Building Stronger Communities: Michael Ayalon’s Journey in Drug Prevention and Coalition Leadership
Hello, Happy Monday and welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour where we empower leaders in youth drug prevention. Today we’re talking with Mike Ayalon and I’m just gonna read his resume because it’s pretty impressive. Maybe not resume but his intro to get you all excited to meet him because after talking with him on the phone, I’m pretty sure he probably expected to talk with me for 15 minutes, and I could not get off the phone. This guy I probably, we probably talked for an hour. So let me tell you a little bit about him. As a professional public speaker, author, social media figure host of the fraternity foodie podcast and CEO of Greek University. Michael Ayalon is a recognized thought leader in the realms of fraternity and sorority life, business leadership and higher ed. He’s headlined keynote presentations on over 200 college campuses in 40 states to help solve problems such as sexual assault, hazing, alcohol and drug abuse and recruitment for college student organizations. He’s taking lessons from helping build companies from startup to over 25 million in annual sales, as well as best practices as the former executive director of Sigma Pi Fraternity with 120 chapters, and over 115,000 members to help create dynamic positive and results driven keynotes and workshops that transform people’s lives. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s still he’s continuing his education. And it looks like he went to the School of Management at the University of Buffalo, University of Buffalo, a master’s degree from Cumberland University and public service management. And he’s pursuing his doctorate in assessment, learning and student success in higher education at Middle Tennessee State University. Oh, my goodness. And best of all, for everyone listening. He is a member of his local coalition, and Wilson County for the opioid response coordinator. So, Mike, thank you for hanging out with me. This is awesome.
Of course, Jake, I’m happy to hang out anytime. Thanks so much for inviting me. And let’s see what we can do to help out some coalition’s with some new ideas. We can certainly talk about substance use disorder, opioid use disorder, Greek life, you name it, I’m ready for it. Let’s go.
Yes. Let’s start with this. How did you get involved with your local coalition? We’ll kind of stagger this, why do coalition talk? And then we’ll dive into Greek Life talk. So how did you get involved in it in the first place?
Yeah, that’s a great question. And so it’s kind of an interesting story. What ended up happening was I was the executive director of Sigma Pi Fraternity. We ended up getting a new headquarters in Lebanon, Tennessee. And the reason why I chose it is because there was this beautiful old mansion that was built in the late 1800s. And I thought it would be perfect for a fraternity because it’s got that old world charm to it. But when I bought it, the building actually belonged to Cracker Barrel, Cracker Barrel, and their executives were actually using it as their headquarters. And I negotiated with the board of directors at Cracker Barrel to purchase it for Sigma PI’s headquarters, which is, you know, pretty interesting, since you will. And, anyway, so now I’m in Lebanon, Tennessee, and I really didn’t know anybody. And I just purchased the most historic building in all of Middle Tennessee. And so I ended up joining a rotary club and through the local Rotary Club. Eventually I became president of the Rotary Club. Through that Rotary Club. I made a lot of connections in town, all of the local politicians and the doctors and the lawyers, and of course the mayor of Wilson County. His name is Mayor Otto, and we built up a friendship. And what ended up happening was Mayor Hutto before he became mayor of that county, he actually was the basketball coach for the local high school. And one of the kids on his team. He was very close friends with eventually this kid graduated from high school got a job as like a manual laborer, essentially. And this kid heard his back while he was doing some work, moving stuff around and he was prescribed opioids. He ended up getting addicted to the opioids ended up going for some street variety of pills that was laced with fentanyl and ultimately he overdosed that all and his mom came home and found him dead. And after that incident happened, she and the mother went to Mayor Hado and said, hey, you know, we were trying to get help for him, we were trying to send them to for treatment. But we were going all the way to places like Alabama and other states to get treatment. We weren’t aware of any of the treatment solutions that exist here locally. So what can we do to help more people in our county get the help that they need. And immediately he thought of building a coalition right out of the mayor’s office. And so he tapped several leaders in the community, including myself, because he knew I was passionate about speaking on college campuses about alcohol and drug abuse. So he tapped me and said, “Hey, would you be willing to help us out with this coalition?” And so about 10 of us came together, created a coalition from absolutely nothing, there was nothing there. You know, we have to get our constitution and bylaws together and the nonprofit status and start building out these meetings. And before you know it, the coalition ends up being, you know, almost 200 people. So we’ve grown quite a bit. Yeah, it’s it’s been at Cornell, I old arrived. And we got all kinds of grants and other good things cooking. But that’s kind of the genesis of it. It really was just the local mayor, looking to institute a coalition and a bunch of leaders came together and made it happen.
