The Chapter Advisor

All sororities and fraternities are required to have a chapter advisor in order to be considered a legitimate organization on campus. Most advisors tend to fade into the background, trying to stay out of sight and only appearing at formal chapter events or to sign off on necessary paperwork.

Dave Norman, Phi Kappa Psi Alumnus

Some advisors, however, have decided make it their personal mission to utilize dispense their wisdom on members of the active house—sharing stories of way back when and including themselves
in activities meant for 20-something-year-olds. Dave Norman, Phi Kappa Psi advisor at Louisiana State University, seems like one of these types.

No excuses. Play like a champion (Rule #76). In all of his posts on the Chapter Advisor, Dave presents an issue surrounding fraternity life, and immediately tells us why it is a problem and how we should go about solving it.

The first line of “An Idea That Doesn’t Hold Its Liquor” begins as “No matter what your opinion of the 21-year old drinking age, it’s clear that universities and national fraternities will no longer tolerate local chapters that facilitate underage drinking.” Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Dave quickly establishes that he is going to be talking about underage drinking, bottom line being that it is illegal and thus wrong. Using words like “facilitate” and later “espouse” and “violate”, Phi Psi’s chapter advisor shows that he is educated and thus in a position of authority to tell us what is right and what is wrong.

This sophisticated diction is paired side-by-side with a no-nonsense snark, in which Dave effortlessly knocks down any possible rebuttal to his arguments.

“Still many chapter leaders espouse the idea that they can’t compete in social, rush or whatever the topic of excuse, without alcohol. Give me a break.” “Whatever” conveys a sassy tone that is typically used in conversations between young adults; I did not expect to find it within the vocabulary of a middle-aged man. Furthermore, the “give me a break” is another colloquialism that boldly commands the reader’s attention. He is not going to sugar coat the topic of underage drinking; it is what it is.

Dave goes on in a reprimanding tone, using quotations to highlight the words “honorable” and “leaders” which he says are words to describe fraternity men. However, by placing these words in quotes, the Chapter Advisor cheapens the value and meaning of each word, as if he believes they are untrue. The quotations around these specific words not only highlight their significance against the rest of the text, but also alludes the fact that these words may not be used in the way that they should.

The remaining body of the post is composed of a long series of rhetorical questions, questioning the logic of fraternities whose programs include underage drinking. The questions read like a father reprimanding his son, demanding answers to questions the son has no time to answer. Much like a father, a chapter advisor must look after the well-being of his fraternity, and thus it is fitting that the slews of questions establish Dave’s position as a strict warden. The snark returns with the last line of the post, “Then again, maybe you’ve had too much to drink.” Sarcastic and witty, this comment eloquently ends the topic of discussion on a less serious note.

"You've been iced, bro." by BroBible.com

The Chapter Advisor’s distinct voice follows through every post on the blog, but was exceptionally strong in “Watch for Icing”. Like most of his titles, this title was pun-intended and attention grabbing from the start. The topic of discussion deals with a popular drinking game in 2010 known as “Icing”, in which fraternity members “ice” each other (forcing one another to chug bottles Smirnoff Ice).

Snide comments are back in full swing, with Dave calling the icing game “the dumbest game ever” and stating that it is “clearly” a violation of the fraternal risk management policy. Once again, Dave manages to succinctly lay down the law and drop in his own sarcastic know-it –all opinion. Clearly.

An interesting feature of this post in particular is the way that linking was utilized. Instead of labeling links with the title of the page they linked to, Dave added the element of mystery by linking specific quotes. I was definitely intrigued and more prone to clicking, even if it was just to find out where on earth he was going to link me.