FROM JOURNALS PAST Revolutionary Reorganization of the the Order’s Leadership

(1933–1935)

While as early as 1913, a paid staff member was introduced as a general secretary, it was short-lived, being abolished in 1915. It wasn’t until 1927 that the first “Traveling Secretary” position was created, which persists today in the form of the Order’s field staff. The 34th Convention that year resolved to establish the post of Traveling Secretary at an annual salary of $3,500, “who would give his entire time to the work of the Order,” and carry out the instructions of the Knight Commander and the other General Officers. Thus, truly began the origination of a national staff.

Having established a professional office and staff doing the primary daily and ongoing responsibilities, the Order reorganized its elected leadership from a “operational board” to a “governance board,”

At the 37th Convention in 1933, the Order continued an operational and leadership evolution. That Convention ordered the creation of an administrative office and combined all the duties of the then-General Officers Grand Purser, Editor of The Journal, Chief Alumnus, and Grand Historian), into one chief staff officer—the Executive Secretary. Our fourth brother to hold that position recently passed away, and Dick Barnes’s KA story is found on pages 18-21. In 1933, those

By Jesse Lyons (Delta Alpha—Western Carolina '98)

now-antiquated General Officers went the way of other arcane KA directorates—including the arcane attempts known then as a Board of Directors, an Advisory Board, and an Electoral Commission.

Then, two years later, the Convention accomplished a more progressive feat. There existed for that biennium the wastefulness of grand offices with grand titles, yet no grand duties. After a four-year period of a committee reviewing a new Constitution and Kappa Alpha Laws, including By-Laws, the Convention acted again. Having established a professional office and staff doing the primary daily and ongoing responsibilities, the Order reorganized its elected leadership from a “operational board” to a “governance board,” thus creating the Executive Council, or national board of directors, composed of five alumni. In this process, the Knight Commander persisted as the only surviving General Officer—dating to its origination at Alpha Chapter in 1868.

The Executive Council, duly elected at each biennial Convention, was once again enlarged by two more councilors in 1963, to our current seven-member format. It has remained the Order’s authority under the Knight Commander’s leadership between those Conventions, for 88 years.

KAPPA ALPHA JOURNAL, January 1936

The Last “Old” General Officers and the First “New” Ones—The Original Executive Council

Editor—C.W. May, Executive Secretary (pages 94–95)