Oh, my goodness. And did I hear that right? Did you say 200 people wanted to be involved in the coalition?
Yeah, it’s pretty wild. Yeah, we have 200 people that have helped us in various capacities that we have monthly meetings with the coalition. Some people come in person, some people come via zoom, the Zoom is kind of a carryover from COVID, when we couldn’t really meet in person. And so we have kind of like half and half, some of the people show up in person, some of the people come in online. And we have people coming from surrounding counties just to see what’s going on. Because we’ve just been really successful in terms of taking down grants, and really doing some incredible work. So some of the other counties just want to learn what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. And we’re happy to share that and share it with everybody in the community. I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been so successful is that we’ve had huge support from just about every sector in the community. And without that huge support coming from all different places, I don’t think half of the things that we get, you know, actually gotten accomplished, I don’t think any of that would have been possible, if not for the big buy in, in the community to do something different.
Innovative Solutions for Opioid Crisis: Successful Grants and Projects
Wow. Okay, I would love to pick your brains on this. So if I can ask you about maybe one of the grants, and one of the projects that went along with it. And then maybe I can ask you a question or two about each one. Whatever one you’re most passionate about, or constant memory first on.
I think there’s a couple that really stand out to me a couple of grants. The first one is the co-op grant, which stands for the comprehensive opioid abuse program that was done through the Tennessee Department of Health and Substance Abuse Services. That was a little over half a million dollars that we were able to take down initially. And really, there were three parts to that particular grant. The first was a jail based reentry transition specialist. So we wanted to position somebody in the Wilson County Jail, that would help with transition. And that’s been incredibly successful. We also started doing drug drug prevention training for businesses and schools. So we started getting curriculum into the schools, which was a really big step for us. And then the third piece, which I’m probably most proud of, it’s our diversion center, we call it a PIC Center, PIC standing for Prevention of Incarceration and Communities at this diversion Center has just been wildly successful. And basically what this is, you know, I never thought that one of the most conservative parts of the country and be able to get a diversion center set up. But the reality is, when I spoke to the judges in our county, you know, we talked about the problem with substance use disorder, and I said, you know, are we going to be able to really arrest our way out of this problem. And they all acknowledge No, we’re not going to be able to like, it’s a recurring problem, we have this recidivism rate where it’s, you know, above 80%. And so we’re not going to be able to arrest our way out of the problem. So I said, bingo, let’s try something different and let’s see if we get better results. And so the diversion center came out of that, where if you’re picked up on a first time misdemeanor drug charge, and you’re nonviolent, then instead of going to jail, and essentially going cold turkey in a cell, which really isn’t very humane. Instead of that, you actually come to our diversion center to the Pic Center, where we do an assessment, and then we send you off to treatment in your local neighborhood where it’s convenient for you to get to treatment. And so far, we right now we have 49 active clients in our diversion center. We have 77 Graduates of the program, meaning that they’ve done everything that we to ask for six months in terms of going to treatment, and when you graduate after six months, you will record is expunged, you have no criminal record. And we have a 75% success rate with our diversion center 75%. If anybody if you know anything about substance use disorder, you know, 75% success rate in anything is unheard of. And so the fact that we’ve been able to put that together, I think, for me, is really one of the most impressive things that we’ve done. And I hope that other communities and other counties copy that diversion center, I would like nothing more than for them to copy that idea and bring it because I really do believe that that is the future. And I’ll say one other grant to that. The other grant that we got is the ArcCorp grant the rural communities opioid Response Program, the planning grant through HERSA was 200,000. And then the implementation grant through HERSA, was a million dollars. And for that money, we’re able to do MAT medically assisted treatment for the uninsured in our county, because we have a high uninsured population, and they can’t get access to treatment. So we have a pool of funds. So that way they can get access to treatment. We also do transportation in our rural county through Uber for treatment appointments. So people who need treatment can actually just go on their phone, and can actually reserve an Uber to come and pick them up and then drop them back off at home. And all of that billing is all done through the grant. So they don’t have to pay for that transportation. We did law enforcement training on MAT, we did treatment center, billing and coding tree training, it’s really important that the treatment centers know how to Bill and code properly to get the maximum amount of treatment for the dollars that we’re providing through this grant. We’ve also done billboards in our community to reduce stigma, we’ve done a three year stigma reduction survey, showing the impact that we’re actually reducing stigma in our community. And that’s been just amazing. We’ve done Lunch and Learns for the medical community on MAT in the hospitals, you know, with doctors and the CEO of the hospital, and they’re getting training. And now we have OD map that is up and running in our community. So that way we can actually pinpoint where the overdoses are happening in our community and dispatch resources like Naloxone and other law enforcement resources there to figure out what’s going on so we can solve the problem. So, you know, you asked a question, I gave you a ton of information there to chew on. Not sure where you want to start. But if you have questions on it, I’m happy to answer you.
