kddani - yeah it was just something we were thinking about. it was suggested to us by our advisor and were looking into it. I just wanted some feedback on what people thought about the issue i presented. But thanks!

In some respects, to potentials that dont know you might think that your org isnt legit because its not a "panhel" org, but in other respects, there are potentials that have no clue what "panhel" even means, so youre fine. I dont think it really matters. You will always kind of battle that issue, but in the end, I dont think it will hurt you much.

As to forming a national council of locals....that doesnt make sense :confused: but that wasnt in the original question....so I am moving on....

I agree with whoever said "just act legitimate". I mean, youre a local, you dont have a national, but it doesnt mean youre not operating as a sisterhood! Present yourself professionally, be organized, show pride in your org and I feel like you'll be just as legit as the other organizations on your campus. (I would suggest that you probably already ARE legit, but maybe your group doesnt feel legit because of the lack of national thing? So just have confidence!)

RhoGamma09 - Thanks I really appreciate the encouragement! :)

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who gave me feedback it really did encourage me. I am going to tell my girls and PNM's what you guys told me. We are legitimate if we continue to act legitimate. Although there are people who will continue to say things to try and slow us down, we are a strong group of women and I know my sorority is going to continue to thrive!

I agree that you don't need affiliation with a national umbrella org to be legitimate. However, I think it would benefit your group immensely to have a better working relationship with the other Greeks on your campus.

When you approached Panhell the first time, it was about expanding the NPC presence on your campus. They didn't want to open the campus for expansion, so you decided to test the waters and see whether there was enough interest to sustain a local sorority. Since then, you've been successful in defining your new sorority's identity and in attracting and retaining members.

Now that you are a somewhat stable group, you should consider approaching Panhell again about membership in the local Panhellenic Council, not as a new NPC sorority but as the local you have so successfully gotten off the ground. If an associate membership is an option, it might be what you need rather than a full Panhellenic Council membership. That would give your group a place at the table in campus decisions that impact Greek Life, and probably enable you to participate in campus-wide Greek events like Homecoming, Greek Week... whatever your campus has.

Be aware, though, that by affiliating with Panhell even at an associate level you'll have to abide by Panhellenic rules governing sororities on your campus. That could be a very good thing, too, for a young group.

Good luck!

ophiaginger - thank you so much. i proposed the idea of joining panhel again to my president and she agreed that it would be a really good idea to try again. you guys really helped me and once again i truly appreciate it. theres a rush event tonight so i promise to keep you guys updated on anything new with my group :)

In general, OPA chapters are chartered as "campus organizations" like you are and most are not members of their campus Panhellenic Council. Joining Panhell is a decision left up to the local chapter. But a few of our chapters have joined Panhell and it has been a positive experience for them. If you have the option of an associate membership rather than a full membership, that might be best for you. On campuses that offer an associate membership, this usually means you don't participate in formal recruitment with the NPC chapters. (And since you aren't paying for any shared recruitment expenses, dues for associate members are often less than dues for full members.)

Good luck with your recruitment this week!

update on my local!
 

I just wanted to update you u guys on how its going with our group. We got 10 new pledges (yayyy!!). We did have a bump in the road though when someone from Panhel tried to shut us down. But because of our source (my universities rules) they weren't allowed to. Now after many meeting with both Panhel, the administration and the student government association we have two options. We can either petition SGA to go under them as a subgroup that would allow us to keep a gpa requirement and just accept girls (because under SGA neither is allowed), or we can join panhel with an associate membership (which our panhel has never done befroe). If we go under SGA though we can't call ourselves a sorority. We would have to change it to society or just keep it to our letters. Under panhel we would have to change some of our rules, our dues would be raised and our graduate members may not be able to to stay as members. There are pros and cons to each side but I think we may be leaning more towards joining panhel. We aren't sure yet but I wanted to update you guys and see what you thought!

What are graduate members?

It sounds like Panhel is definitely the better deal IMO.

Wouldn't graduate members be the members that are in graduate school and active in the sorority?

Just guessing though.

yeah alwayssai thats right. we allow graduate members who go to the graduate school full time our university to participate in our chapter. only bc we had girls who graduated who wanted to remain a part of the group and who would be here full time just not as undergrad anymore. under panhel though we might have to lose a couple of those great girls which makes this such a hard decision :(

I don't think you would have to lose your graduate members if you join Panhellenic. National Panhellenic doesn't have a rule against it, and some NPC organizations have rules that allow graduate members, as long as they are still full time students of the university. I would discuss this further with the Greek Life Advisor on your campus (the staff member who works in the Greek Life office).

I'm sure it would help the OP's case to her Greek Life advisor if she could show him proof of this. Could anybody provide her with something that indicates this arbitrary limitation is actually in conflict with NPC rules? Unfortunately, since I'm not in an NPC, this is way outside my area of expertise.

a real big step in becoming legitimate

GET A TAX ID

trust me, alot of things will come to life with that ID.

Panhel can determine who gpes through rush (i.e. they have to have a minimum GPA and be full time students) but they cannot determine if grad students can stay active. That would be up to the policies of the NPC or other national group you chose and some do allow it. (Ask about that during the colonization process.) If Panhel is trying to tell you otherwise, they need schooled. They're overstretching their boundaries.