In which Matt does the secret handshake. No, not the gay secret handshake.

Tonight I was invited to sit in on the house meeting of the Truman Lambda Chi chapter (I’m an alum from the now-defunct DePauw chapter). They’re in need of a faculty/staff advisor, and supposedly I’m the only LXA alum on staff at the university. So I’m meeting with the chapter president on Wednesday to discuss taking on the position.

I have mixed feeling about getting involved with the chapter. I didn’t have the most positive greek experience as an undergrad, but I still have great faith in the potential of the greek system for leadership, academic, and personal growth. When looking at different jobs, the presence (or non-presence) of LXA chapters on campus was a factor in my interviewing decisions. And I haven’t really had any contact with other Lambda Chi’s for the past 4 or 5 years, so I’ve been foaming at the mouth since arriving on campus to have the opportunity to break out the inevitable fraternity secret handshake.

The folks in the chapter here that I’ve met seem like nice guys, but I can tell that if I had gone to undergrad here I would probably not have wound up joining Lambda Chi. That’s fine. I just hope that they can just accept me for who I am and accept the support and guidance I can offer them as an advisor.

And I’m sure the whole gay thing will come up eventually. I’m not trying to keep a low profile on campus, but I haven’t been going around announcing myself everywhere as a homosexual — it’s a small campus so I figure word will travel and usually preceed me. I know that the two Lambda Chi’s who work in the res halls know I’m gay, but they may or may not have mentioned it to the rest of the chapter.

I’ve worked a little with the gay student group on campus over the summer to bring a speaker to talk about Gay & Greek issues later this semester. I’m still trying to get a bead on the students here, but my first impression is that this will be a hard sell to the greek system.

So I’m a little wary of how warm my reception might be from the chapter.