Dear Maggie,
I'd appreciate your opinion on what you feel is expected of a member of Beta Sigma Phi when she joins sorority. When I joined, I was told the amount of time I gave to participating was my choice, and that if I decided not to join in on certain activities, that was fine. Now, members in my chapter are grumbling, saying certain sisters are not doing their "fair share". If I make a commitment, I understand I am expected to follow through with it; but if I don't make the commitment to a project, am I still expected to do something?
Confused and Guilty

Dear Confused,
What is expected of a Beta Sigma Phi is that she will participate as fully in chapter activities as she can. Friendship and learning experiences are basic to chapters and members. First, however, a chapter should make every effort to determine, by using an Interest Survey, what the wishes of the members will be for the coming year. The chapter's calendar of events should be planned from results of that survey, and presented to the chapter for a vote. Those plans approved by a majority vote can be undertaken. Each member of each chapter is expected to participate in as many of the chapter activities as possible.

Some members will find one project more interesting than another, and involvement for each member will vary according to the project, but it would be unusual for a chapter to be able to sustain projects passed by a majority vote if some members did not participate at all. In this way, it ends up that members who are very interested in one project will participate fully, while others will be not so involved. On other projects, the positions will probably be reversed so that overall, each member participates to some extent in all projects. Each chapter and every member has options about participation, and those are expressed in her vote for or against any project. The will of the majority will determine what is done in any case, but the majority must always respect the rights of those who are in the minority. This is not something that can be ordained by rule, but must be a product of good will of each member of each chapter. She will support her sisters in things that do not interest her that greatly, and they will support her in things that do not interest them greatly. In this way, members can develop interests they might never have discovered on their own.