater degree of difficulty within the membership versus the Grand Board and International Headquarters staff.

As members, we should be welcoming such moves versus criticizing them!

On the other hand, this milestone is a point of no return that the highest echelons within the Fraternity will not be able to back away from at all without expressing some statements that better go totally unsaid. Please do not open that can of worms even at gunpoint!!!

What does the decision to use the internet to distribute information regarding to the ongoing rules and regulations of the Fraternity ultimately mean?

Before I answer this question, let me state that it is a loaded question with a question and answer within the question itself.

The unstated, internal question and answer within the question is what are the primary assets of each level of organization within Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.?

The primary assets are not restricted to Kappa alone either, but any organization that has traditionally had 3 levels of operations.

I was wondering a few weeks ago another question that I never heard raised or answered within my Fraternity experience within Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

The question was: What business is Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. really in?

Our motto of "Training for Leadership" is not really the business that we are really in although it has a special place and credible purpose.

Achievement is and always will be our calling card. This is the fuse for each of the 3 levels of organization.

Let me make a riotous statement that I have recently realized and no one can convince me otherwise: YOUNG BROTHERS ESPECIALLY NEED SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN.

Achievement is a great calling card to attract potential members. But it then becomes the burden of each initiated member of the organization. If you are not achieving, you are on the sidelines not carrying your own weight.

This is why we had to change the focus of this blog several days ago.

I always wondered what made becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi an extremely high priority for African-American men who had recently graduated college within the 22 to 28 year old age range. But the same logic and rationale stands for older prospects as well although to a lesser degree.

What I have discovered is that the internal need is no different from those of us who heard it and actively responded while attending college. We were just a little more determined to get the need resolved period.

I know that there are some alumni-initiated members who did not have an undergraduate chapter on their campus for one reason or another. There are others whose grades did not allow them to seek membership within an undergraduate chapter. Others did not want to risk being hazed right or wrong. Some could not afford the initiation fees while attending college.

For all of the possible reasons of seeking membership, the greatest internal benefit of membership is that THERE IS AN OFFICIAL RECOGNITION AND CERTIFICATION RECEIVED that AN INITIATED INDIVIDUAL IS NOW AN ACHIEVER AND CAPABLE OF LEADERSHIP right or wrong.

It does not matter to answer the real question of whether Kappa is a legitimate organization to be able to certify anyone as an achiever and/or leader.

This is why and how the statement came to me that YOUNG MEN ESPECIALLY NEED SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN. In the past, I would usually vote no or abstain from voting for young men with the glazed look in their eyes that had this characteristic trait.

I could not fully support their decision to seek membership because I actually felt sorry for them.

It was a sad state of affairs for me to see someone willing to subjugate themselves in order to be recognized and/or certified as an adult and/or achiever.

But this is the way it is right or wrong. Right or wrong, all of us who are present members have had this same glazed look to some degree. We were either achievers at the high school level and were going to be achievers at the college level, and consequently wanted our track record to be certified as representing achievement (although the social benefits certainly did not harm one's reputation).

The same statement can be said about middle-aged and/or senior citizens who become Kappas. There is an intrinsic feeling that their legacy would be unfinished or tarnished by not having the stamp of approval within Kappa membership.

Unfortunately, these feelings are the ones being ruthlessly preyed on within every case of hazing.

With this being stated, let me go straight back into the primary assets of each level of organization that no one has ever shared with me (or within the same meetings that I have attended in the past).

The Grand Chapter's primary asset is the ability to certify that an individual is indeed a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. No other entity is able to effectively compete with GC's ability either.

The Grand Board and IHQ (as well as each level of organization) should never forget this. Lose this ability (especially within the courts due to hazing) and you might as well shut the doors and go home.

The primary asset of the provinces is the ability (granted by Grand Chapter and IHQ) to initiate individuals into membership within Kappa Alpha Psi.

The primary asset of chapters is the ability to select individuals for membership to be initiated by a province.

Every Guide Right project, fundraising dance, and other activity is the direct result of the primary assets of the three levels of organization working in tandem.

The primary assets is the way that the team of achievement is chosen and built.

Now the threshold that has been officially crossed with the decision to use the internet to distribute information regarding to the ongoing rules and regulations of the Fraternity ultimately means that some of the PTCNs previously proposed are closer to becoming reality months, years, and decades from now than they were when they were created.

It is going to be very hard to deny the individual rights of members any more.

The denial of individuals to sit at the table and in Grand Chapter meetings and sessions where decisions are being made right beside the Grand Board, provinces, and chapters is crippling Kappa Alpha Psi as well as any other organization that does not allow individuals to participate through individual voting rights outside of organized clusters of operation.

