Rushing a Colony after Resigning from Local Sorority

[DubaiSis]

I still think there are ways this could work, but a come to Jesus with yourself is step one, and then admitting the cold hard facts to the expansion team is step 2.

We also don't know if the existing panhellenic thinks poorly of her for having quit. Maybe they do; maybe they don't. There are a LOT of variables here we aren't hearing. She hasn't said anything negative about her local (which is the right thing to do) but they could be awful, on the verge of folding, the campus laughing stocks, big ole hazers, etc. Then her primary problem would be why she hung around so long.

But I would say, more than the other non-affiliated girls, you better have some very clear answers for them. And that isn't the answers you think they want to hear, but the ACTUAL answers. You may have just a sort of vague idea in your head that something wasn't right and you're looking for something else. A "regular" PNM could say they want to join for "sisterhood" and "involvement" which are both way too vague to actually mean anything. You are going to have to spell out your exact history and goals.

Oh, and 33girl, all 4 members of the Beatles said the same thing. All 4 of them said in interviews that at one point or another they were going to quit because the other 3 were such good friends and they felt left out.

[AOEforme]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

She hasn't said anything negative about her local (which is the right thing to do) but they could be awful, on the verge of folding, the campus laughing stocks, big ole hazers, etc. Then her primary problem would be why she hung around so long.

Sorry but I disagree.

If this had been an NPC and they had been "awful" or "on the verge of folding" or "the campus laughing stocks", you would have berated her for quitting because of those reasons. You would have said sisterhood is more important.

She took a vow to that group and broke it: it doesn't matter if they were popular or not, or a local or national.

In addition, if they were "big ole hazers", she was the president of that group of big ole hazers. Yes, some things can fly under a president's radar, but (from past experience) there are not many things which do, and we almost always find out later. And those were minor things, not the major hazing which you are insinuating.

[AlphaFrog]

If it were wn NPC group involved, there would be no discussion to be had.

[AOEforme]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

If it were wn NPC group involved, there would be no discussion to be had.

Right, because she wouldn't be allowed to even consider joining the colony.

I'm just saying that it shouldn't be more "OK" for her to dump a local than a national.

DubaiSis's reasoning was what bothered me.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by AOEforme

Right, because she wouldn't be allowed to even consider joining the colony.

I'm just saying that it shouldn't be more "OK" for her to dump a local than a national.

DubaiSis's reasoning was what bothered me.

I still think we're assuming a lot as far as her motives for quitting the local being the colony.

Also, I believe we have had a few girls on here asking for advice about quitting an NPC and joining a local and it was received similarity.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

The colonization team might not aware of her having been a member of this local (because the team doesn't go to school there).

However, don't MOST expansion teams work closely with the campus Panhellenic or Greek Council or whatever (even if there is no Panhellenic, there is something like that on campus?) So even if they should happen to not know, somebody involved with GL on campus is probably going to be like "hey that girl was president of XYZ!"

THiS.

darjeeling, there aren't that many expansions going on in the NPC at the present time. We all have our fingers on the pulse of expansion, because it is thrilling and exciting for a chapter to have a new colony. You have posted your situation on the internet for everyone to see. Believe me that Panhellenic = we all talk to and with each other, all the time. The particular expansion team on your campus is going to check out everything, and I mean everything, about each potential new member. There won't be any unturned stones. Right out of the gate, an expansion chapter wants to be 100% on top of the game.

There is no blowing sunshine to make this all better for you coming from me. No rationalizations, explanations, sugar coating. These may be harsh words, but for me, they are my truth and need to be spoken. Crystal ball says: highly unlikely.

[AOII Angel]

I've read all of the posts and have held off giving my opinion for some time. To the OP, you had your chance at sisterhood and jumped in with both feet. Being President indicates a level of participation above and beyond the average sister. It would be an immense slap in the face to your former sorority for a new NPC group to come onto a campus and pledge you after you went from their President to a disaffiliated sister. If you can't see this, then you haven't thought about it long enough.

When new chapters are being formed, they have to think about more than individual members, they have to think about their position on campus and relations with other campus organizations. This would set a standard of disrespect for another sorority (whether or not they carry the banner of NPC) especially since you were the PRESIDENT. Think twice about disrespecting the women you once called sisters in this way. It likely won't be worth it.

[Drolefille]

Thought:
Possible that the OP attempted to get her local to affiliate/be absorgbed while President and in failing decided to quit so she could affiliate solo?

[carnation]

I'm remembering a similar situation. Some of you may remember this at the college where I taught...there were 3 hard-hazing locals. The college ordered them all to go national. One went national, one folded due to low membership, and the third sent a million alums to the administration to beg and plead and cry until they let them stay local with many conditions.

