Today I took my last college exam. I graduate at 2:00pm on Sunday April 27th with a Bachelors in Business Administration concentration on Computer Information Systems.

I have quite a few regrets with regards to college. The first was chosing to pursue a CIS degree. If you are at all inclined to go this route be warned! If I could go back I’d probably take the 150 credit Accounting masters program (masters + bachelors in 150 credit hours). My second choice would be straight up Computer Science. While the biz school at Eastern Michigan University is one of only a handful of accredited b-schools in the region I consider the CIS program greatly lacking.

If I could do it all over again I probably would have lived in the dorms all 5 years. Something about being on campus that was more fun than being isolated off campus. I’d also go back and meet Lauren a lot sooner than I did. I think I’d also make a bigger effort to hang out with my little brother. If I could do it again I’d get more involved in campus activities earlier than I did. Despite my term as IFC President being a depressing one, I feel great pride in my accomplishments involving the various campus committees I sat on.

There are a few things I don’t regret. I don’t regret staying five years. I don’t regret moving to California in the middle of my college career. I don’t regret joining a fraternity. I’ve take advantage of college unlike most others and I plan to cherish those memories.

The truth, in the end, though, is that college, educationally speaking, was a meaningless venture for the most part. It’s sad when a person like me can skip most, in some cases all, of his classes and still graduate Cum Laude with a 3.5 GPA. One thing I will say, though, is that college isn’t anywhere near the uselessness that they call high school. The best years of your life are in high school they say. Bullshit! Anyone who said that never went to college, did a keg stand, or crammed for three exams the night before.

As IFC President I only had one thing left to do before my term was officially over. Emily and I prepared the awards, scheduled the room, bought refreshments, and created an schedule. The only thing left for me to do was to write a welcome speech.

I did just that. Those who know me know that I tell it like it is. I often tell people I’m a realist. The truth is, the truth hurts. The truth this year was that fraternities weren’t up to par. Instead of acting like the men they promised to be when they joined their organizations they, instead, performed poorly in academics and had a high rate of risk management violations. In my speech I addressed all of these issues, bluntly. Here it is for historical purposes.

Welcome to the 2002-2003 Greek Awards Reception. For the men this year has been full of a few highs and many lows.

The highs include working with National Panhellenic Council to raise triple what was raised last year for Up ‘til Dawn as well as passing the progressive Greek Social Policy.

However, these highs were overshadowed by many lows: low grades, low numbers, and lower participation.

Men, the women have raised the bar. They have proven that recruiting without alcohol works. They have proven that high numbers can be sustained despite Eastern Michigan University being a commuter campus. And they have proven that responsible risk management does not hinder Greek Life.

It is now up to the men to respond to the challenge. I challenge the men to focus on grades rather than parties. I challenge you to choose recruitment over rush. I challenge you to learn the value of philanthropy and risk management.

It is not going to be easy, but IFC is here to help along the way. We have a newly elected Executive Board that is excited and eager to take the challenge and I have faith that the men will again see better days.

In other news I won Greek Man of the Year at Eastern Michigan University, which was a great honor.