I realize you aren't on the inside of this, but can you clarify something? Did the members of the local decide to just pledge the reorganized Phi-Mu or was there literally a chapter consolidation? There is a difference and I wonder where Panhellenic stood in the middle of that. It would seem to me that if a local affiliates with a national GLO, they have to go through the protocol for these sorts of things. Just curious.

There was literally a chapter consolidation. Theta Kappa Pi at Penn State is gone for good; Phi Mu actually presented to TKP and TKP accepted. I'm not really clear on all of the details, maybe someone else could answer this question in better detail?

Thanks for the info.

IMO there are too many of these "service/social" sororities that put the social before service and just use it as an excuse to get around NPC rules. I'm glad Penn State's NPC finally did something about it.

The local/service sorority issue has been a problem for a while. When Pahellenic voted to go dry my freshman year (2000) a bunch of the fraternities started doing more with the local/service sororities because they weren't bound by the same rules as we were. It was really frustrating. I will say it is difficult for the fraternities because there are so many of them and only 20 sororities to pair up with for Greek Week and other week longs.

It's good to see Phi Mu get some new blood. This will be really good for them!! We lost AGD my freshman year and that was hard to see. Yea for Phi Mu!

Here's some more information:

I was told that quota was 18 (+juniors) and I'm pretty sure almost every chapter on campus made quota and ALOT made quota plus.

Over 80% of girls received their first choice which is just absolutely AMAZING.

sounds like a happy ending....
good for them.

Sigma Kappa took quota + 2 juniors for a total of 20.

My understanding is that Alpha Delta Pi took Quota plus One, for a total of 19. I'm not entirely sure how far they are from Total, but this sentence may get edited! ;)

Well, wouldn't you be upset if someone basically said your chapter is to be treated as if they have the plague? I don't think it is "Crying and complaining" as much as "wanting to be treated as equals because the second part of local sorority is still SORORITY."

It's not so much to do with the fact that they are local.

It's the fact that they are calling themselves "service/social sororities" and partying more than the actual "social" NPC groups. They're using the "service" appendage to try and get around NPC rules when they rush and operate exactly like NPC groups - except they aren't bound by alcohol or rushing rules. It would be the same deal if Gamma Sigma Sigma or Omega Phi Alpha (both national service sororities) were putting a higher priority on socializing than service, which is supposed to be their reason for existing.

Okay, what's a weeklong?

Piggying back on Shelia's statement...

when I rushed one of the social/service sororities in Fall 2003, they told us that they scheduled socials Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and occasionally on Wednesday. We HAD to attend at least 50% of the socials and attendance at all was encouraged.

I was attracted to the community service part but there was nothing there really about community service. It seemed more of a group of girls who socialized with fraternities, did the occasional service project, and participated in THON.

I think weeklongs are like Homecoming, Greek Week, Greek Sing. Its been a while since I went through rush so I don't remember everything I was told about Greek activities.

The week longs are Homecoming, Greek Sing and Greek Week. You pair up with a fraternity for the week and compete in various activities all week.

Homecoming you build your float and compete in the various Homecoming related activities ie. lip sync, and nittany persuit.

Greek Sing you put together part of a broadway musical to be performed at the end of the week.

Greek Week you build your chariot for the race and compete in all kinds of other games.

THON is a whole different story that I don't feel like typing right now. Maybe I'll edit this later.

Homecoming and Greek Sing are in the fall and THON and Greek Week are in the spring.


What 33girl said is exactly right. The orgs in question weren't focusing on the service aspect of their service/social designation (that's the only word I can think of right now). They were focusing way more on the social and the NPC sororities who have to play by the rules set out by our Panhellenic were getting the short end of the stick. The guys wanted to do more with the girls who could drink.

As an alumna of Gamma Sig at Penn State, I really resent these statements. I pledged because I wanted to concentrate on philanthropy more than anything. Yes, there were socials and we participated in some weeklongs, but that doesn't discredit the amount of service hours that were required (and greatly exceeded by the majority of the sisterhood). We were never forced to attend socials with fraternities. I understand that there are some girls that do join social/service sororities just for the social aspect, but they are certainly in the minority.