I think the greek systems at the state schools are growing... I am alum from San Francisco State. We have 3 NPC chapters, all the NPHC orgs (actually maybe not, I think one has left since I graduated), and there are more locals than nationals there, but the national chapters are larger. In fact in the six years since I joined, was active, and graduated all the chapters have almost tripled, and quota keeps growing every year.
I agree with PeppyGphiB I think greek life is popular here, it's just not as IMPORTANT as it is in the south.

I am an alumna of Cal State Long Beach. The Greek system there was not well-liked by the administration of the school or by some of the school population while I attended there but they did fairly well. NPC has not expanded the Greek system in a long time. There are 7 NPC sororities active on campus and 6 recognized IFC chapters with 3 colonies so they are definitely expanding.
NPC include Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Gamma Phi Beta, and Sigma Kappa :D.
IFC include Delta Chi, Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Tau, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Pi, and Theta Chi. The IFC colonies are Pi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Zeta Beta Tau.
All of the Divine 9 are represented at CSULB as well. :)
There are also 12 cultural GLO's on campus as well. :)

Now I serve as an advisor to my GLO at UC Riverside where Greek Life is doing ok but I think there are many things that can be done to make it flourish. Unfortunately, the administration is slow to act on Greek Affairs.
UCR has 10 IFC's, 6 NPC's, 7 NPHC's, and many cultural and professional GLO's.

Ok, I saw a girl in a Pi Phi sweatshirt at Burger King just now and a Sigma Chi license plate frame on the way home. Maybe there ARE Greeks here! :-)

And yeah, my school also has a LOT of locals. I believe an NPHC sorority is trying to start up again as well. It's just a totally different dynamic here than other parts of the country.

Lucy, I'd like to point out that there's a great variety of greek systems in California, too. UCSC, known as a haven for non-traditional thinkers :), has notoriously been unsupportive of fraternities and sororities...at least the national ones. When I was in college I met many of our UCSC sisters at a regional conference and they were desperately looking for ideas on how to get the school to be more supportive. They felt a little like loners, being the only NPC on campus. So KKG's arrival was probably a major step toward a stronger greek presence at the school.

Contrast that campus with USC, which has a sorority scene more similar to the south (but still not that extreme), or UCLA, which is a big school with many chapters but has had to deal with a lot of anti-greek feelings in the past, too. Then there are small private colleges with un-housed, popular greek systems, such as USD, Chapman and Pepperdine. There are a lot of differences from one campus to another, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your campus is unique even for California.

Since you're fairly close to other schools/KKG chapters, you might find it fun and helpful to reach out to them to plan a fun event so your chapter can meet Kappas from other schools. My chapter had events with our chapters at UCSB and USC while I was in school, and they were some of the most fun events we had. Also, I don't know if in Northern Calif. they do this, but greeks in Southern Calif., Nevada and I think Arizona used to have an annual ski trip that was always a good time and a good way to meet greeks (and sisters) at other nearby schools.

Oh yeah, I totally want to do that. I had an idea to go to a Cal or Stanford football game with the Kappas up there. (The Berkeley chapter is our sister chapter). We just have a lot on our plate being a new chapter and all, so I dunno how feasible it is. I still need to look into it!

As an aside, what are you talking about restarted the greek system? My chapter has been continuously on campus since our chartering at CSULB in March of 1965.

I edited my post after some research. Still working on it & will fix when I've got the complete story.

I'm a California greek, too. As far as LGLOs go, there are TONS in CA--typically several sororities and fraternities on the larger campuses (UCLA, USC, UCB, etc.).

I was at Disneyland today and saw a large amount of ladies in their letters to I kept count because I'm lame like that. I counted this:

1 Delta Phi Epsilon

2 TriDelta's

2 Alpha Chi Omega's

4 Kappa Delta's

1 Phi Mu

And a large group of girls taking pictures in front of the Sleeping Beauty castle in their very pretty Alpha Phi hoodies.

