Gamma Iota-Change for the Better

I was scammed into paying dues I didn’t need to even after requesting suspension and submitting the form.

Please make a change

I have held multiple executive positions across campus and have never seen an environment for an executive board or members of an organization as toxic as the one Tera has created. When I served as Vice President Marketing, Tera enabled racist and ableist actions from both chapter members and advisors, and refused to do anything about those actions until 4 sisters dropped and I went inactive and was ultimately hospitalized because of the effects of the stress on my autoimmune disorder. She constantly belittles sisters; I have never heard her say anything positive to or about a sister or our chapter. Additionally, when I was VP marketing, she tried to let the current marketing advisor log me out of the chapter accounts all because I raised concerns in a private Slack message about actions that almost made us subject to a campus investigation regarding unsafe covid conditions (maskless pictures being posted on bid day) with absolutely no communication. They also refused to be educated on why graphics featuring Black culture were cultural appropriation and should not be posted, which is completely inappropriate and an abuse of power. She constantly oversteps her bounds with actions like these, showing zero respect for collegiate leadership and autonomy. Additionally, she tries to discipline sisters she does not like for actions she lets sisters she likes more routinely get away with (like discussing membership concerns about pnms openly in groupme conversations).

Tara was one of the biggest impacts of me leaving alpha gam.

There seems to never be anything positive when she is around it it has affected the moral of the chapter.

Every Interaction I have had with Tera has been unpleasant. She belittles sisters to her benefit and this is not the energy we need in our chapter.

My first encounter with Tera was when she was talking to the chapter as a whole and I got pretty bad vibes from her from the beginning so I can only imagine how she is behind closed doors and it’s not fair to see many of my sisters be belittled for trying to do good.

I joined Alpha Gam hoping to get more involved and leadership experience on campus. I had a director position when I first joined, and I enjoyed helping our chapter. Along with many others, Tera has belittled and made me feel insignificant on more than one occasion. I have never encountered a woman who has such a blatant disregard for someone else's life. I am a student first, and the moment when I had to reinforce that idea to Tera along with other chapter members, it was faced with opposition. There is no clear line of communication between Tera and officers let alone the general members. For example, when I held director of special events, I texted Tera for her email considering I did not have it at the time, and she obliged but in addition to the email, she proceeded to say that I could have easily found it on Omegafi. The comment about finding it elsewhere was sent to me after I emailed stating that I would not be able to finish a task at hand due to my obligations as a student. I have had meetings with Tera to discuss concerns with the chapter, yet no action was taken to amend anything. Tera adds a wave of negativity to the chapter which impacts all of us. To this day, I will not seek leadership positions in this chapter due to Tera. I truly wish for the future of our chapter; some action is taken. As chapter advisors, it is their role to “ensure that all required Fraternity and required chapter events listed in chapter bylaws are on the chapter calendar.” Yet, the chapter was not given any information regarding an event that is mandatory. Tera proceeded to question sisters’ character in the chapter when the bylaws were brought up regarding this event being mandatory. While everyone has their faults, to praise and congratulate one sister for not managing an event in a timely manner and belittling me and others for not having events done two months in advance, is unfair and should not happen. While I appreciate that Tera is willing to help our chapter, toxic

I have never liked Tera. Ask anyone, or ask me personally, and I will tell you "I don't like her". Considering I am a semi-new member, I got really bad vibes from her before I had even fully been initiated. Her purpose as an advisor is to look over our chapter and care for all of us as a whole, as human beings. Yet, she clearly does neither one of those. She's incredibly rude, beyond rude. You take one look at her and you can TELL she does not have our best interests at heart. Not only that, but every girl in this sorority has a purpose and we ALL deserve to be treated with respect. You should NEVER and I mean NEVER belittle someone that has a disability. I don't care what you see on the outside, but those girls are no different than us and deserve to be here in this chapter just like the rest of us. I will not mention this girl's name to keep her anonymity, but she had worked so HARD to prepare herself for recruitment a couple of years ago and was told by her own advisor that she was not allowed to be on the floor during formal recruitment because of her disability. Her advisor told her that she didn't want PNMs to see her and her disability. She went to Tera with her complaints, and like any good advisor would do, they would have immediately taken action ( I know I would have expeditiously). However, what was her response to the girl's complaints? "Okay, well what do you want me to do about it?". Who in their right mind responds in that way? I'm sorry but what if that was your daughter and someone had spoken to her like that? Wouldn't you want to know that Tera has everything under control and will take care of it or just simply that she's in good hands? Well, she wouldn't be with Tera. Her response was so inhumane, heartless, you name it. She was completely wrong to not do anything about the situation because someone's disability should never define them as a person or be used against them. While there were other factors that played into the girl suspending h