Let’s clear your afternoon. All right, we’re going to Yeah, we can go all afternoon.
Measuring Success: Tracking Stigma Reduction in Substance Use Disorder
That’s amazing. Okay, I want to dig into one thing in particular. Because you gave some great info on a couple of those things. And I’m sure that people listening are like, Whoa, I want to do all of that, like booking a flight to Wilson County, Tennessee right now. Check it out. So the when it comes to reducing stigma, then you’ve mentioned how you’re able to measure it. And is there anything you can share of like, what how, how can we measure that and what’s working?
Yeah, it’s actually phenomenal. If you go on to, you know, I’m the Wilson County opioid Response Program Coordinator. And it’s done through MTSU through Middle Tennessee State University. So if you go to mtsu.edu/chhs, that stands for the Center for Health and Human Services, you’ll actually end up on the Center for Health and Human Services website. And in there, you can go to publications. And in the publications link, you’ll find the full stigma survey for the first two years. And that really goes in depth in terms of the survey and how we’re able to, to actually show measurable progress in reducing stigma. And I don’t know of any other, you know, research that’s been done around stigma reduction to such a degree. It’s first time I’ve ever seen it, I think it’s brilliant. What happens is, is that in Wilson County, we’re really lucky in that we have a huge state fair, the Tennessee State Fair happens in Wilson County in our county. And so that gives us access to people from all over the state that come for that fair, and it happens every summer. So what we do is we actually dispatch students from MTSU to go and administer a survey to the attendees at the fair every summer. So it’s like and they come back once a year, and they’re always waiting for the surveys because at the fair, what do people do? They fill out surveys, like that’s just what they did. You know, they like win prizes for filling out surveys to like they’re just conditioned to fill them out. So the college students you know, they’ll wear like MTSU gear, and it’s like just the college student asking a bunch of questions and everybody will answer it. So we get really high response rates. But we basically checked to see like, in terms of like mat, you know, what is your opinion of medically assisted treatment? Do you think that that’s helpful in reducing substance use disorder or not, you know, and so we asked these questions to gauge their, you know, just where they are in terms of stigma in the community around substance use disorder, you know, and things like that. And we’re able to measure all kinds of things. And even like some of the money that is spent on the billboards, for example, we asked them, have you seen the billboards has that made a difference in terms of your opinions of people with substance use disorder. So you know, we ask all of these questions, and then we do it every summer. So now we’re heading into the third summer, we’re going to do it again, for the third year in a row. And we’re actually seeing the stigma reduced every single year around substance use disorder, and medically assisted treatment to the point where more and more people are coming around to this idea that medically assisted treatment is helpful, because a lot of people know somebody with substance use disorder. And so now when it’s in your family, then you’re like, oh, wow, this is actually working. And so we’re actually tracking all of that. And I think in year three, we’re going to see significant gains in terms of reducing that stigma around substance use disorder. So the study is all there, it’s on the MTSU, Center for Health and Human Services website, just click on publications, and then you’ll be able to take a look at the full study, and you’ll see the survey instruments and everything that we’re tracking.
Wow, that’s fascinating. I love how you use the state there too, because the it’s one of the things gathering data now is becoming more difficult in different states, especially in schools. And it is really trying to find that workaround of okay, where are people gathering. And how can we get our collection data collection in front of them? Whether it is athletic events, community events, like state there, that’s genius. I would love if people stole that idea from you and did it. And there’s that that’s so good.