I went to a school California and we had a great Greek system. I think schools on the east cost a mid-west have significantly larger Greek systems. Our school had an average of about 80-100 people in each organization. Whereas my friends went to schools that had around 200. I don't know how you could get along with that many people. It almost defeats the purpose.

Not necessarily. Many schools where Greek Life is big have large amounts of members with pledge classes in the 50's all the way up to the 80's. It just depends on the campus and the campus culture.

Unfair blanket statement.

You don't need to get along with all 200 members. It just means that you have 199 other sisters who share in your sisterhood.

Gamma Phi Beta has also been at CSULB continuously since our chartering in 1962. I'm not aware of any dormant period. I wouldn't say the admin there was negative- they just didn't want to deal with Greek issues. Sigma Kappa re-opened at Long Beach in the late 80's. There wasn't much in the way of multi-cultural groups while I was there, but the NPHC groups were very strong. I think you won't see expansion there mainly because the city of Long Beach has made it virtually impossible to get a permit for any new greek off campus housing. Cost of membership is certainly a factor for many commuter students who don't need housing, so maybe someone could come on and be viable as a lower cost, unhoused option.

Yeah, Greek is housing at UCSC is soooo not happening anytime soon. We aren't even allowed to display Greek letters outside of a house. I don't actually know what the school would do if we did, though, because it's not like they're super involved in our org. Oh, hippies!

Let's not forget the cost of land in Long Beach. The city would likely sell any remaining land to a builder or any other group than the Greek community. I know that many times over the years, there has been talk about building a Greek Row but those talks remain that. Talks. When President Maxson was there, it wasn't too bad. There's just a lot of apathy in some areas.

Really? How come?

gangs.








kidding. I don't know.

The school is just really anti-Greek. Apparently, they sent out letters a few decades ago basically telling Greek orgs they weren't interested (Stay away!). Wtf? I guess the main reason is that UCSC isn't supportive of the Greek system. At least the didn't "phase it out" like Santa Clara! The fraternities and sororities there can't even write "Santa Clara University" on a shirt with their letters on it. Lame!

Just a guess here, but cost and availablility of a property that is zoned for "multi-family" housing have got to be a major considerations. A fixer upper 3-4 bedroom house in Santa Cruz would cost a minimum of $500K, and come with a property tax bill of $5000 a year. It's probably not worth it.

Lucy, is Santa Cruz considered mostly a residential school or a commuter school?

Yeah California's establishment is pretty against Greeks. They (administrators and legislators) see Greeks as elitist, snobby, rich, and into hazing.

Our school is pretty neutral towards Greeks (until it's time to ask for donations from alumni) but they are adding more and more ridiculous regulations regarding parties (hiring more cops ($100 an hour per cop), hiring fire marshals at $300 an hour), grades, and faculty advisors. I guess the grades and faculty advisors are really that ridiculous.

I think Greek life exists in California...it's just subdued and having letters doesn't make you automatically awesome like it seems to in the South.

Oh well still love California anyway

I noticed that once Santa Clara stopped recognizing the sororities on campus, their numbers shot through the roof and they added another chapter. Not sure why, but it actually seemed to be a benefit there.

San Jose State - another anti-greek administration, from what I've heard. So that's YOUR experience...there are certainly several schools in Calif. with greek systems that are supported by the administration, and where joining a GLO IS the way to go.

UCSC is mostly residential. Most students are Californians, but they live in SC while studying here.

And you're right about Santa Clara. They added another NPC after the school stopped supporting Greeks. DUH!

Well what's sad is that we only have 10 IFC fraternities, 5 NPC sororities, and I think like 6 out of the NPHC 9. Thirty years ago we had triple those numbers.

I wouldn't look at it as "sad" it's just different. Times change, campuses change, we have to adapt to stay relevent and attract growth. Look at how many more options Calif students have now than they did 30 years ago. The fact that there are 2 NPCs at UC Santa Cruz is a great sign! Look at the growth at schools like Sonoma State, Sacramento, UCSD and even the private schools like Stanford, Pepperdine and Chapman. None of those schools had much in the way of greek life 30 years ago!

hahaha...that is hilarious. probably is true though because of all the "gangsters" out there.

