2020 VIRTUAL CRWLC
2020 C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference Goes Virtual: Agile, Adaptive, Ameliorating Achievement
By Dr. Sam Odom, National C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference Committee Chairman
O n October 10, 2020, the 34 th Administration of Kappa Alpha Psi Fra- ternity, Inc. hosted its virtual Inaugural 2020 C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference (CRWLC). This cost-free 2020 CRWLC netted a sea of Kappa men including more than 4,200 registrants across all 12 provinces within the Fraternity. Two survey questions:1) Would you take another virtual leadership training course? and 2) is the training modules relevant and important to my growth in Kappa Alpha Psi? received a 95% and 97% positive rating respectively from 4,226 registrants. A robust agenda fea- tured a diverse line-up of the Fraternity’s leadership commencing with Grand Polemarch Reuben A. Shelton, III., Esq. The conference began with modera- tor Marvin “Nino” Pettaway (Epsilon Alpha 1983), Polemarch of the Jefferson City (MO) Alumni Chapter & Middle Western CRWLC Province Chair- man, calling the event to order. This
was followed by the invocation by Rev. Dr. William Meanes, National Chap- lain of Kappa Alpha Psi . Next, Grand Polemarch Reuben A. Shelton III, Esq., presented an excellent acknowledgment establishing the tenor of the conference. Grand Polemarch Shelton thanked Brother Dr. Sam Odom and his team for planning the “first-ever’ national virtual meeting. It’s a critical time in the frater- nity as we get together to determine a course that will allow us to celebrate the next Centennial. We are doing great. We are facing some issues that will be dis- cussed during this conference," stated Brother Shelton. The Grand Polemarch then dis- cussed issues related the state of enterprise risk management for Black Greek-Lettered Organizations. “I want to highlight risk management that will be discussed by Brother Cleo Thomas, Jr., Esq., our General Counsel. Basically risk management is the ability to control our liability and cost to an acceptable level. He will discuss our
risk management policies that we just implemented. Some of the provisions will probably make brothers a little un- comfortable, but rest assured that all of the provisions are necessary to manage our exposure and maintain our ability to procure insurance." “A critical part of risk management is having uniformed, diligent and com- mitted oversight for our undergradu- ate chapters: advisor training. Brother [Alvin] Barrington might be the most important part of this conference because brothers serving in that capac- ity are on the frontline and they are defending us against forces that can severely hurt us. Brother [John] Burrell and I gave depositions in a case this past summer and that case is 13 years old— it is just now ready for trial! Brothers it is pretty clear that plaintiff lawyers are not attacking our rules and procedures, but they are looking for instances where we did not follow them. The implica- tion is that our apathy towards our own rules and regulations are allowing us to
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