SOME MEETINGS WENT ON FOREVER

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ’62  [email protected]

Michigan Delta Chi meetings were usually once a month, but in the 1950’s and 1960’s they were most frequently weekly.  Most were relatively short affairs, but just when you just had to get to an important project, study for an exam, or get to a promised date or event, the meeting would just be TOOOOOO long.  Scott Hillen ’97 in his History of Michigan Delta Chi kept track of the average meeting time and average meeting attendance of the actives.  See below.

                                                           Part V: Chapter Meeting Summary

                                                   Year           Avg Mtg Attendance    Avg Mtg Time

 

                                                   1972-73                                                   1 hr 11 mins

                                                   1973-74                  82%                       1 hr 26 mins

                                                   1974-75                                                   2 hr 12 mins

                                                   1975-76                  93%                       1 hr 40 mins

                                                   1976-77                  87%                       1 hr 59 mins

                                                   1977-78                                                   2 hr 04 mins

                                                   1978-79                                                   1 hr 54 mins

                                                   1979-80                                                   2 hr 07 mins

                                                   1980-81                   94%                       1 hr 36 mins

                                                   1982-83                   83%                       2 hr 16 mins

                                                   1983-84                   85%                       1 hr 51 mins

                                                   1984-85                   85%                       1 hr 27 mins

                                                   1985-86                                                   1 hr 16 mins

                                                   1986-87                   88%                      0 hr 57 mins

                                                   1987-88                                                   1 hr 25 mins

                                                   1988-89                  87%                       1 hr 00 mins

                                                   1989-90                                                   1 hr 35 mins

                                                   1990-91                                                   1 hr 38 mins

                                                   1991-92                                                   1 hr 53 mins

                                                   1992-93                  76%                       1 hr 30 mins

                                                   1993-94                  72%                        1 hr 04 mins

                                                   1994-95                                                   0 hr 55 mins

                                                   1995-96                                                   1 hr 19 mins

                                                  1996-97                                                   1 hr 01 mins

 

The minutes taken in the 1950’s through 1980’s were wonderful to review, something I did when we were raising money in the 2014 through 2017 timeframe.   They gave much more detail, insight into the running of the fraternity and personality of the fraternity than minutes in the 1990 and 2000’s.  There later minutes were a bit more factual and starting about 2003 were computerized into standard “dry” form by the National.  Too bad!

The following minutes are from November 20, 1961, taken by Robert H. Todd, Jr. who did wonderful minutes at this 2 hour and 15-minute meeting.  Under “New Business,” the dog issue dominated the meeting.  

Anyone having items of interest should contact me in order to create a story of possible interest to our members.