about the president thing, that did happen. basically, everyone voted for the slate because after being there for about 5 hours one day, and 4 hours the secdond, no one cared anymore.

I DEFINITELY agree. Our website is beyond embarrassing, and it's obvious it hasn't been updated in approx. 5 years. And my chapter is supposed to be starting a site of their own, but so far we have nada. :rolleyes:
Also, I too would love to see us up north! It's beneficial for me that ZTA's really concentrated in Florida, but I think it would be awesome to have more in some NE schools.

I love our new website (now that I've learned how to find my way through it!), but there are some things that are in what I call the "Double Secret Sisters Only" part that I think shouldn't be, such as a list of chapters. If I'm planning to go to XYZ College, how else do I find out if there's an ADPi chapter there?

The only other thing I'd like to see is this:

Our pin, while remaining basically the same, went through changes in the first 50 years of Alpha Delta Pi. Now that we have one pin, we are still permitted to personalize it by ordering it with pearls, opals, diamonds, jeweled points, alternating pearls & jewels, plain with pearl points, or plain - and all either in white or yellow gold. I know of two sisters who have a serious collection of different pins. I would absolutely love to see a poster of some sort made with all the changes, all the different styles! I think that would be awesome!!

I cannot think of anything else I'd want to change.

Wow, are you serious? I'm so excited! I'm not a fan of our current website, either...it's not horrible, but it could be so much better. I'm anxious to see what the new one will look like.

How about the fact that your chapter never does anything on campus? You might want to change that.

Let's keep the positive, contructive vibe going, please. Good info here, but let's play nice.:)

Stronger chapters in the northern part of the country.

I remember during recruitment we were discussing what to say if a PNM asked us this and I remember one of my sisters said, "Nothing! I love everything about my chapter!" ;)

Looking at things currently I would love if there were more opportunities for leadership training for members who aren't the presidents of their chapters. We have Leadership Academy and lots of really cool Values programming through the Leading/Living With Values program, but I'd really like to see more of these academies for those who aren't on exec. That way more actives could be ready for leadership!

I agree with that for us as well.

I would love to see Beta Sigma Phi's website updated. The current one is outdated, confusing, and (IMO) leaves out important info about joining our organization. I also agree with BetaRose that International should work on recruiting younger women to sorority. They are the future of BSP!

Get rid of struggling chapters and put more time and effort into expansion. It really isn't fair to collegians to spend every day of their lives COB'ing and having to hold multiple offices at one time. College is about academics and having fun.

Make recruitment casual and informal. No ostentatious decorations or skits and songs. Just "getting to know you" type open house events.

The requirements for membership: has good grades (meets the minimum) and can afford dues. You'll get a lot more positive PR when you lessen exclusivity and a lot more members.

Alumnae are lifetime members. But they are only active alumnae members if they pay yearly dues. Too many uninvolved alumnae suck up sorority funds by receiving mailings they don't read.

If alumnae life is to have any value, incorporate requirements into alumnae membership.

Well said!

You might want to ask collegians who experience it how "fun" it is to have their chapter closed and are no longer able to participate in collegiate Greek life. And let THEM decide if multiple offices are truly the stress you make it out to be. What a horrible, callous thing to post.

I'm going to agree with you on this one... The chapter I came from was struggling the whole time I was there, and it actually gave us alot of pride to see the small but important changes that we were helping to make. I would be devastated if my chapter closed. Instead, I think that nationals (and the greek office on campus) should focus on helping the struggling chapters to improve. I can't think of anything worse than having your nationals say, "Well, your chapter is struggling, so we're just going to close it and focus on chapters that have more of a chance."

I would hate to look at our chapter roster and see tons of closed chapters. There are almost always other options.

OK. I'm a 33girl-fan but I'm still supportive of what greencat said. I've seen too many struggling, unhappy chapters that really want to dissolve, but their national won't let them, and I suppose the kindness of letting them go is what I'm applauding. I've dealt with some really, really weak chapters populated by unhappy, negative members. I wish it were true that they can all be turned around but there is a floor below which it's almost impossible to recover with the same membership.
Truth is, a continually weak chapter of only 25 members on a campus where they should have 100 will likely struggle and struggle and never find success. They lack confidence and don't know how to succeed. But, a new colony can come on with new people and new entusiasm and rise to 75+ members almost instantly.
I am not in favor of cleaning out chapters that sincerely want to improve and are trying hard to do the right things. But an ambitious national organization should make assessments. Let the ones go that don't really want to live. Concentrate your resources on building new, enthusiastic chapters which will return tangible and emotional benefits to their members.

