All Grand Officers have sworn to uphold the ritual of Sigma Chi and comply with its governing laws, and have promised to perform the duties of their respective offices.  Founder Jordon’s admonition to admit no man to membership who does not have “a deep sense of personal responsibility,” among other qualities, applies even more so to those who accept leadership positions in the Fraternity.  Officers who fail on a persistent basis to fulfill the duties of their office damage Sigma Chi by allowing our chapters to get off track, damaging the Sigma Chi experience for our undergraduates, or worse, allowing chapters to put our members and others at unnecessary risk.

The Grand Consul, acting in the best interests of the Fraternity, and guided by Sigma Chi values, has the power to remove a grand officer from office.  This authority comes without precondition or specific requirements.  This statement is issued to provide information to Sigma Chi’s Grand Officers and other international volunteers on the Grand Consul’s Accountability Initiative.  This statement does not create legal rights, criteria, or impose limitations on the Grand Consul’s inherent authority.   Rather, it outlines the Grand Consul’s and Executive Committee’s expectations for officer accountability with the goal of encouraging all Grand Officers to act in accordance with their oath of office and their duty to fulfill their responsibilities.

OFFICER EXPECTATIONS

Elected Grand Officers:

Grand Praetors

Each Grand Praetor or his duly appointed Assistant is required to make an annual visit to each chapter in the province; communicate with his chapters about completing their forms in a timely manner;  appoint and coordinate the activities of chapter advisor(s); communicate with the  chapters in his province who are not current with their bills; communicate with his chapters about regular submission of  articles to the Magazine; prepare Annual Reports and review Peterson Applications; encourage chapters to send  delegates to BLTW and encouraging chapter representation at Grand Chapter; conduct a Province Conference each school year; and appoint an undergraduate representative for the province to the Grand Council.  Except in extenuating circumstances, the Grand Praetor should attend BLTW, the Annual Meeting of the Grand Praetors, and Grand Chapter / Grand Council.

Grand Trustees

The Grand Trustees are charged with advising Sigma Chi house corporations on best practices relating to chapter house management plus fund raising for chapter house construction/renovation and scholarship.  While each Grand Trustee is assigned 2-5 provinces to oversee and respond to house corporation inquiries, certain Grand Trustees are specialists (legal, fund raising, real estate, etc.) and assist globally when those issues arise.

The Grand Trustees provide house corporation resources and information by way of www.TheSigHouse.org, a quarterly newsletter The Sig House and annual House Corporation Officers Training Seminar (HCOTS).  The Grand Trustees should attend their own Annual Meeting, and Grand Chapter / Grand Council.

Other Elected Grand Officers

Other elected Grand officers are to perform the specific duties assigned to their office, as prescribed in the ritual.

Non-elected Positions

BLTW Faculty Members

Service on the Balfour Leadership Training Workshop requires more than a three day commitment.  Faculty members are expected to assist their team leaders in curriculum development and become thoroughly familiar with their Team’s program in advance of BLTW.  In addition, faculty members are expected to maintain periodic contact with the members of their discussion groups, and to participate in two or three activities with a local chapter in their home province, serving as a resource to the Grand Praetor and chapter advisors.  The Balfour Leadership Operating Board, with the assistance of staff, shall monitor and enforce these requirements, and faculty members who fail without good cause to comply are not to be invited back to BLTW.

Horizons, Crossroads, Journeys, Mission 365, etc.

Volunteers with the educational programs of the Fraternity are expected to fulfill the expectations set by the coordinators of the respective programs.

PROCEDURES

Grand Officers

When the Executive Committee receives a complaint or has reason to believe that a particular Grand officer is not fulfilling his duties the following procedures will be followed, unless modified on a case by case basis by the Grand Consul.

The Chairman of CAMAC shall assign one or more committee members to conduct a preliminary investigation.  No public announcement will be made that an inquiry or investigation is under way.  Inquires will likely include (but not be limited to) evaluating whether the brother has failed, without good cause, to fulfill the designated duties for his particular office.  The CAMAC inquiry will include checking with staff to see if they have received any complaints and consulting with the Dean of the Praetorial College or the President of the Grand Trustees, and the respective officer’s representative on the Executive Committee. 

The inquiry may also include (but is not limited to) checking with staff to see if they have received any complaints, checking to see if the officer has attended BLTW, Grand Chapter/Council or his respective Annual Meeting; checking with House Corporations in that officer’s assigned area to see if he has been communicating with them. 

The process for any other Grand Officer will similarly compare the officer’s activities with the prescribed duties of his office.

If the preliminary investigation reveals that the officer in question may not have been fulfilling his duties on a regular and persistent basis, CAMAC will notify the officer that there is a question as to the performance of his duties.  This notice will be by regular mail and by e-mail.  A copy will be provided to the Dean or Chairman (if officer is a Grand Praetor or Grand Trustee) and Executive Committee.  The officer will be asked to provide a response within 30 days concerning whether or not he has or has not been fulfilling his duties and asking that he provide specific examples.   If there are extenuating circumstances which prevented the officer from fulfilling some or all of his duties, this should be explained in as much detail as possible. This portion of the process will remain as private as possible under the circumstances.

CAMAC will review the response from the officer and conduct any further investigations as may be necessary.  When satisfied that sufficient facts have been gathered, CAMAC may do any of the following: 

(a)  determine that no further action should be taken on the complaint;

(b)  work with the officer to develop a specific and measurable corrective action plan to remedy past deficiencies in performance (this is the preferred method of handling a valid complaint, but CAMAC should use its best judgment in evaluating whether a particular case warrants further action); or

(c)  make a recommendation to the Grand Consul that the individual be removed from office.   The Grand Consul and the Executive Committee shall be advised in each of these three circumstances how CAMAC proposes to handle the complaint.  A recommendation to the Grand Consul for removal shall be shared in summary form with the officer in question.  The Grand Consul may accept, modify or reject any recommendation received from CAMAC.

 If the CAMAC investigation results a recommendation for removal, the Grand Consul may undertake any consultations with CAMAC, the Executive Committee or others that he feels would be helpful in reaching a fair and appropriate decision.  If the Grand Consul concludes that removal is the appropriate action, he shall ask the advice and consent of the Executive Committee.  If ratified, there is no appeal from this decision.

 In the event of a removal decision, the Grand Consul will determine how to inform the membership of the action and the scope of information to be released.

Non-elected Positions

BLTW Faculty Members

The Balfour Leadership Operating Board, with the assistance of staff, shall monitor faculty members to verify compliance with their ongoing expectations.  The team leader for each team (Consuls, Pro Consuls, etc.) shall have primary responsibility to assure that his faculty members are fulfilling their responsibilities.  If the team leader believes that an individual faculty member has not fulfilled his responsibilities, he shall give the individual an opportunity to explain his actions and any mitigating circumstances.  If the team leader concludes that the individual has not fulfilled his expectations, he shall inform the Chairman of BLOB and the individual may not be invited back the following year.  

Even where a faculty member has complied with the obligations described above, this procedure is not intended to limit the discretion of the team leader or BLOB to make changes in the faculty invitation list from year to year, if such changes are deemed to be in the best interests of the Workshop.  Compliance with faculty expectations does not necessarily guarantee an invitation to the following year’s BLTW.

Other Volunteer Positions

The Grand Consul and the Executive Committee charge the brothers who run the various educational and other volunteer programs of the Fraternity to hold their volunteers accountable, and to develop fair and reasonable procedures in the event that a volunteer is not fulfilling his expectations.  If a corrective action program is not sufficient and the program leader makes a decision to remove a volunteer, that decision and a brief explanation shall be communicated to the Executive Director.