THANKS!
 

I'm really glad to hear that many of you are so Open to the idea of graduate students joining and becomming a part of your organizations. Being a graduate student who is pursuing AI, it makes me glad that there are still options and open minds out there!! Thanks!:)

As stated earlier in the thread Phi Sigma Sigma does allow Graduate students to join their chapters. The chapters are now called collegiate chapters rather then undergraduate chapters to reflect this.

Too bad there isn't a Phi Sigma Sigma chapter at my school....I'm a senior undergrad now, but I have FOUR YEARS left of grad school later. I missed my chance at greek life due to personal reasons, and when I finally got a chance to join an org., I did not receive a bid. So now I am thinking about AI when I graduate next fall, but I haven't made any final decisions yet.

I asked this question a while ago to someone on our International Programming Committee. The answer was, “Yes, AOII would accept a graduate student into an undergraduate chapter, BUT it is contingent upon the collegiate chapter and the university.” From what I gather, it is rare because of where the majority of our chapters are located.

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia allows collegiate chapters to pledge grad students.

delete

No problem. Thanks for asking. The short answer is that, yes, it is similar -- historically, at least -- to other fraternities like Triangle, Acacia or FarmHouse with non-Greek-letter names. (FIJI, remember is a nickname for Phi Gamma Delta, which only uses its letters in certain contexts.) Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is a social fraternity for men who love music and believe in its power to enrich the human spirit. We're open to all male students, not just music majors or minors and not just to people who plan to be professional musicians. You might say we are a special interest social fraternity -- again, somwhat like Triangle (for those interested in engineering and related sciences) or FarmHouse or Alpha Gamma Rho (agriculture).

Our original name was The Sinfonia Fraternity (or simply "Sinfonia" or "The Sinfonia"). The word "Sinfonia" is derived from Greek; this explanation is from our membership manual, Themes for Brotherhood (this is public info):

"The word is a particularly rich pun. Its etymological origin is straightforward, for the Greek "syn-" or "sym-" means "with" and "phon" a "sound." Their combination into "symphonia," however, means "agreeing in sound" or "concordant." When the word passed from Greek into the English language as "symphony," it was used not only in reference to things musical, but to agreement among human beings and even to the harmony of the universe -- that celestial symphony commented on by philosophers of such varying stripes as Pythagoras, Boethius, and Kepler."

The letters F,M and A have figured in the Fraternity since the earliest days, however. Eventually the name of the Fraternity was changed, first informally and later officially, to add the Greek letters to Sinfonia to form our current official name.

BTW, brothers in Phi Mu Alpha are called Sinfonians, not Phi Mu Alphas or the like.

(Sorry this got a bit off topic.)

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
 

Don't some Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia chapters also admit women?

i asked this in another thread but i'll ask this again here since this seems to be the most appropriate thread: graduate members in collegiate chapters doesn't in anyway conflict with NPC rules? instinctually i think it would.

Obviously it doesn't, or it wouldn't be allowed by the sororities which have it.

Why?

Re: Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
 

No, we're male only. A little more quick, abridged history:

For a while and for a variety of reasons we called ourselves a professional fraternity, even though we were founded as a social fraternity. The professional emphasis was particularly strong in the 1960's and 1970's. Then came Title IX, which cuts off federal funds to schools that house single-sex organizations; an exception is made for social fraternities and sororities but not for professional ones. While Phi Mu Alpha tried to obtain an exemption from Title IX, a handful of chapters were granted permission to initiate women if necessary to prevent the chapter from losing recognition by the sheltering institution. National permission was required before a chapter could initiate women. About 250 women were initiated over 6 or 7 years under this policy. In the early 80's, we received recognition from the federal Department of Education as a social fraternity, meaning we could legally remain single-sex. About that same time, the Fraternity, through its national assembly, voted overwhelmingly to return to our roots as a social fraternity (a decision that has taken time to fully implement), to remove all "professional" references from fraternity documents, and to return to all-male status. A few chapters disagreed with the later decision, acted in defiance, and were expelled from the Fraternity upon so doing. At least one started a local that retains some of our symbols and colors.

The 250 or so women who were initiated in the late '70's and early '80's by the relatively few chapters that did initiate women then are still considered Sinfonians, but no woman has been initiated since that time.

(Apologies for yet another digression from the topic.)

So Do We
 

GSS allows graduate students to pledge if there is a chapter at that school. We just started allowing it back in 2001.

For that reason we no longer refer to chapters at colleges/universities as "undergraduate". We now call them "collegiate" so we can include those graduate students.

Apparently not. Are you thinking of any rules in particular?

If you're thinking of recruitment, I asked that very question a while back in the rush forum. The consensus was that if a grad student were interested in a particular NPC sorority and knew they would be holding a COB rush, she should go to the COB rush; otherwise she should sign up for formal recruitment, knowing that she will be cut immediately after round 1 by any sorority that does not accept grad students as new collegian-level members.

Wait a minute though... doesn't the NPC creed start out, "We, as undergraduate members of women's fraternities..." ?

It does, but apparently that's not followed to the letter of the law or the groups who accept grad students wouldn't be allowed to do so.