The interest group has requirements to fulfill for chartering. Women are not initiated as members until those requirements are met. This is eons ago, but if I recall, the women are initiated and then the chapter itself is installed (on the same evening that is). If there's someone who wishes to be initiated and she graduates before the chapter is fully chartered, she can be initiated as an alumna.

They were recolonizing so the chapter had already existed, it was just dormant...i.e. there WAS a chapter to initiate her into.

We had a sister of a failed colony (not a rechartering, at a school where a chapter never existed) become an alumna initiate.

Senusret, my impression is that most of the larger NPC sororities use the process that several people have described: a standard new member period (8 weeks, 10 weeks, whatever the organization prescribes or the campus allows) and then initiation/installation on the same day/evening. The new chapter will continue to be supported by a consultant for another year or two. This procedure is what is followed by my own org (Pi Beta Phi).

Of course, a potential problem would arise if in the first 8 weeks the colony was already experiencing major problems (de-pledging, numbers issues, or something). I'm not sure what sororities who follow this pattern (including mine) would do then - maybe go on and initiate and hold the charter for a while?

Some NPC sororities use the same method mentioned by the NIC fraternities so far on this board. I guess this is shown by Phine's post about AEPhi. They have initiation for the first member classes after the standard new member period, but do not necessarily receive their charter at the same time. They must wait until certain requirements are met or the "provisional" period expires (if it is a standard amount of time in that org). My sense is that the "provisional" period for NPC sororities who use this method is usually probably shorter than that for NIC fraternities. I think it's interesting in Phine's post that you can see the different NPC philosophies about chartering on the same campus.

(ETA: I believe that there are some NIC fraternities, particularly the ones with values-based 4 year membership programs that they're converting chapters to, which follow procedures closer to the ones I've described the majority of NPCs following - initiation and chartering after the standard new member period. I don't know enough about it to elaborate more.)

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if more NPC groups move to the first method over time (chapter chartering at initiation, unless there are already major issues apparent).

I think what you're really getting at here is are members initiated before chartering? My impression is that that's often the case for NIC as well as a few NPC sororities. In the rest of the NPC, initiation and chartering happen at the same time. I've never heard of a org revoking membership to individuals who were already initiated because a colony failed. In fact, as others have mentioned, more often those who graduated before the colony was initiated are offered opportunities to initiate later, as alums.

Now there may be some cases where a group realizes the failure to get an initial new member class is so complete that they just give up and the new members are just SOL. I'm thinking of a time on my campus in 1991. There was an NPC group that arrived to colonize and due to the procedures they used to get new members, they got a tiny pledge class. They quickly realized that it was a lost cause and got the heck out of dodge, I think within a matter of weeks/months. As in they colonized in January and they were gone by May, possibly before. As far as I know, the new members in that organization were never initiated whatsoever, although I have noticed that on the W&L alumni website, you can choose that org as a Greek affiliation. I have sometimes wondered if some of those women went on to join my chapter, which was colonized successfully in 1992, but I never thought to ask any of my chapter's founders...

Very very helpful! Thank you! :)

I would also love to hear from non-social groups out there.

Out of curiousity, are members of the colony allowed to wear letters?

Yes for AOII.

I'm more familiar with the colonization process of SAI because it was pretty recent for my chapter (1999) and not so current on the Phi Sig policies.

In SAI, you first must form an interest group of at least 15 non-graduating girls of sophomore status or higher. The group must form themselves and become a free standing organization that volunteers in the community, hosts events, raises funds, etc. The interest group has to submit letters from the President of the University and the Head of the Music Department in support of Sigma Alpha Iota. An official pre-colonization visit must be held with school officials, group member and an official Sigma Alpha Iota representative.

Once the group is approved to colony status they must meet certain goals which include weekly meetings, minutes of each meeting, service projects, fund raisers, elect officers, establish a bank account...etc, etc. The colony must show evidence of operating for 6 months post the pre-colonization meeting.