As a first-time EC officer, my experience with Gamma Iota’s advisors has made me regret my decision to serve our chapter in a leadership position. While I am passionate about serving my community and my sisters, our chapter advisor, Tera Edwards, and the rest of the advisory board have made our meetings as an executive council unproductive and unnecessarily dramatic. Discussions surrounding chapter decisions and events consist of EC advisors degrading and talking down to the collegiate officers they claim to serve. My experience sharing my goals and plans for my position in monthly EC meetings are often met with rapid fire, interrogation-style questions and condescending remarks. I do not feel supported or guided by our advisors as a member of EC, and often find myself looking for every opportunity to avoid engaging with them more than necessary. Several of my closest friends have been publicly embarrassed by Tera Edwards in a passive aggressive manner, rather than being guided and corrected in a way that an advisor should do. EC officers are jaded, angry and bullied by the women who claim to be their “mentors” and “leaders.” This is only a college sorority where women are looking for friendships and community on campus, not a grounds for alumnae to forcibly provide their input after their time in the chapter. While I understand the necessity for experienced advice from graduated Alpha Gam sisters when conducting chapter business, the way in which our current advisors degrade and dictate the actions of both women serving in leadership positions and members of the chapter is disrespectful and the root of our chapter’s member-retention crisis.

As a first-time EC officer, my experience with Gamma Iota’s advisors has made me regret my decision to serve our chapter in a leadership position. While I am passionate about serving my community and my sisters, our chapter advisor, Tera Edwards, and the rest of the advisory board have made our meetings as an executive council unproductive and unnecessarily dramatic. Discussions surrounding chapter decisions and events consist of EC advisors degrading and talking down to the collegiate officers they claim to serve. My experience sharing my goals and plans for my position in monthly EC meetings are often met with rapid fire, interrogation-style questions and condescending remarks. I do not feel supported or guided by our advisors as a member of EC, and often find myself looking for every opportunity to avoid engaging with them more than necessary. Several of my closest friends have been publicly embarrassed by Tera Edwards in a passive aggressive manner, rather than being guided and corrected in a way that an advisor should do. EC officers are jaded, angry and bullied by the women who claim to be their “mentors” and “leaders.” This is only a college sorority where women are looking for friendships and community on campus, not a grounds for alumnae to forcibly provide their input after their time in the chapter. While I understand the necessity for experienced advice from graduated Alpha Gam sisters when conducting chapter business, the way in which our current advisors degrade and dictate the actions of both women serving in leadership positions and members of the chapter is disrespectful and the root of our chapter’s member-retention crisis.

lol do whatever it takes to make it happen

I joined alpha gam as a freshman and our advisor, Tera Edwards, immediately gave me bad vibes. I have held leadership positions in our chapter since my first year, but I have been mistreated and it’s been an uphill battle the entire time due to our advisor and her treatment of our chapter and its members. In the past, I have seen sisters pointed out and embarrassed by Tera, bullied out of positions and the chapter as a whole by Tera, and have even been one of these sisters myself. During my very first week as an EC officer, after holding a Director position, Tera embarrassed me and made me think that Alpha Gam was not a home for anyone. Tera copied one of my personal emails between the two of us concerning how to prepare for my position, pasted it on her officer training powerpoint slides, and presented it to the entire EC/Officer Board and had them pick apart the email and say why it was immature and bad communication. Basically, I had to stand there quietly in front of Tera and have my entire EC board/my sisters tear me apart. Not to mention, I had written this email in the first place because my position hadn’t been held by a stable sister because she suspended her membership. Tera has caused multiple membership suspensions due to her negative personality and how she had degraded our chapter morale, but sisters are too afraid to confront her while they are here because of how she treats them. It is to the point where sisters are so unmotivated that other organization on campus talk about not wanting to partner with us when we reach out. I hope that IHQ will help us and listen to our calls because our chapter is struggling and it all stems back to our advisor’s negativity, manipulation, and bad treatment of our sisters. I dream of having the chapter that was advertised to me when I was going through primary recruitment - a chapter that truly lives out our purpose.

Tera says she is here to “advise” us, yet she makes decisions for the whole chapter such as making an event mandatory when EC previously made it non-mandatory. She manipulates and disregards our sister’s feelings and goals and should not be a representer of alpha gam.

It is my hope that this chapter can have an advisor that is willing to build us up instead of breaking us down. She can be manipulative and closed minded. I look forward to the time when we have an mentor that embodies the whole purpose Alpha Gamma Delta stands for.

Every experience I have had with her has been pretty negative.

I have joined Alpha Gam this year and have not seen any positivity from our advisor, Tera Edwards. Instead, I get a negative energy from her because she was rude to us in chapter when she found out IDR was not mandatory due to a mistake. I believe that we should have a positive, engaging and an understanding advisor who will inspire us instead of attacking us.

Tara targeted me on EC on my first day causing me to have a panic attack which greatly effected how I feel about my AGD experience. When I gave up my position as a result Tera told me that because I gave up one position it could effect me getting another EC position in the future.

I support getting our chapter back to how it used to be