Everything that I talked about here today, I hope you still all of it. I mean, honestly, like it actually is working. Yeah, the State Fair, it was just a brilliant, brilliant idea. Where we know that people are gathering, a lot of them are just waiting in lines are just hanging out. And it’s a great place to get them to fill out a survey. And then we check it year after year, you know, and asking them questions. Have you seen the billboard? Do you remember seeing it? You know, and it’s really interesting to see that it really sticks in their head, the messages that we’re sending out on those billboards where they can still recall it. Even a year after the billboard has been taken down. They still remember the message around that billboard. So you know, things like that. And being able to track it year over year has been really, really fascinating. And I can’t wait to see the year three data.
Dang, that’s cool. And thanks for sharing that link to so that we can go check out all those. I’m sure the Publications page has a lot on there that when you spend time in, so that’s perfect.
Yeah, there’s a ton of information there. So going through all of those publications. But specifically, you’ll see one on stigma reduction that I think would be really helpful for those in coalition’s that are also trying to reduce stigma and actually prove that they’re making an impact. I mean, it’s one thing to say that we’re going to reduce stigma around substance use disorder. It’s another thing to prove it. And I think we’ve actually proved it again, I’ve just never seen anything like it. So I think it’s brilliant.
Passion and Purpose: Michael’s Commitment to Community Health and Drug Prevention
Okay, Michael, help us understand as well. Why? Why you’re why you’re so into this, because here’s what I’m thinking if I’m a coalition director, I’m saying, I need a Michael Ayalon and my community. And he’s just doing this part time volunteer. And I mean, you sound like you could be the director of the filthy. So how, what is it that you are motivated by to be a part of this? And do you have any tips for coalition directors to help find their own, you know, great, passionate person who is who is on fire to do this kind of work?
Yeah, well, listen, man died in 2022. In the United States, we had 109,680 people who died from drug deaths, that translates to 300 people a day. Okay, if that doesn’t get you out of bed and getting working towards, you know, substance use disorder and opioid use disorder and ending overdose deaths. You know, I don’t know what to tell you. You know, for me, that’s a huge number. And something that, you know, calls every American to stand up and do something about that. And I think we can all do something for me. You know, I would say to you that, you know, really my true passion throughout life has always been the fraternity and sorority community. It’s the first place that I got leadership skills. It’s the first place that I really understood what values are and what kind of a person I wanted to be. And I understood our obligation to leave our community better than we found it. Like, I feel like if you’re going to join a fraternity or sorority, that’s kind of like in the promise that you make when you join. And so I’m really just doing what you know, I committed to doing. When I joined my fraternity in college, I said that I was going to do a whole bunch of things, I said that I was going to make my community better. Those things are not just words, to me, that’s like, really the way that I live my life. You know? And I know for some people, they’re like, Oh, well, yeah, I joined a fraternity in or sorority in college past tense. No, like, you are a member like current day, yes, as an alumnus, right. And so I think, you know, there’s very few commitments that we make in life, you know, real, you know, like an oath type of thing, right? I’ve taken three oaths in my life. The first one is, you know, coming of age, I happen to be Jewish. So I had a Bar Mitzvah at age 13, a lot of religions have that kind of, you know, ceremony and that, you know, you basically commit to anything that you do, they belong to you in terms of your sins, it doesn’t go to your parents. So when you’re young, you commit a sin, it’s kind of like, well, it’s not really on you, because you just don’t know any better. But when you’re 13, coming of age, now, if you commit a sin, it really does belong to you. And that’s that oath that you take in, in Judaism. And then after that, I took an oath to my fraternity, and that’s that oath to making your community better, and leaving it better than you found it. Um, and then, of course, you know, to the spouse, right, when I got married to my wife, that I’m gonna love this person, you know, for, you know, the rest of my life, right sickness and health, and all those good things. And so I believe in all of those things, and I believe in actually doing them not just saying them, I think people judge you by your actions. And so I think, you know, I love the fraternity and sorority community in terms of the leadership skills that I got the communication skills, the motivation skills, I think I’m a better human because of that affiliation. But I also understand the impact of alcohol and drug abuse that’s happening on college campuses. And I think that there’s room for improvement. So for me, that’s kind of where this whole idea started, like, what can I do to make that a better experience? What can I do to avoid alcohol and drug abuse on college campuses, and help students get off on the right foot, instead of, you know, getting them addicted to something that, ultimately is going to claim their life, right. So that’s kind of where it all started. That was kind of the genesis of it. Obviously, having other leaders in the community that are also passionate about alcohol and drug abuse prevention, is also something that’s very empowering. We’re all working together to get a win in our community and make it safer. But I’ve always been all about making our community safer. I do that within the fraternity and sorority community every single day. So it’s a natural extension for me to start caring about my community locally, and making an impact locally. If I’m asking the college students to do it on their campus, then I certainly should be doing it locally in my community as well.
