Nonnie Cameron, "house mom" of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Purdue University in Indiana, spoke about gender relations and dating to about 100 new fraternity members last night.
Cameron is one of a series speakers invited to campus by the Interfraternity Council for new member education this term.
The IFC invited Cameron to Dartmouth to teach fraternity members ways to improve their relationships and apply what they learn from the fraternity system to their lives.
Cameron began the session by stating her goal for the evening.
She said, "My primary objective is to have fun."
She expressed this before the meeting began as she handed out Tic-Tacs and said to members walking in, "We're going to have fun! Come on down front, I don't bite!"
Cameron said her point in doing this was to "establish a rapport" with her audience and emphasize the importance of communication in relationships.
According to Cameron, there are six human needs: certainty, uncertainty, significance, connection, growth and contribution.
Some examples she offered of certainty include the knowledge that you are going to have food, money and other basic necessities. She warned the brothers that people sometimes tend to find uncertainty in harmful ways, including alcohol abuse.
Cameron suggested movies, favorite meals and spectator sports as better alternatives to uncertainty because they provide surprise. She pinpointed the Greek system and the Dartmouth name as two of her audience's main ways of finding connection and significance.
The last two human needs -- growth and contribution -- are the two which Cameron said are usually not fulfilled, but can be through the fraternity system.
Cameron said growth comes from taking what you learn from making mistakes and applying the knowledge to your life. She used parenting classes as an example of this practice. But, she also pointed out it is usually the good parents that take them.
At Purdue, Cameron enabled Greek students to fulfill their human need of contribution through a program that delivered food baskets to underprivileged families during the holidays.
Cameron used several examples which applied directly to college students and the fraternity system when she spoke about how people can find fulfillment of these six human needs.
One example she gave her audience asked the pledges what they would do if a girl took her clothes off on the first date.
After listening to the response of the fraternity members, she explained how family life and temperament cause people to behave in certain ways.
"You can't change or control anyone -- only yourself," she said.
After she spoke, there were mixed responses from the brothers in the audience.
"The stuff she talked about was nice and good, but it didn't have much to do with the fraternity [system]. Most people here are over 18 and have decided on the person they are," Theta Delta Chi pledge Chris Sullivan '99 said.
On the other hand, Sig Ep pledge Josh McCurdy '99 said, "It was cool. She was a good speaker, exciting to watch and she reinforced some etiquette things which are good to know."
President of Sig Ep Russell Stidolph '97 said, "I felt all the new members enjoyed the presentation and hopefully they benefited from it."
President of the IFC and Program Chair of Sig Ep Mike Armstrong '97 said he helped bring Cameron to speak to the new members because "she's dynamic, she really understands human relationships and she's a lot of fun."
"My goal is that the new members can take the information and within the next couple of years improve the Greek system," Armstrong said.
Cameron came to speak on etiquette at the College last spring. She will be speaking in the Collis Common Ground tomorrow from 1 to 2 p.m.
