Post-meeting Beta Response

[Eddie Pettis (Beta Chapter)]

Dear fellow Eta Kappa Nu members, advisors, and administrators,

Beta Chapter heavily promotes leadership and character because we
believe HKN members' talents should be shared with others and that
sharing these talents is the greatest goal to which any HKN member may
aspire. We believe that by inspiring selflessness in our members,
Beta alumni will continue to make a positive impact on the world
around them long after graduating Purdue University and bring honor
and prestige to HKN through their achievements. However, after
discussing our concerns with Dr. Bruce Eisenstein of the HKN Board of
Governors (BoG) on Friday, March 7, 2008, we believe that the proposed
HKN/IEEE merger will fundamentally destroy Beta Chapter and everything
that we stand for.

Dr. Eisenstein claimed that increasing financial requirements for
joining HKN will not hurt local chapters because new members "will not
know anything any different" and that overlap between current HKN
members and future HKN members will be minimal. Marketing research
may indicate that we should target our future membership instead our
current membership, but the BoG's decision displays a fundamental
misunderstanding of the student's perspective. HKN students are asked
to join many honors organizations, including Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta
Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu, and students are universally poor. Beta
Chapter's biggest problem is convincing prospective members that the
benefits outweigh the cost of membership because we freely share our
opportunities with the entire ECE community. In fact, our acceptance
rate was 10% in the 2006-2007 academic year. In effect, we are
polling our "future customers" with each semester's invitations, and
they are saying that cost is the leading factor for rejecting our
invitation. Increasing dues by requiring IEEE membership _will_
reduce the number of students joining the local level which _will_
reduce the number and scale of opportunities for Beta Chapter to serve
the ECE community.

The HKN induction ritual (http://hkn.org/admin/induction_ritual.html)
states that membership is the "highest honor" that HKN may bestow upon
its members. Under this premise, Dr. Eisenstein's suggestion that the
distinction between "member" and "inductee" is semantic deeply offends
Beta Chapter. In a post-merger world, membership is tied to continued
payment of national dues. This is fundamentally opposed to Beta
Chapter's belief that an HKN member's greatest goal is service to
others. Requiring members to prove themselves with their checkbook
rather than their service insults the hard work of members nationwide
who honor HKN through their example.

Requiring IEEE membership will severely impact the nature of HKN
projects at a local level. When all HKN members are also IEEE
members, projects are likely to be planned within the context of IEEE
rather than HKN. Hence, although we remain autonomous at the national
level, we lose our identity at the local level. We believe that the
value of HKN is derived from the leadership experiences demonstrated
through the planning and execution of service projects. IEEE does not
share this goal because IEEE is a professional society. If we lose
our identity, HKN membership degrades to a line on a resume, members
are robbed of their experiences, and the ECE community suffers.
Furthermore, HKN loses prestige nationwide because its members have
negligible experiences beyond those of other students.

The initiation ritual states that "Eta Kappa Nu expects nothing of you
that you cannot in honor give to it." Beta Chapter cannot ever accept
the terms of the HKN/IEEE merger because the merger destroys
everything that we value about HKN. At Purdue University, HKN
provides a second family for international students, graduate
students, and out-of-state undergraduates. We truly appreciate all
the experiences that HKN and Beta Chapter have provided. We cannot
betray our family or allow our family's noble goals to become
tarnished or diminished. We encourage others to look introspectively
and evaluate the impact of these issues on your chapter and your
personal experiences within HKN.

We wish all of you the best in your vote. We are honored to have the
opportunity to work with all of you throughout this process.

Sincerely,


Daniel Aguiar, Spring 2008 treasurer,
Wesley Allen, Spring 2007 secretary,
Lian Duan, Spring 2006 pledge trainer,
Joseph Ernst, Spring 2007 community service chair,
Adam Fruehling, Fall 2007 president,
Troy Johnson, Fall 2006 secretary,
Charity Pettis, Spring 2007 vice president,
Eddie Pettis, Fall 2006 president,
Jennifer Talavage, 1991 alumna,
Thomas Talavage, head advisor,
Virgil Totten, Spring 2007 president,
and the all members of Beta Chapter