Reducing Risk and Cultivating Healthier Practices in Greek Life
Yeah, thanks for taking that sense of responsibility so so personally, that can be that can be a disconnect sometimes, is when we’re doing something professionally, that we don’t believe in personally, or we don’t feel a deep conviction of is is like, yeah, no wonder we aren’t seeing the results are people aren’t sold out on what they’re doing. When the opposite is happening for you and your team is because you are sold out, you are doing things together and seeing great results. So I’d love to carry with the momentum. And let’s let’s talk about Greek life. That would be great with you here in the room with me. How how does Greek Life relate to this topic of substance use disorder and things like that? Where do you see the parallels and what’s needed in this community?
Yeah, well, certainly, there’s a stereotype around Fraternity and Sorority Life that it’s all about alcohol and drugs and the social scene. And I certainly understand that I certainly believe that the fraternity and sorority community does command the social scene on many college campuses. So I just, you know, have this obligation to work with them and show them how to do it safely. It’s not to say that I don’t want them to have fun, I had fun in college. So I certainly expect that they’re gonna have fun as well. It’s just I want them to do it safely. I need them to come home and one piece, I need them to avoid binge drinking and other dangerous behaviors, so we can show them basically how to do it safely. So essentially, when I speak to the fraternity and sorority community on a particular college campus, I want to talk to them about the five drug classes, right stimulants, cannabis depressants, opioid psychedelics, what are some examples of those drug classes? What are the effects of those drugs? And what is the risk? And ultimately, you know, you and I are not going to be there on a Tuesday night to basically say, no, no, don’t use that. And so I understand that. And I’m also not naive, I know that college students are going to use alcohol. But I can show them how to use it safely, and how to drink responsibly. And that also show them those five drug classes and show them what the interaction looks like between various drug classes. And what is the risk if you’re taking a particular drug? Is this going to increase your heart and your heart rate to the point where you potentially can have a heart attack? Right? So I want them to understand all of those risks, and then ultimately, they’re going to decide what they’re going to decide. But I want them to do it, knowing what the risk is. And we just get into like practical harm reduction, what are some safe party planning, things that we can do within the fraternity and sorority community to reduce risk, it’s not to say that it’s going to be perfect, but I do think that, you know, I look at risk is like a ladder, right? And every campus is on a different rung on this ladder in terms of risk. And wherever you are, I’m going to meet you there. And I’m going to get us to come down one rung on that ladder no matter where you are. And that’s all I really can do, right. And I think if we continue doing that, then we continue taking steps to safer party planning, than I think we can avoid a lot of the problems that we see in the media, you know, and on college campuses, I also think I like to have discussions with college students about how to manage stress, without drugs and alcohol, there’s a whole bunch of things that you can do, I think a lot of students end up using alcohol or drugs, because they’re stressed out. And there’s various reasons for it, it could be trauma from when they were a child, you know, we can talk about ACEs and other things all day long. It could be just, you know, the high cost of higher education, they don’t know where the money is gonna come from, to pay for all of this and put food on the table. Right. So there are things you can do to manage stress, things like exercise, and sports, and healthy eating, and getting enough sleep, and talking with friends or family or talking with a mental health professional. And so I like to give them all of these tools, and even do a community assessment because again, every college community is going to be different in terms of their use of alcohol and drugs. And I think I want to give them that community assessment that they can use to answer where they are on that ladder, and then kind of brainstorm some different solutions in terms of how we can talk, start taking steps to move down that ladder and become a little bit less risky, a little bit safer. And ultimately, you know what, I have two kids. One of them is a college freshman right now, the other one is a senior in high school, and she just selected which college she’s going to go to this fall. So like, I want them to come home and one piece. So selfishly, I’m committed on this topic, and I care so much, because I’m actually looking after my kids and your kids too. But selfishly, I mean, my kids come home in one piece, too. And that’s why I care so much.