A post-petition meeting is held with another representative who must observe certain things, meet with certain important people and report back to the NEB with their recommendation to approve/not approve the group for colony status. If the group is approved, the NVP or other rep will perform the pledging ceremony for the colony members and they will begin the Member in Training period.

The Province Officer, Faculty advisor, or other appointed Fraternity member will conduct the Member in Training sessions for the duration of 6 to 10 weeks. At the end of the MiT period, the colony members must take and pass the national membership exam.

At the end of it all, the colony is installed as a chapter and then initiated over a weekend--the whole thing usually takes 1 and 1/2 days. The installation day must include a reception and musicale.

Sorry....I talk too much.:rolleyes:

ETA: I'm gonna look up the Phi Sig process now.

I was the last pledge class of the colony before we became a chapter. So i pledged, went through pledge process and was initiated at chapter installation with all the brothers, making me a founding father. but basically as a colony we had the same education program that we do as a chapter only in the colony, in IHQ's eyes, everyone (pledges and actives) are one in the same until chapter installation. the distinction between pledges and actives was solely for the colony purposes. kind of like a practice run before the big show.

when we were colony, our pledges didnt have pledge pins, but we had colony pins. But only the "active" colonists could wear them. When we were installed we traded in the colony pins to IHQ and received our Member Badges and separate pledge pins for next semester.

so for us, we became a colony and everyone is initiated at installation into full brotherhood.

as a pike I am interested, whatever happened to the colony at Howard? I have heard some stories that I cannot believe are true. It seems as if they have just fallen off the face of the earth.

Lambda Chi Alpha initiates upon colonization. During that period (usually several years) the colony conducts its own initiations, often assisted by a nearby chapter. After meeting a list of requirements, the colony is installed and receives its Greek letter chapter designation.

From what I understand, some fraternities (Phi Sigma Kappa, Theta Chi) wait until the chartering to initiate all the members of the colony. Those who have left or graduated can come back for it.

In Phi Mu Alpha, no, because they have not yet been initiated. Only initiated brothers can wear the letters.

For Alpha Phi, our timeline is like this. The collegiate girls were pinned as New Members back in April 2008; this includes the women who will graduate before the chapter is installed, so they'll ultimately be AIs. (All of the NMs of the colony as well as the alumnae of our local are allowed to wear Alpha Phi's letters now.) In the fall, more girls will be recruited to the colony, then pinned as NMs. After that occurs, the traditional NM education will begin for everybody, both girls from our old local and the newly recruited girls. Both the collegiate NMs and the local's alumnae will be initiated as the chapter is installed, sometime around March/April 2009. Both collegiates and AIs will be allowed to sign the charter. :D

For OPhiA, an interest group is formed. They cannot become an official colony until they've met a certain list of requirements, including getting their numbers up. If I recall correctly, the colony phase lasts about a year. Part of the colony process is that the colonists take on their Alpha pledge class before they themselves are initiated, to ensure that they understand how to recruit and maintain the group's numbers. When the chapter is installed, only the original colonists are initiated. Those women may then initiate their first pledge class whenever they see fit. (In OPhiA, no colonists or pledges are allowed to wear our Greek letters; however, they're more than welcome to wear things that say "OPA" or "Omega Phi Alpha" written out.)

WOW that's a long time. How cool is that!

My organization's process is somewhat similar to RU OX Alum's. A group would start as an interest group to show that they can run an organization on their own. Once they've met the expansion requirements, they complete a founders program and are granted colony status (at which point, they become full-fledged brothers). The group remains a colony until it meets chapter requirements and presents itself at National Conference. If, for some reason, the chapter/colony doesn't make it, the guys still remain brothers. I haven't heard of this happening, though.

For my organization, yes.

I think that maybe the difference between the NIC and NPC is that once you initiate into one NPC, you cannot initiate into another ever, no matter the circumstance. With the NIC, some fraternities will bid men who have been "released" by another fraternity - even if they were initiated - and I can't imagine an NIC who wouldn't cut men loose under those circumstances.

But of course, the NIC also is of the belief that if the men work hard they can eventually get the members they need. They don't have to deal with quota, total, bid matching etc etc like the NPC groups do.