Evaluation documents and forms
History and goals of the evaluation process
The Gettysburg College Fraternity and Sorority community has had iterations of an annual evaluation process for fraternities and sororities going back as far as 1998. In 2013, the Dean of Students, Julie Ramsey, charged the College to convene a committee that could accurately measure the success of fraternities and sororities at Gettysburg College. The committee established the basis for the current Evaluation rubric which outlines benchmarks in the areas of academic achievement and intellectual engagement, member recruitment and retention, community engagement, and organizational management. The created rubric was utilized from 2014-2018. During the 2018 calendar year, a committee was formed to assess the program and provide feedback to make adjustments to the process, resulting in an updated process. This new evaluation was implemented in January 2019 and continues to be used to provide a transparent process that enables the College to measure the success of the fraternities and sororities while enabling the chapters to demonstrate their value and impact at Gettysburg College.
The goals of the Fraternity and Sorority Evaluation process are:
- To create a shared definition of what it means to be a successful fraternity or sorority at Gettysburg College.
- To create a tangible measure of the success of fraternities and sororities that is judged by various constituents of the fraternity and sorority community.
- To empower fraternities and sororities to strive for a higher level of achievement.
- To provide clear direction to fraternities and sororities on how to be successful on campus.
How the evaluation process works
The evaluation process measures the success of a chapter during the course of the calendar year. The calendar year was chosen because all chapters at Gettysburg College follow a January-December term for their officers. Below is a brief description of the timeline of the Evaluation Process.
Beginning at the Spring Greek Leaders Retreat in January, chapter presidents receive the up-to-date Evaluation Rubric. Shortly after receiving this rubric the gain access to an online Dropbox for them to submit materials.
Contained in the Dropbox folder is all of the material submitted for the evaluation over the past several years. Additionally, there is a new folder for the current year that is divided into the four sections of the evaluation (academic achievement and intellectual engagement, member recruitment and retention, community engagement, and organizational management). Chapter presidents may share folders with other chapter officers. These officers can then upload material that proves they have completed sections of the rubric whenever they would like. Materials can include photos, attendance lists, documents, chapter bylaws, etc. The chapter can submit materials up until 1 week prior to their presentation in November. Once they are within one week of their presentation they may only submit material for things they have done between the deadline and the end of the semester.
These materials are reviewed by the chapter's Evaluation panel which consists of OSAGL staff, staff from other areas of the college, faculty, affiliated students, unaffiliated students, and alumni. The chapter then gives a formal presentation to their panel where they can elaborate on the submitted material and the panel can ask them questions.
After the presentation the OSAGL staff documents the panel's discussion including the scores they decided on and the feedback the panel had for the chapter. This summary is distributed to the panel for their review after the last day of classes along with any other material submitted for events and programs held by the chapter after the presentation.
Once all of the chapters' rubrics and summaries are approved by their respective panel they are distributed to the chapter, their alumni, and their national headquarters.