I'm your fan too, Firehouse. Feel the lurve! :)

I agree that there are times when the girls are burnt out and honestly, truly do WANT to close - especially if they are under the burden of trying to fill a huge house. I can't imagine the stress of that.

But by the same token, if you don't have a house and are at a smaller school, what your national considers "struggling" you may consider "we just need a little extra help" which the sisters are more than willing to put in. The key is for alumnae and national personnel to keep an eye on chapters, keep an open dialogue and head off little problems before they get to the point where closure is even discussed.

Agreed.

What I would change:

First and foremost, I think our (inter)Nationals needs to put more focus on encouraging all PNMs to rush, not just music majors/minors. I run in to so many people who think you need to be a music major to be in DO, when that is very much not true. (I guess that's just a personal one, since I'm totally un-musical :))

Second: Our website. It's hideous. They redid it about this time last year, but it still looks like it's from 1993.

Third: Better alum structure. It's sad when an alum chapter can meet 4 times a year, not do anything for the collegiates, and still win "Alum chapter of the year" awards.

There are four big things I would like to see changed...

Expansion: I'd like to see more of it. Our last new chapter (brand-new, not a reactivation of a dormant chapter) was mine - founded in 1995. That's nearly ten years ago. It's great when dormant chapters are reactivated, but it's also important to break new ground.

Alum Initiation: I wish we offered this. I've seen so many great AIs and PNAMs here on GC, and I know a couple of women who would make great AEPhi AIs, and it pains me to think of all the great potential AIs we are missing out on.

Alum Structure: There isn't one. I wish I had been informed, when I was a senior, of ways that I could become an active alumna. All I get is the occasional mailing asking for donations - which is addressed to me in my maiden name and goes to my parents' house, despite my numerous attempts to make sure nationals has my current name and address. :(

Website: We need one. The current website looks like some high school kid put it together in six hours. There is a redesign in the works, but it's been in the works for about four years. Plus, the sorority hired someone to do it, rather than approaching sisters (such as myself) who are web designers and who would have done it on a volunteer basis. grrr...

Okay... I'll stop griping now. :)

Although AEPhi doesn't have many chapters, they have some locations that Sigma WISHES we had: University of Florida, UCLA, AND Ohio State.

Some girls from Hillel here are contemplating forming an AEPhi chapter here @ Kent. We'll see how that turns out. :)

I wish we were less selective to install our Charges at, not just in super good schools. Also I disagree with our 157+ years unwritten policy to have no more than 32 active Charges at a time.

On the other hand, I am proud that some of our strongest Charges are still active in very good schools, like in Brown, William & Mary, Dartmouth, Amherst and Stanford (all anti-Greek schools with long traditions of Greek life). And not many GLOs have established all 8 Ivy League schools at a point of time.

Also I wish we were considering the expansion more in the South, not only in New England/Virginia/NY area. I think Southern schools also have a lot of things to offer, but it is hard to convince older Ivy graduate brothers about this.

Our Charge establishment was controversial in 1909, since nobody wanted to start a new Charge in an agricultural college, eventhough we already had established U of Wisconsin, U of Michigan, U of Illinois and U of Indiana Charges at that time in the midwest. Good thing that there was a brother from Iowa that went school in Cornell, and he helped us to gain our Charge in 1919, after 10 years of Colonial period (and lots of rejections :rolleyes: ) Thanks a lot, bros!

I'd like to see Phi Mu expand to big schools in the North and West... this includes some recolonizations of chapters that have bit the big one. We have ONE chapter in California, with no surrounding chapters at ALL. I know that they are actually a really good chapter, but I just think they'd like someone to hang out with on State Day :p Phi Mu is currently at a LOT of smaller schools outside of the South.

Also more support for struggling chapters. I can think of a couple chapters off the top of my head that I don't think are receiving enough help. I also could rattle off a list of people I know that are fairly bitter about their chapter being shut down. I know this could be for a myriad of reasons, but something isn't right.

I was about to say that our website needed a massive overhaul and to add that I had heard that one was in the works. But then I went to our website (Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity) only to discover that the overhaul has happened. It looks like stuff is still being added and tweaked, but it is a vast improvement!

So I don't know what I'd change now.