.. which is funny, because these were two of the three sororities that I actually knew about (plus Theta Phi Alpha) because they were the ones on my campus.

Honestly, during my entire time in school, I probably couldn't have told you the names of any of the other NPC sororities (except for maybe the historically relevant ones, for example, I.C. Sororis -> Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Alpha Delta Pi being the "firsts"). I didn't even know Alpha Sigma Tau WAS an NPC sorority when I first joined. I knew nothing about Greek life, and that goes for a lot of girls who are now Greek at my school.

Do I love the fact that I'm part of an NPC, and that I have the connections and oversight that a national organization provides? Of course. At the same time that's all I've ever known. Could I have also enjoyed a sisterhood that was only offered on my campus and didn't have the national recognition? Possibly. (Well.. if we had locals.. but I'm trying to make a point!)

And if you think that I don't get weird looks and questions asked when people see my letters, you'd be wrong. Because there are a lot of people out there who don't know of every NPC sorority. Hell, my mom still asks me if I have AET stuff going on. :p:rolleyes: But I enjoy when people ask questions, because then I actually get to talk with them about something that I love :D

Wow, what a bitch. I hope it wasn't one of my sisters or I'll need to go and school her on that. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Bloomsburg has 5 local and 5 national sororities and AFAIK there is no difference between the two as far as the campus is concerned - you aren't joining a "lesser" group because you join a local. We had 2 local fraternities at Clarion while I was in school and they were on the higher end of the prestige ladder.

ASTalumna put it quite well - it's not as bad as it used to be because of the internet, but if you would have said "Pi Beta Phi" at my school people would have said "WTF is that??" Because of the way NPCs and NICs rush, you are pretty much focused on what's on your campus. The only reason people knew about Tri Delta was because of the Saturday Night Live skit. :)

You have to remember - you are at a school with one of the biggest Greek systems in the nation. There are a lot more options than the average student ever sees.

I know this thread is kind of old but I do want to know how to make our local sorority "legitimate", not for the reasons of issues with other sororities though.

Our schools & most schools in the NYC area do not recognize Greek life, at all-national or not. We can have "on campus clubs" that do not have any of the Greek letters in them and the clubs have to be open to all students. (Usually these are used for fund raising and to be able to have a table during orientation)

Recently, we had 3 girls decide to drop with no warning. They did not show up for a ceremony and from that point on stopped all communication. 2 of the girls that dropped were our VP/Pledge Mother & our ritualist. They had all of our ceremony stuff in their possession as well as our scrapbook (with some of the girls personal photos(baby/family photos)) and our sorority position books.

We have done everything we can to try to get this stuff back with no results. One of the sisters has a father involved with the police who said that because we are not "legitimate" we cannot do anything.

At this point it seems there is nothing we can do, but I want to stop this from even being an issue in the future.

I do not know what else we can do to become "legitimate" short of trying to become apart of a National sorority, which we do not want. We have by-laws, have been published in the papers for our charity work and have a bank account in the sororities name.

Does anyone know what other routes we can take so we aren't faced with this situation ever again?

There's no "official" entity that you have to go through to be considered "legitimate" when it comes to Greek life. If your local is operating the way your founders envisioned, you're legit.

And (someone correct me if I'm wrong) unless you have something signed by sisters stating that all XYZ property belongs to XYZ, I'm not sure how you'd get your stuff back. Maybe from now on, keep it in a centralized location so that individual sisters won't have your information at home (maybe a safe deposit box?).

I am actually one of the founders, and it is operating the way we first planned. But according to legal standpoints, we are not a "legitimate organization" to be able to file a complaint.

Thats where I was looking for clarification. What would we need to do to be considered a legal legitimate organization?

I have to double check if the bylaws that are signed by each girl have anything in there about our stuff, but the safe deposit box--or something like that, is a good idea. Im not sure we could actually use that as we would need these things on a weekly to bi weekly basis, but maybe we could keep all hard copies there. Ill have to talk it over with the other active founder. Thanks for the advice.

You need to incorporate as a non-for-profit entity in the state of New York. Do some research online; it's probably a form and like a $100 filing fee. Note that this doesn't get you federal NFP status, but it will make you a separate entity that can own things and sue if those things are stolen.

Thank you so much!!

so i can create a teen sorority in my neighborhood give it a greek name and dont have to be incorporated

I think if there's any hesitation to allow you to join Panhellenic it is this: local sororities are not held to inter/national standards. Therefore, if there should be an incident of any kind, whether hazing or risk management related or something else, it falls on the school to do something, not the inter/national organization who usually steps in to deal with the situation directly. Sometimes an incident like this where the school is forced to take action can breed anti-Greek sentiment among the administration. This can lead to them cracking down on Panhellenic or disbanding them all together. Maybe this is another angle to approach things from -- what can you do to ensure Panhellenic that you are going to hold yourselves to standards above and beyond what is expected from NPC sororities? If you can reassure them of this, they may be more open to letting you join. How exactly you go about that, I can't tell you, but it's just a thought. :)

1. Go to school. Get an education. PLEASE.

2. Make friends in your high school. Heck, even make a club. Clean the neighborhood. Be selfless. Follow the law. Don't make up Greek letters. Dont' turn into a SORORITY or a gang.

3. If you make it to college, consider Greek life then. Anytime before, and because a bastardization of what it was once hoped to become.