Okay, some of that local's members had seen all the advantages they could get from a national group at the presentations, quit it, and pledged the national immediately. Others hung in there but pledged the second national that came in a couple of years later. They saw that on that campus, there was no comparison.

This campus is still seeing members quit the local to go national. During recruitment, you see clueless freshman buy into that, "You should pledge us! We're inexpensive and we've been here forever!" Then on down the line, they look around and see they're getting exactly what they've paid for and they pledge one of the NPCs.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

She already quit. So regardless of what happens with the colony she is not an active member of her sorority anymore.

The colony taking her would be kind of like them spitting on the whole campus culture - I would hope national officers and volunteers aren't dumb enough to make that mistake. NPC vows aren't the only vows that matter, and at a school where the locals and nationals operate within the same framework (which it sounds like this place is, otherwise she wouldn't have been on the Greek life board) leaving a local and going to a national, although not technically prohibited by NPC rules, would be looked on with as much disdain as going from one NPC to another.

In your opinion. I don't think any of our national officers are "dumb" if they find that she would be an asset and take her. She might very well be an amazing potential member. IMO the main reservation here would be that she took the office of President and then quit because she thought she "didn't fit in". That sounds like a wishy-washy reason. She might have a far better one that she doesn't want to detail on the internet (which is wise, if that's the case). If I were picking colony members, "I didn't fit in" wouldn't be a good enough reason to quit, and I would therefore question her potential dedication. But who knows...there might be more to the story, and personally I can think of more valid reasons for quitting that might make a difference.

[FuzzieAlum]

I think this is really a question you need to be asking your office of Greek life. At my alma mater, the local sorority was a fully participating member of the local Panhel, and while NPC didn't have a relevant policy, our campus regulations treated the local just like any of the NPC organizations. The new colony would not be allowed to offer you a bid.

[carnation]

I looked up the PH Constitution at the local college. It used to say that women had to wait a semester before pledging the nationals if they were in that local and vice versa. That's not in there anymore and it was probably challenged successfully...I mean, how were they going to make that rule stick?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Thought:
Possible that the OP attempted to get her local to affiliate/be absorgbed while President and in failing decided to quit so she could affiliate solo?

From her post (which she could be spinning of course), it seems to me like she already had made the decision to quit before the colony materialized. YMMV.

Originally Posted by carnation

This campus is still seeing members quit the local to go national. During recruitment, you see clueless freshman buy into that, "You should pledge us! We're inexpensive and we've been here forever!" Then on down the line, they look around and see they're getting exactly what they've paid for and they pledge one of the NPCs.

Yes, but it is usually the exec board or people who have represented the sorority in Panhel/Greek council who are the ones quitting?

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

In your opinion. I don't think any of our national officers are "dumb" if they find that she would be an asset and take her. She might very well be an amazing potential member. IMO the main reservation here would be that she took the office of President and then quit because she thought she "didn't fit in". That sounds like a wishy-washy reason. She might have a far better one that she doesn't want to detail on the internet (which is wise, if that's the case). If I were picking colony members, "I didn't fit in" wouldn't be a good enough reason to quit, and I would therefore question her potential dedication. But who knows...there might be more to the story, and personally I can think of more valid reasons for quitting that might make a difference.

No. They would be dumb. Period. See AOEforme's post. Regardless of whether she quit the local because of the colony coming or independently of it, the fact is that she is well known on campus as a former president and representative of her local group. That immediately throws shade on the new NPC chapter, the same as it would if they took a girl who was known on campus for her anti-Greek tirades in the school paper or for running a meth lab in her dorm room. It doesn't matter how dedicated they would be...campus perception is the issue. A colony screws that up and they're always going to have to deal with it.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Yes, but it is usually the exec board or people who have represented the sorority in Panhel/Greek council who are the ones quitting?

33, yes, when the local first went national, a whole slate of local officers who had fought for their group to go national left their local. They had seen all the benefits and talked to the women from the nationals one-on-one and they wanted what they'd seen. Others followed within a couple of years.

Now you see a mixed bag of older and younger girls leave. It's not even like I'm comparing apples to oranges here in comparing the nationals to the local on this campus, it's more like comparing apples to...hackberries.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by carnation

33, yes, when the local first went national, a whole slate of local officers who had fought for their group to go national left their local. They had seen all the benefits and talked to the women from the nationals one-on-one and they wanted what they'd seen. Others followed within a couple of years.

If the whole local went national doesn't this naturally follow? Or do you mean that local A went with Phi Mu (just using their name so I don't get more confused) and women from local B also joined? Or ZTA formed and a bunch of women from local B joined it?

Either way, I'm not talking about then, I'm talking about NOW. Do women who have taken leadership positions in the local often quit to join one of the NPCs?

I don't think the OP's situation is similar to what was going on at your college at all. If there was a horde of other women going from local to national (and a whole system trying to transition from local to national) she most likely would have thrown that fact into her post.