Sorority membership
 

Aoife,
You said you were coming to the states on a work visa for the summer. I didn't get the idea that you were staying for the school year. Keep in mind that in most cases, you have to be a student at a particular school to participate in their greek system. In addition, most sororities don't take new members in the summer. I am sure there are exceptions to this, but it is generally how things run.

I'd think the liability insurance would take a diminished role overseas. I don't pay a huge amount of attention to legal settlements in Europe, but when was the last time you heard of a case like the Fraternity being sued because a partygoer was hit by a drunk driver (who had nothing to do with the party) and lost millions? Tort reform over here is needed, but as long as lawyers run the government, I don't find it likely.

Those other issues are major issues as well.

I'm surprised that GLO-like organizations haven't sprung up in Europe though. Not surprised at all that European students wouldn't 'copy' something from the US. I've heard of similar organizations in Germany, but very little specific information.

If you studied abroad during rush or cob, I would think a group would love to have you join or at least hang out.

Aoife,

Does your name have anything to do with the legend referenced on this site? I remember when my family and I were in Ireland in July 2001 hearing about some famous person in Irish folklore with your name. If I remember correctly, we were in the Waterford Crystal factory when we heard about it. Incidentally, there was an employee at the crystal factory by the name of Aoife also. Anyway, good luck with your search.

Since I've lived and studied in England, I think I can speak with some authority regarding the questions about GLOs and Great Britain.


I don't see what airfare costs there would be. How often would someone from HQ need to fly to the chapter? :confused:


I think that there are a few reasons why GLOs haven't taken off in the UK.


First, British students don't really "get" what fraternities and sororities are all about. What they know of them is based on television and movies. As we all know, TV and film aren't always the best examples. They think it's all about hazing or something. Decadence could probably tell you a bit about what university administrators think an American fraternity is all about. ;) I maintain that the hazing British students conduct (yes, they haze too!) is just as bad if not far worse than what their American counterparts come up with.


Even if you explained the concept to them fully, I'm not convinced that they'd still want to participate. You see, the benefits of being in a GLO (academics, social, philanthropy, friendship) would probably be seen as "why do I need to join a GLO for that?"


You see, like any country, they have their own culture. I found the culture of British students to be quite different from the American style. I don't want to go on and on, but this is an interesting subject - one which I thought about while living in the UK. Here is a short run-down of four "benefits" of GLOs as they relate to British culture in general :


Academics - British students strike me as pretty academically focused. They must take a rigorous amount of tests as they progress though [high] school. On the whole, they already know their major before they apply to university. They're expected to be relatively self-sufficient in their university studies. It's not as if they need the support of a GLO to help them maintain their grades. (please don't anyone read an anti-American sentiment into that).


Social - Oh my...where do I start? British students like to party! Drinking is a part of European culture in general. In the UK, the drinking age is 18, so you bet nearly every student is getting plastered the first 2 weeks of every new university year. I lived one block off of a famous street in Bristol (England) where the students were known to go pub crawling - I got to see it first hand! At any rate, almost every single student club at my university, from the ballroom dancing club to the Star Trek club to the field hockey team had socials. I don't mean pizza nights, I'm talking big drinking blowouts. Alcohol aside, students certainly don't need a GLO to help them with their social scene. Even the chess club rocks out. ;)


Don't even get me started on risk management issues that might pertain to a UK GLO. Oh my! :o


Philanthropy - The British are a *very* charitable people. There are *loads* of causes that the public support. University students in particular love to help out by organizing charitable events such as "RAG Week" or collecting coins in buckets for the national "Red Nose Day". There are often special clubs on campus just for this purpose. If a student wants to be charitable, she doesn't have to join a GLO, she can join one of the several philantropy-based clubs on campus.


Friendship - Like the US, people wonder why one would need to join a GLO to make friends. Friends can be made anywhere. Though, this is probably the strongest of the four points in favour of having GLOs in the UK.


Second, there would probably be resistance to GLOs due to their selective nature. Britiain has a funny relationship with class issues. (That is, socio-economic standing). The "elitist" nature of GLOs might put a lot of people off. Plus, the universities there would not recognize a GLO due to the discrimination factor. Unlike the US, there are no members of the UK parliament who are members of fraternities and sororities who were able to put a clause in the law to exempt GLOs from not discriminating during membership selection. :) Because of these anti-discrimination policies in many universities, a GLO would have to be off-campus.


Next, non-university student housing is cheap. It would be really easy (at least in Bristol) to find a big house that everyone could share. So, living in GLO housing isn't necessarily a big money saver. Though, if done right, a fraternity or sorority house *could* be a benefit to the members.


Also, there aren't any alumni networks to assist a potential GLO in Britain. Who would be there to watch out to make sure that the chapter was doing ok? This would be especially important as these students wouldn't have a historical background from which to understand the tradition of GLOs.


Finally, British university students are notorious for being perpetually poor. Then again, what college student isn't? :) I believe it would be extremely difficult to justify large fraternity and sorority dues to British students - they'd probably faint when told the cost.


Even with these weak points, I still think that GLOs could be a benefit to UK university students. I think that it may actually work to take the marketing approach that sororities are for women who wish to have a nice time, study, make friends, have socials and live in a nice house but don't want to have the alcohol-feuled clubbing activities of other student societies. It would probably take having a local GLO start-up and then petition one of the US-based ones.


I don't think British students would particularly reject an IFC/NPC/NPHC organization only by the fact that it's an American concept (I don't know, because of the war or something). As long as the students aren't expected to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the US or something, then it's all good.


Thanks for letting me share my thoughts on this. As I said before, living in England while studying counselling and higher education gave me a great opporutnity to think about topics such as this.


.....Kelly :)