Right or wrong, local chapters have served a great purpose in the past but now within the era of the internet and communication at the speed of light, an organization such as Kappa places itself in greater jeopardy by excluding individual members more than ever.

The doctrine of a local chapter's existence has failed and every chapter where a case of hazing has occurred or been alleged proves it. The liability and cost then is burdened by Grand Chapter.

Local chapters are still needed but not without the exclusion of virtual chapters where individual members determine where they will place their local membership. This should be the case whether they vote with their feet within an existing local chapter anyway.

There should be essentially two tracks of membership within such organizations as Kappa Alpha Psi: a geographical based track and; a virtual, network-centric track based upon the means of communication as the internet.

No entity can effectively replace Grand Chapter. As a result, only the mindset and methods of operations would have to change within the Grand Board and International Headquarters staff.

As the primary asset at this level is the ability to certify whether an individual is indeed a recognized member, everything done to support, maintain, and strengthen the organization should reflect the ability to communicate with the individual as it traditionally has attempted to communicate to and with local chapters, provinces, alumni associations (if there truly are any) and Grand Chapter itself.

Hazing is truly preventable if Grand Chapter and IHQ operated more like a clearinghouse like a credit bureau versus a logistical management group.

Create a place on the official website where the public can find out if a person is truly a member and their extent of participation without providing an opportunity for a person's identity to be stolen. This would be a great resource for college and university administrators if we are to continue to exist on local campuses anyway.

Allow potential members to directly approach and contact Grand Chapter via IHQ for membership. Any research on the qualifications of the prospective member would then be conducted by either a local chapter or virtual chapter and then the initiation would be conducted by the predesignated province.

Essentially what I am proposing is to systematically reduce and prevent the operational bottlenecks that have plagued us unnecessarily and caused quantifiable financial lossses due to mismanagement and hazing alike.

Our human resources have been mismanaged because the geographical clusters were not able to be reached with real-time communications on a daily basis. The IHQ staff was not able nor expected to know what was going on at the local level daily. It was simply not feasible.

Individuals who could have made a critical difference at any level of our organization have not been fully able to contribute due to internal politics and the slow moving nature of organizations that require a quorum.

There are more than enough cases where specialists are needed on demand and having to find such an individual through a quorum based meeting is detrimental to the organization overall.

Our Fraternity would more than likely benefit from the individual Brothers who are better organizers of chapters, communities, and coalitions (although this single word sometimes has another meaning within the Bond). Free these Brothers to do what they do best and multiple entities of the Bond will immediately come to light. Reclamation would be an automatic result through their efforts.

But I do have a model for such a mindset and doctrine of existence and it comes directly from the armed forces of our country.

In spite of the lack of any military experience, I am fully convinced that the concept of transformation doctrine could be successfully applied to Kappa and other organizations worldwide.

Bottom line, hazing is terrorism.

There are laws already on the books at every level that reflect this.

Being able to determine whether an individual is recognized by the Grand Chapter would certainly reduce the opportunity of liability for hazing. Such a standard exemplifies that Grand Chapter is in control of its operations through its members versus giving lip service or conditional control and/or oversight.

Geographic Provinces would still be able to maintain their greatest asset within the ability to initiate candidates into official membership while virtual provinces (superchapters) would be created and granted the ability to conduct initiations while possessing the ability to move faster than geographical provinces due to specific interest of the individual members (most likely based upon industry of vocation of the individual members).

The overarching question then becomes whether such a system would foster genuine brotherhood. Based upon our history in its magnificience and our current dynamic (or the lack of one), I dare say that we cannot imagine the benefits and heights we will be able to easily reach without lawsuits, negative press, and disgruntled members.

Global and intergalactic Brotherhood would become a real-time asset only barely scratched by the wild dreams of our beloved Founders.

By adding the virtual component to our organization, reclamation would be easier and more lucrative in ways currently unimaginable as well.

As the past and present membership directories demonstrate, a hardcopy or online directory does not mean a thing unless someone, somewhere is able to create or initiate a two-way means of communication and establish a positive, long-term relationship.

The usage of the internet simply just has crossed us into the realm of remote fantasy becoming reality.

The individual who did it (or directed that it was to be done) should be awarded the Laurel Wreath or another highest level of recognition that we are able to bestow.

The ultimate question now is whether the highest echelons of Kappa will have the continued courage to take repeated steps on this new level (even now possibly unintentionally) reached.

Yours in the Bond!