Yeah, like these gangstas from Long Beach. Watch out for those Notorious GPhiBs.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../notorious.jpg

We are not a gang . . .we are a club.:D

Haha Notorious GPhiBs! I love it! My nephew is named Gavin, and we've started calling him Notorious G-A-V.

Seeing as how there are stars over some girls faces (most likely Rho Gammas) I'm going to assume it's the whole chapter and the girls down in front with tote bags are most likely the NMs.

I'm also a California Greek, having graduated UCLA a few years ago. To me, the Greek system is decently strong in California, though I could be biased because Gamma Phi Beta has almost twenty chapters throughout the state. I therefore felt that there was a large, strong sisterhood nearby.

I do think that many Greeks in California are less fanatical (fanatical in a good way) about their membership than in other areas of the country. I know I've experienced mixed views on my fanaticism, both from other Greeks and non-Greeks, both in and post-college.

Since I've also participated in pageants, I think there's a good analogy between the perception of pageants and sororities throughout the country. In the South, these two activities are highly encouraged, trained for, and competitive. In California, the system is still robust, but you'll see a lower percentage of eligible women actually participating, and the experience is often more relaxed. When I went through recruitment, I had no recs and no idea what I was doing - I even missed a day of rush because I just didn't know it'd be a big deal!

Back to the main point - there are plenty of schools in Southern California with strong and long-established Greek systems. I'm less familiar with the Northern CA Greek climate, though I have heard that UC-Santa Cruz is one of the less traditional Greek systems in the state. Most of my friends from high school wound up Greek at schools such as USD, Chapman, CSU-Fullerton, CSU-Long Beach, USC, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, and UC-Irvine. So to me, that's a pretty strong statement about Greek life if so many men and women, who went to so many different campuses, went Greek.

California Greeks
 

Lucy,
There are around 44 campuses in California that have NPC sororities. The two oldest women's Greek systems are at the Univ. of California at Berkeley and Stanford University. Some of the groups at Cal have remained for over 100 years.
Greeks are welcomed at some campuses and play a small social part at others. However, there are universities which have opened to Greek expansion in recent years such as: Loyola/Marymount, Pepperdine, Chapman and Occidental.

cal poly
 

cal poly has a competitive rush also being that almost 800 to 1000 girls come out for 8 sororities. tri-delt, gamma phi, sigma kappa, a-chi-o, chi omega, a-o-pi, alpha phi, and kappa alpha theta.

Bette,
Delta Delta Delta has been at CSULB continuously since 1955. CSULB was a much smaller university at that time.

Delta Zeta, Tri Delta, Delta Gamma, Alpha Phi, Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Omicron Pi have all been at CSULB continously since they chartered in the late 50's to mid 60's. Sigma Kappa returned to campus about 1987. A lot of the fraternities have come and gone but overall, they have a pretty solid greek system!

CSULB really took off in terms of student population in the mid 70s. It's a beautiful campus with lots of blooming cherry trees, fountains, some outdoor art that is funky and open to interpretation...and an ocean view from some parts of the upper campus!

CSULB was recently noted by Princeton Review as one of the top three "best bang for your buck" universities nationwide. Some of the notable alums include Denise Austin, Richard and Karen Carpenter, Mark OMeara, Linda Dano and...my personal favorite, Steve Martin!

Don't forget the mile hike up to campus from the far-away parking lots. ;):p

Not to be too picky, but we are AOII, not a-o-pi.

I recall my good friend DolphinChicaDDD also mentioning that there is no "-" in Tri Delta.

She gets peeved at that. :p

wow
 

i officially know nothing...sorry.

No, it's not that you know nothing, it's just that certain groups abbreviate in particular ways.:o