Even if my national officers were on Facebook, I don't really think that's the appropriate method of contact for this type of request.

Bump

I was wondering about the status of your situation. Please update us. I hope it is a positive outcome.

Just seeing this thread.

I have dealt with a reinstatement before.

There was a member of my chapter who resigned her membership and immediately regretted it and wanted to reinstate. She had to put in a formal request for consideration to the Pi Phi Grand Council to be reinstated. She was denied at that time (she was still in college), but was told there was a possibility she could reinstate later, as an alumna, which I thought was interesting. Obviously that only really pertains to Pi Phi, but in some NPCs, you CAN reinstate.

I do think your situation sounds more like a paperwork snafu. For example, we had one member when I was president who spent a semester studying abroad in the spring. The following fall, she decided not to return to campus and instead to transfer to a different university. She had some minor unpaid bills. We were worried because we contacted her multiple times and did not hear from her, and were concerned that we would have to expel her or something (I can't remember what the final protocol in the situation would have been, but it would have been fairly drastic). Making the matter more complicated, she would have had her badge and (let's just say, hypothetically) if she hadn't been receiving our correspondence asking for the payment, she might never have known that she was leaving Pi Phi in bad status. Luckily, in reality she finally did reply to my email and sent in a payment so she could be an alum in good standing. But you see how these things can happen...

Hi all - I thought I would give a quick update. I contacted our national office and was told, after a paperwork review, that I was not eligible for reinstatement. Some of the dates (such as the date I graduated) given to me were not correct***, so in my opinion, it appears as if I was lying about the whole ordeal!

***I graduated in 2004, however I moved out of state for an internship (required for graduation) in 2003 (after completing 4 years at my school), got offered a job and stayed here. I completed the 2 courses remaining for my degree via distance learning. So when I said (via email) that I moved during my "last year of school" I meant my last year on campus...from their perspective it probably did look like things did not add up!!!

Anyway, I received a curt, short email asking me to call her. I just never called. I just felt so intimidated!

I started my provisional year with Junior League and that really has fulfilled my need for philanthropy, which was one of the reasons I wanted to become involved as an alumna. I know that I should call and discuss things, but I just keep putting it off.

My entire family is Greek and if I ever have a daughter, I will hate telling her that she can't be listed as my legacy because of some silly paperwork issue! My mother in law is a Pi Phi, sister was a Phi Mu at Ole Miss, other sister was my legacy, husband was an officer in his fraternity in Alabama....I hope that if my issue never gets resolved this will at least help a little on recs for future children! LOL

I do want to stick around GC though, I really enjoy the posts!

I hope you do stick around!

But I don't like the idea of misinformation about you (or anyone) floating about your National HQ. If I were you, I would detail my involvement with Pi Phi and your college career (including the internship), year by year on paper and send it to the proper person. I would add that, if there was an outstanding balance or any logical reason that you did not know about prior to graduation to cause your termination, you want to know about it. If it was a standards issue, you want to know about it. If it was a grades issue, you want to know about it. Whatever it is, you should know (and IMHO, deserve to know) why you are ineligible for reinstatement.

FWIW, a sister from the 1960's was deactivated from a chapter, and after much pleading, was reinstated by ADPi. Unfortunately, she pulled a MAJOR standards issue (embezzlement of chapter funds) in the 1980's, and then her membership was withdrawn - forever. In my book, unless you've pulled something as unforgivable as that, you should be able to plead your case. Yet, I'm not a member of Pi Beta Phi, so I don't know if your HQ is much stricter than ours.

Best of luck! I would hate to think that this would be held against any possible legacy.

Thanks honeychile - you are right. I do need to get the information cleared up.

Also, I'm not a Pi Phi...I have not posted my affiliation. I kind of like being anonymous!

OOPS! My bad! Best of luck anyhow!

That's the problem with emails. Sometimes they sound curt, but aren't intended to. God knows it takes me forever to send an email out because of that. I'm usually one of those "to the point" people. If she said to call and didn't send the "no" letter, give the person a call. She's just another woman and she needs help clarifying your situation-probably so she can bring the correct information to the Council-no need to be intimidated. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

If it's important to you, you should follow up with a phone call. Most of the information that your headquarters receives about when you graduated, etc. is based on reporting from the collegiate chapter. This does not always get reported accurately so it's in your best interest to follow up with that phone call to clear things up.