Local Sorority Looking to Merge with a National Chapter

[Jfurr1126]

At my university greek life is looking to expand its amount of national sororities on campus and decided to let my local sorority merge with a national in place of their planned extention (if we so choose.) We've formed a reseach committee and have spoken with the head of greek life to gather as much information as possible about various procedures that would have to occur for this to happen. However, we haven't found very much information about many things our members are asking about such as costs of national dues, the actual process for merging/ colonization, length of the colonization process, etc, due to NPC rules. While I'm not asking for specifics on what particular ogranizations do I was wondering if anyone here could give any general information about their dues, how national chapters feel about not being able to get a house soon after a charter (currently there's not enough room near campus for another sorority house), general merging process/ timeframe, and anything that you might feel would be helpful for us. Also, from my understanding, Panhellenic here would like to have this new chapter participating in formal recruitment in Fall 2008, does anyone know if we were to vote to begin the merging process as soon as possible, is this feasable? I hope this all makes sense, thanks a lot for your time and input!

[ssuchidelt]

My sorority is actually going through the extension process right now. We have three sororities coming to present this month. We got all that information through our greek life advisor that sent a letter to all the nationals (with the exception of the ones on our campus) stating that we were open for extension.

Any sorority that was interested sent us booklets, and binders filled with information about their organizations including the information you are looking for. The process, dues, length etc. are all different for different GLOs.

If the vote was to pass, and the stuff was in place I think it could be feasible to have a chapter up and running by then, but again it all depends on the organization. I think your best bet would be to talk to your greek life adviosr, or people on your local panhellnic counsel, they will be able to give you more information and let you know what needs to be done from here.

Good luck! Keep us updated!

[flirt5721]

I'm not sure about the mergin process but due to Nationals orgs. depends on the chapter. There are Nationals fees that will have to be paid. Some are one time fee like pledging fee, initiation fee, and purchase of your pin. For AXiD i have seen dues range from $300-$2000. It all depends on the school you are in. The higer price is mostly if the chapter has a house. That is also on factor of dues. The first semester is usally the most expensive because of the one time fees.

[ASUADPi]

Having a house will definately increase the cost of the sorority.When I joined my chapter, my first semester the dues were high. I was paying for initiation fees, badge fees, a parlour fee (for house upkeep since I didn't live in the house), and for food. It was quite expensive.

A chapter with a house will pay more in dues than a chapter that has a dorm or a chapter that has neither a dorm or house.

Depending on when y'all pick the chapters you want to possibly merge with and when you hear their presentations, y'all could feasibly be ready to go for formal fall 08.

You would have to go through the nationals "pledge" (say that in quotation marks because I know not all the nationals call their new members pledges, but for lack of a better word) period which could be 8 weeks all the way to a semester. Then initiation then prepare y'all to rush for the new chapter.

[Jfurr1126]

Thanks for all of the posts! Since I've been getting a few PMs about other nationals that arent NPC sororities, I'd just like to mention that if we did affiliate with a national chapter the university specifies that it must be an NPC sorority. My university will no longer be allowing sororities on campus that are not members of NPC due to liability. They've also told us that if we didn't vote to merge we would probably be asked to merge or leave campus in a few years

Our greek life advisor has told us everything she knows about the merging/ extension process. My university hasn't extended since 1989 so she's never been a part of the extension process and has absolutely no clue about the process of merging a local.

Another question I forgot to ask: How big are sorority colonies usually? We currently have around 50 members in my local chapter (will probably drop by 10 or so if we vote to merge) and some girls are concerned with recruiting more founding mothers. Also, some girls are concerned that since quota of the NPC sororities has been around 60 new members per sorority in fall recruitment leading to a total of around 125 that we would be expected to raise our numbers to 100-125 in our first year of recruitment. While I highly doubt this would be the case, could anyone say that it would be? Thanks again for all of your help!

[flirt5721]

The numbers all depend on your school. Some schools range from 10-100+

[AnchorAlumna]

I'd like to point out that you would not just be "affiliating" with a national/international sorority. As a chapter, you would be expect to adhere to their rules, practices, traditions, etc. You would have few vestiges left of your local. Just something to consider. I assume you or your school have contacted the National Panhellenic Conference office?

[LPIDelta]

If you haven't done so yet, visit the National Panhellenic Conference extension website HERE. There you can fill out a brief form and you will be able to download all the info you will need to start the process.

In terms of your numbers, the exact details depend on the organization you select to join but basically you will be expected to be competitive. The national organization will likely give you tons of help, and you may do a special recruitment after regular recruitment in order to get your numbers up.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Jfurr1126

Thanks for all of the posts! Since I've been getting a few PMs about other nationals that arent NPC sororities, I'd just like to mention that if we did affiliate with a national chapter the university specifies that it must be an NPC sorority. My university will no longer be allowing sororities on campus that are not members of NPC due to liability.

This is absolute bullshit and discrimination on the part of the school. Do they think NPC groups are perfect and never have any "liability"?

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is absolute bullshit and discrimination on the part of the school. Do they think NPC groups are perfect and never have any "liability"?

Of course they have liability. They also have and can afford liability insurance to cover such problems.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Of course they have liability. They also have and can afford liability insurance to cover such problems.

So can other non-NPC groups.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by 33girl

So can other non-NPC groups.

True, but local groups probably can't afford as much insurance as NPC groups. And I'll bet the university meant NPC and NPHC groups....or at least groups with a national presence where the liability will be spread over a bigger group...thus lessening the liability to the university.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

True, but local groups probably can't afford as much insurance as NPC groups. And I'll bet the university meant NPC and NPHC groups....or at least groups with a national presence where the liability will be spread over a bigger group...thus lessening the liability to the university.

We're not talking local groups - we're talking National, Non-NPC (there are a few).

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

True, but local groups probably can't afford as much insurance as NPC groups. And I'll bet the university meant NPC and NPHC groups....or at least groups with a national presence where the liability will be spread over a bigger group...thus lessening the liability to the university.

I didn't say ANYTHING about local groups. Her post said they have to join an NPC group - they cannot join a non-NPC sorority. This includes GSS, SAI, KBG, OPA, and of course all the NPHC groups.

Once again, this is total discrimination on the part of the school.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I didn't say ANYTHING about local groups. Her post said they have to join an NPC group - they cannot join a non-NPC sorority. This includes GSS, SAI, KBG, OPA, and of course all the NPHC groups.

Once again, this is total discrimination on the part of the school.

Yes but GSS and OPA are service sororities, and SAI is music related, those aren't just "social." The impression I get from the OP is that they're socially oriented.

I agree with you about KBG but they aren't as well known. I guarantee no one at my school had ever heard of them, greeks or administration.

My guess is that the policy is a sort of "stick with what we know" sort of thing. It's discriminating, but not necessarily in the negative sense. I'm not sure that there's any way to force a university to recognize another national.

I consider NPHC chapters quite different as I don't think they absorb locals and may have city-wide chapters in the area.