The Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Membership

ASSOCIATION OF FRATERNITY/SORORITY ADVISORS
Data indicating the relative youthfulness and therefore inexperience of many fraternity/
sorority professionals and the inordinately high rate of turnover in positions and attrition
in the field as a whole needs to be explored in earnest. While anecdotal narratives can
provide helpful tributaries for more substantial waters, they are inadequate alone for
illuminating the salient factors contributing to attrition in the field. Likewise, the inverse
question should be asked: what statistically significant factors contribute to retention in
the field? While literature does exist exploring this question with student affairs professionals,
the fraternity/sorority advisors subgroup is unique among them and merits its
own study. Understanding the professional, emotional, financial, and other factors that
contribute both to attrition and retention will help the Association take proper measures
and advocate accordingly just as institutions of higher learning seek to do the same for
their students.
We also learned that fraternity/sorority professionals are highly educated and that they can
expect their earning trajectory to increase with each educational degree earned, although
it is unclear how much increased earnings are a function of professional experience and
position-level irrespective of educational attainment. Future research should design a
study controlling for these variables to determine what measurable impact, if any, such
attainment had on their normal compensation or other intangible benefits it afforded.
LIMITATIONS
While this brief overview of the campus-based and headquarters membership of the
Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors tells us more about the profession than we
had previously known, including validating suspicions we could previously only argue
anecdotally, the present analysis suffers from several unavoidable limitations. Future data
collection must be improved in order to produce increasingly valid and reliable figures going
forward. This includes streamlining questions such as asking for exact salary amounts
instead of ranges and removing unnecessary response categories that complicate analysis.
It also includes introducing more discerning questions, such as the type of masters earned,
public or private institution, office budget and source of funds, and ratio of full time staff
to students overseen. Most importantly, we need the support of our members and their
willingness to fill out their AFA membership information completely upon renewal. The
more members who do so, the greater data fidelity we will have and consequently the
greater our ability to advocate for the profession. As assessments such as the Fraternity
and Sorority Experience Survey have risen in importance and popularity given their product
of illuminating a holistic picture of the undergraduate member experience and chapter
health, so too is it important for the Association to learn more about its members so as
to better advocate for them.
CONCLUSION
Who will advocate for the advocates who give much of themselves but often feel alone in
the struggle? We believe that the better AFA is able to support our constituent members,
the more empowered these professionals will be to do good work in their communities.
We have come a long way serving our students through our leadership, but we cannot
neglect ourselves in the process. We have much still to learn and we hope you will continue
to lend us your support, patience, and ideas going forward. We will continue to support
the profession through research in order to advance AFA’s mission and better advocate
for our members.
What We Know About Our Members and Why It Matters
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