Yeah, I think for sure, there’s I like the ladder that you said that because I view my lens as the work is there’s the the ladder of like really high risk. That’s its reduction, its harm reduction. And I know that I personally am not the best facilitator of that discussion like that my passion lies from being on the lower rung of the ladder, which is like, I thought that you had to do all those things in college, you had to drink and smoke and already that way, because that’s what media told me. I thought I was the only one who didn’t do those things. Turns out there are other people, but they’re not speaking up. And I think that’s one of the misperceptions of Greek life. Oh, well, Greek life is, in order to go and be a part of that you must be a high risk drinker. You must love the social scene of getting high or drunk each weekend. There’s not much talk about the actual mission of the organization and how it’s a service organization, which maybe it’s a branding issue, maybe it’s a culture issue of the individual chapter. It can be something that happened years prior or recruiting practice, which makes the assessment piece of what you do so important, I’m sure. But I’m very, I’m very, very sensitive to the language. I know that college students are going to do this. Yeah, I don’t like it. That’s not the truth. The truth is, when they come into school, they want certain things that everybody wants, they want to be successful, feel a sense of belonging, they want to protect their goals. But if they think they need to drink or get it in order to fit in, and have fun and feel good, then I will then they’ll go choose that. But as as leaders, the question then becomes from another standpoint, how can we show them, like you had said, what are real coping skills, not just escapes of your feelings, but skills to help you overcome them, because these feelings are going to go away? When you’re done with school, like, we all have this stuff, we just rise to the level of the problems and become a little bit better at tackling it every single time.
Transforming Fraternity and Sorority Culture Through Data-Driven Solutions
You’re 100 percent, right. I mean, if you look at Gen Z, and you look at the trends of alcohol, you know, abuse, let’s say, and binge drinking over the last 20 years, that number is declining every single year. So not everybody wants to drink alcohol, or binge drink or use drugs. That is just a complete misconception. It’s just not accurate. There are a ton of students that come to college that don’t want that, as a matter of fact, Gen Z is more into health than ever before health and nutrition and working out, right. So there are students that want to have that experience without alcohol or drugs. And so I agree with you completely. I really don’t want college students to think that they have to do those things, or that even everybody’s doing it because they’re not. And that’s the truth. And so yeah, the question is, is like we have a PR problem, right? Because within fraternities and sororities, the expectation is, well, everybody must be drinking, or using drugs. That’s just not true. There are certainly, you know, some fraternities or sororities that are doing those things, but there are also some that aren’t. And I think, you know, that’s really the key is to kind of find your home on a college campus with what you’re comfortable with, I think is super important and find others that really kind of agree with, you know, what it is that you want out of this experience, then I think it’s really important that you be honest with yourself, and with the people around you in terms of what your expectations are. It’s just like getting into a relationship, right? You come into a new relationship, you’re like, Hey, I like you, do you like me? You do? Great. Here’s my expectations for this relationship, right? X, Y, and Z. And let’s sit down and have a conversation about it. And then if you, you know, listen to what I’m saying, then you’re going to respect my boundaries, right? kind of gets into the whole sexual assault and consent conversation, right. And it’s, I think it’s the same way in terms of joining an organization, I think, you know, that organization really belongs to you. So even if you’re a freshman, and you’re a part of a fraternity, and you’re wearing those letters, I mean, that organization belongs just as much to you as it does the senior leaders. And so I want you to advocate for what you believe in. And you know, and don’t fall victim to any kind of peer pressure or anything like that. Because I guarantee you there are other brothers or sisters in your organization that feel the same way that you do, then you really don’t want to abuse alcohol or drugs. And I would advocate for that, because I think there’s a lot of students that come to a college campus that agree with you, they also want that experience. So I think you’re fighting not only for yourself, but other students that feel the same way. And I think we have a PR problem. I really do. You know, I talk about that on college campuses, you know, the question is, as a local chapter, what is your PR budget to fix those stereotypes? Most college students will say, my budget is zero. And then the next question is, what is your training program like for PR to fix that stereotype? And they’re like, What training program? Third, right? And then the third is, you know, how are you? How are you elected, you know, meeting like, What qualifications do you have to be PR chair? And they’re like, Oh, well, that guy lost every other election for exec board. So we felt bad for him. So we gave him the PR chair job, you know, even though he doesn’t even have the qualifications that we’re looking for. And then the fourth one is, what are your metrics? Like? How are you actually making progress and fixing those stereotypes around Fraternity and Sorority Life? Do you have any metrics that show progress? And they’re like, No, we have no metrics. So again, we have a PR problem. And we have to own that we’re not doing a very good job of that on a local chapter level.
