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Goals & Strategies

Triangle Fraternity is the national social fraternity whose undergraduate membership is comprised of students majoring in engineering, architecture, and the sciences. The Fraternity was founded in 1907 at the University of Illinois and is a senior member of the National Interfraternity Conference. Triangle has 31 Chapters and 2 current recolonization efforts.

Dedicated to developing the whole man, Triangle offers opportunities for personal growth in an atmosphere of Brotherhood. The experience of living together, of setting reasonable and attainable goals, and of accepting personal responsibility is valuable preparation for a successful career of service.

Students following rigorous technical curricula find help from others in the same fields who understand the need for special emphasis on scholarship and a good study environment.

Leaders of tomorrow will not merit leadership positions on the strength of technical skills or intelligence alone, but on the required skills of interpersonal relations learned by working with others of diverse backgrounds.

Fraternity living is truly life preparation. The president of one of our colleges has described a good fraternity as:

"a place where the individual learns to cooperate. He struggles he debates, he is constantly awed by attitudes he perceives in others. He compromises, he shares, he loves, he is constantly overwhelmed by the generosity he perceives in others. In a good fraternity, one can learn how other people's minds work. This experience gives a man the skills, wisdom, and perceptions to deal with life, things that are great assets in dealing with the tremendous challenges ahead."

Goals

Triangle can best be understood by examining its goals, the strategies for accomplishing them, and some of the methods for enacting the strategies. The goal of Triangle is to develop the whole man, to create an environment in which a member can experience opportunities to grow in a variety of ways that will prepare him to be a more effective human being. Ordinary school, job and personal contacts provide only partial development -- inadequate to prepare an engineer, architect, or scientist for his career as a builder of society. The process of maturing from youth to adulthood takes place in a very short time and, when superimposed on the acquiring of an education in the strict technical disciplines, needs a special environment. Triangle's goal is to assist in this growth.

To support the attainment of this goal, several important specific factors are:

• Brotherhood. Brotherhood is the cornerstone of the fraternity system and the common denominator of all fraternities. The pursuit of this improves the undergraduate's ability to live in close harmony with others and to be tolerant of them. The amount of Brotherhood experienced by each member varies due to changing situations and the number of opportunities he takes advantage of.
• Close membership ties. Intimately related to Brotherhood is the maintenance of close membership ties. It is these bonds that cause alumni to come to the aid of Brothers and chapters in difficult times.
• Sound organization. One has only to observe the cyclic patterns of expanding and contracting membership, accompanied by changes in financial stability and a multitude of other situations, to appreciate how closely fraternity life approximates conditions in post collegiate life. Our chapters provide a living laboratory where our members have opportunities to learn and grow before they encounter these realities inpost-collegiate life.

Triangle members face real and serious problems. They can succeed and they can fail. They can fulfill their responsibilities and they can -- and do -- neglect them. Regardless of a chapter's success, the development of each chapter's members is furthered by the process of finding solutions to the problems of self government. The strength of the National Organization is solely dependent upon the strength, soundness and capabilities of individual chapters. Emerging chapters rely on the strength, soundness and capabilities of their nurturing alumni and brother chapters.

• Support the School and community. Healthy, strong organizations always interact with their environment to their mutual benefit. Triangle chapters are encouraged to be aware of their surroundings and support the communities in which they exist.
• Quality resources and programming. During the life of a chapter, our National Organization stays in constant contact with the active and alumni members. Through the use of standard methods of communication, including letters, phone calls, visits, and our Fraternity magazine, and the use of non-traditional communication methods, including our national membership e-mail system, our web pages, and an electronic newsletter, we are able to stay in tune with the pulse of the chapter. We can encourage them when things are going well and offer advice, resources, and programming to help them overcome difficult periods.

Triangle has a growing resource library available to its members and chapters. They can request materials on a wide variety of topics from alumni relations to scholarship. Further, we offer Regional Workshops every spring, a Leadership School every summer, and a National Convention every two years. Finally, we conduct a consultation visit with each of our chapters at least once per year to assess their progress and offer them any assistance they require.

Strategies

The following strategies are used to accomplish the goals:

• Guide and Assist Chapters. The most important source of influence on Triangle members is its Constitution and Ritual. Triangle's tone and approach is established by the requirements and precepts in these documents. The guidance has served us well for close to 90 years. The forums for exchanging ideas and assessing the will of the members are the National Convention, the Leadership Schools, and the Regional Workshops. For the past 3 years, use of the Internet has also provided the means to lively discussion and interchange. This cross pollination of ideas is most helpful as is promoting a sense of the Fraternity among chapters.
• Keep Membership Informed. Training of new members to prepare them for leadership roles and communication with alumni are the most important considerations along with ensuring good input from members on matters which affect them or which, if participated in, will contribute to their personal growth. Each succeeding generation must be well informed and capable of carrying on. The publications Triangle Review and "The Exponent" help to chronicle where the Fraternity has been, where it is and where it wants to go.
• Plan. If Triangle is to operate effectively, it must chart a course that is fully understood. Yearly plans are used by active and alumni organizations to minimize the disrupting effect of the continuing turnover of the organization's management.
• Adhere to the Code of Ethics. Good character and integrity are required to fulfill the chapter's goals. Each member of Triangle learns that wherever he goes, he is the yardstick by which others measure Triangle Fraternity.
• Serve the communities. Triangle exists in a multitude of communities: the Greek Community, the Engineering School or College, the University and the neighborhood and municipality in which the house is located. As individuals and as groups, Triangles seek to serve and to exert a positive influence.
• Recruit new members. Triangle is unique in its ability to answer the personal growth needs of technically oriented people. This advantage is extended through increased membership in the smaller chapters and expansion through new chapters.