It’s, it’s bringing back memories. So when I was when I was in school, and you ever thought I was the only one who didn’t want to smoke or drink, I would have my friends who were in fraternities, then they were very supportive of me. Like they were like my protectors at events. They’d be like, Hey, Jake doesn’t do that. Like he’s having a ton of fun. You know, leave him alone. Don’t pressure him. Like he’s having a good time. And whenever I started that this movement of throwing drug free house parties, and getting sponsors and hundreds of students, people would be surprised because they Oh, where’s the party? I’m like, oh, it’s at the Beta Theta house. So the Sigma Pi house and they’re like, Wait, they’re throwing a non alcoholic party? And how do they Yeah. Did you know they have a mission? Like, do you know what they’re about? Did you ask them and if they had a PR problem is the first thing that people think about. And what I found is the program that I developed. I developed it as a way to build community and a safe place to belong, all the things selfishly, that I want. And I just didn’t realize it could be a tool for organizations to help showcase the things that they wanted as well. And so I remember, I got hired to go speak at a university out east, and help them throw a drug free house party. And it’s like sober, alcohol free, everything like that. And I asked why they were like, Why, why do you want to do this? And they said, well, because this chapter has created a PR nightmare, around substance use issues. And they’re looking for a way to try something to make it right and to give their members something to learn, which was, oh, we had, we had a good experience, we bonded, we played games, we talked trash, we had a great time. But there was one element that wasn’t there that normally is, maybe we can do this, like maybe this is part of it. And it was it was, you know, a small needle in the PR scale to turn it in the right direction again, which for me, because I wasn’t in that environment, I had no idea. It can be used that way. But how incredible for those, you know, 40 to 50 guys who are part of that experience, putting it on and learning that and then for the you know, a couple 100 people that showed up to that, to experience that as well. I’m like, this cool, this is I guess this is why I’m doing this is another use of the one idea of how it could be helpful.
Yeah students just need those ideas, they need that little push to basically say like, we can do this event without alcohol. Let’s try it. And I think that a ton of students will just kind of organize around that idea. And they’ll probably have a blast doing it. And then kind of incorporate that into their nor write the way that they do business every single year. You know, I really want the fraternity and sorority community to look at who they are. And what I mean by that is not by what you say you do. Right? I know the creed of my fraternity, I can say it by heart, because we say it at every chapter meeting, right? But that I’m saying like what your actions are not what you say you do, but what your actions do, right and say that you are. And so I really want people to think about that. And think about like the percentage of social events with alcohol that you had, versus the non alcoholic events. And if you are like way over on the social with alcohol, you know, like 95% of your events or like social events with alcohol. You know, what does that say about? Are you really a community service organization? Are you really about academics? Like what’s your GPA as compared to like the general student body when you’re having that many social events with alcohol, right? So like, I really want you to ask those questions and look at the balance, look at the percentage of alcoholic events that you’re having. And if it’s completely out of whack, which I think that might be the case for some of the people who are listening, think about restructuring that and starting to pull back on those events with alcohol, start doing some of these events that Jake is talking about without alcohol that are really fun, and start correcting that balance. And I think you’re going to ultimately draw in a lot of other students that are going to be curious about it, and then be like, Wow, that was really cool. Like, we had a great time and we didn’t even need to drink alcohol. How awesome is that? Can we do that again next month? Like you know what I mean? Like? So I think we can start to build that together. But I think it starts with asking those questions about what are we really and what is our social calendar say that we are?
I love how your minds thinks in metrics and data. And it’s it’s like measurable things for you. It’s hard to argue with like, oh, no, we don’t. We are mission oriented, or we do this versus like, Wait, let’s look at the percentage. Yeah. And look at the percentage. That’s all I’m asking. And I think I have to you know, really thank the doctorate program for that. I think my mind has completely changed to be much more data focused and much more data driven. In terms of my decisions. It came from that dissertation that I’m writing right now, on the early warning signs of hazing and college fraternities and sororities in the doctorate program. And everything is about data right now. You know, and I remember speaking to some students on a college campus last month, and one of the students said in the audience, you know, I’m really not happy with the way that fraternities and sororities are being portrayed. You know, In the media, and I accept, listen, I’m with you. I don’t like it either, right? But where’s the data that proves to me that you’re doing the right thing? What is, you know, the fraternity and sorority GPA versus the non affiliated students on this campus? What is the recruitment and the retention percentages of the fraternity and sorority community versus non affiliated students, I believe that the fraternity and sorority community is a recruitment tool, I also think that it’s a retention tool, you’re much less likely to leave your brothers and sisters, because you have that relationship with them. So I know that on many campuses, the retention numbers can be very high for those who are affiliated, but you need to go to the Office of Institutional Research at your University. And by the way, every university has that office, and they keep this data. And you need to go there and ask for the data as a student, so that way, you can broadcast that from the mountaintops and say, Hey, we are the best in terms of retention on students on campus. We are the best in terms of graduation rates on campus. But if you don’t have that data, then everything that you’re saying is just talk. Like where’s the data to support your statement?
Collaborating for Positive Impact in College Communities
Yeah, can we can we add with you explaining a little bit more about how Greek University and what you offer is helping with all this stuff, because that’s the exciting part is everybody loves talking about the problem, but you’re talking about solutions and improvement. And I’d love for people to hear how you work with organizations, colleges, Greek life across the country.
Yeah, I mean, we have a total of 25 speakers that go out and speak on college campuses every single week, we certainly solve problems, things like hazing, sexual assault, alcohol, and drugs. And I think, you know, part of the the really amazing part of the work that we do is just watching the students learn, and then take that information that we give them, and then hold an event on their campus around, like, let’s take sexual assault prevention, right, let’s get out of the alcohol and drug world. If we’re talking about sexual assault prevention, then the community that fraternity and sorority community in the semester following our program, they will do a program themselves peer to peer education, from student to student from the fraternity student to the non affiliated student around consent or bystander intervention. And then they send me an article in the school newspaper about the event that they held to change how the campus works in terms of consent, or bystander intervention, or maybe a new form that they’re using to report hazing on their campus. So all these cool things happen after relief, and they get to share all of that with us to show us how they actually used the information we gave them, and what data that they’re actually seeing that supports that the change actually has worked, right. And maybe it’s a new percentage on, you know, the alcohol to non alcoholic events in within the fraternity and sorority community and that they’ve made that shift, right. So those are the things that the emails and the data and the news articles that we get to see after we leave, that really shows that we’re making a big difference. But we talk about all different kinds of things. We certainly talk about careers, we talk about diversity, equity and inclusion. We talk about conflict resolution, eating disorders, recruitment, philanthropy, motivation, really, you know, mental health, any problem that you’re seeing on a college campus, this is all stuff that we like to solve. So check us out on the website. It’s Greekuniversity.org. And we’d be glad to help.
That’s fantastic. Thank you. Thank you so much for doing this. I feel like we could dive in and you’d probably give us a masterclass on like one of the five things that would be covered today. So I’m gonna say everyone, check out Greek University, check out the MTSU website for the publication’s page that he mentioned, I’ll include the links in our in our blog, and the show notes and stuff. So they can do that. And if you need any help with college, leadership, you know, risk management, stuff like that. Michael’s the guy to talk to so.
Jake, you can also follow us. I’m real big into Tiktok and Instagram, it’s at Creek University. So if you want to follow us, just socially, that’s cool, too. But I definitely appreciate the spot here, Jake, that we get a chance to talk a little bit with you and the great work that you’re doing. I’m proud of you and your team. And just glad to be here. So thanks so much for having us today.
Of course and for everyone listening. Thank you for being a part of that movement. We know that we can’t do this alone. So for every person that partners with us or listens, or just does the work you do in your community on the ground every day. Thank you. Thank you, thank you because you’re saving lives, even if you don’t realize it if you don’t get to see the fruit, you are doing this work and it is making a difference. The data is showing results. So keep it up and we’ll see you next Monday for another episode of the drug prevention Power Hour.
