I know this. I'm just curious how "similar" the two might be! ;)

Randomly! Chi O shut down a couple of years after I graduated.

The CMU expansion thread: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=72915

Not to mention, I do believe we had a thread about the CM expansion......

And at about page 10 it states who was chosen to present.:D

Oh yes... :) Back to November...

Our local had a ceremony for the semester after you initiated where you would receive your own badge. Your big would ask your parents, boyfriends, friends on campus, etc. for cards/presents for you, to show you that there are people outside of the house who care for you as well. When the big contacted these people, she stated clearly that you were not to tell the girl about what was going on.

A few days before my pinning ceremony, as we called it, my boyfriend said, "Oh yeah, a girl named Christin sent me a Facebook message asking if I wanted to buy a present for you. I just ignored it." I was angry for so many different reasons. One of the reasons that he didn't like sororities was because of all the secrets that we had, and he didn't understand why it was such a big deal. That's why he didn't keep my big's message a secret from me. Also, the fact that he wasn't going to put in any sort of effort for this special occasion in my life was incredibly disappointing. Then, he didn't even have the courtesy to send her a response.

Pinning came, and my parents had bought me a beautiful sapphire ring (at my big's suggestion, who had received jewelry from her mom for her pinning), and my friends wrote cards to me. There was also a vase with a dozen pink roses on the table, and my big said, "The roses are from your boyfriend." I was very surprised, but I also didn't believe my big, sadly.

When I talked to my boyfriend later that night, I questioned him about the roses. He repeated that he had ignored the message, and he didn't tell Christin to buy anything for me. Christin later told me that when he didn't respond to her, she wasn't sure what to do and guessed that he was just too busy and either never got the message or forgot to respond.

A few weeks after the incident, we broke up.

Awww..your big sis is soooo sweet!

Nice Move! Sorry....I'm a little jaded. :)

Waiting for Mayo.....

I never mentioned it in the story. ChiO actually sent us a letter back to tell us that they weren't interested, or else they would have gotten first dibs. The local's founders were the last class to initiate into ChiO in 1992, plus their pledge educator. Wanting to keep their newly found bonds of sisterhood alive, they formed a local sorority and wrote all of the rules and rituals. From what I have heard through the generations, our rituals were "very ChiO".

I think I knew that ChiO has a symphony, but just forgot it at the moment. Come to think of it, I must be forgetful in general because Alpha Chi has one too. Duh. :(

I will have to see if I can find my digital copy of the ZYS symphony. I have a printed one that is in hinged 5x7 frame with my AXO symphony on my desk at school.

I can't imagine being initiated into two groups. Do you have a preference toward AXO versus ZPsiSig ritual? You don't have to tell us which one you prefer if there is....I'm just wondering. I know I'd compare the two if I were in your shoes!:)

I'd love to read the ZYS symphony...cuz SAI has one too!

And, AOII--I definately have a preference. SAI and Phi Sig are so different in so many ways. There is a ritual that speaks to me much more over the other.

But, I love them both in different ways for different reasons...it's hard to explain.

Mayo presented to us on a Saturday afternoon. They made a presentation to us and the campus community at the same time, and then we all stayed afterwards to have a conversation more tailored to the chapter.

The presentation was general information about Mayo and its history. Nothing terribly exciting happened until the general community left. They had everyone move their chairs into a big circle so it would be less like a presentation and more like a conversation. They asked us questions about the campus, why we thought recruitment was difficult, and so on. We asked them our questions about alumnae initiation (and they said that they would take all of us, minus anyone already initiated into another NPC group, of course), the transition, the colonization process, and anything else that we wanted to know.

One unique thing about Mayo was that they brought two women with them. One woman was an alumna initiate from a long-standing local chapter that they had colonized some time ago, and the second woman was from that chapter now. They talked about how they preserved the history of the local and still displayed items with their letters on it. Our chapter advisor made them tear up when she asked if they would be okay with us having a "transition" ceremony to pass the baton.

We were impressed with Mayo, because they seemed to really care about the chapter and keeping our traditions and honoring what we had accomplished in 12 years. They did appeal a lot to our emotions, but we liked the women that we met. Mayo had been my favorite while we were doing our research in the previous semester.

We still had two more presentations to go, though. Mustard, our favorite, was up next...

That's really cool that they incorporated those women from the formerly local chapter. I think it relates a lot more to you guys than the first group. (Relish?)

That is like opening a Christmas Present a week early!

We are courageous. We charge forward where others would be timid. We are not afraid of the way others may view us. We are not afraid to create from nothing a sisterhood which is strong enough to last. We face the challenges of our lives together, knowing that if one of us should stumble, there is a sister nearby to lift her up.

We are strong. We stand proudly in the face of those who do not believe in us. We gracefully accept defeat knowing that we will return, for that is how we were born.

We are diverse. We are actors, lawyers, biologists, architects, singers, and engineers to be. We realize our pursuit of academic excellence will lead us to personal excellence. We may not always see things the same way, but we are willing to compromise. We discriminate only against those who are selfish, motivated by hatred, and are unwilling to grow. We realize our diversity only makes us stronger.

We are beautiful. We know that beauty comes from within, and we recognize this beauty in everyone. We know it also comes from self-confidence. We strive to bring out the best in each other and in those around us.

We are friends. We are there for each other. We are secure in knowing that we have shoulders to cry on, arms to hug us, and smiles to share our joy. We share a trust that cannot be broken.

We have a simple purpose. We are here to show other that we are not afraid to be ourselves. We are united under a common name. We wear out letters with pride. We are not just the sisters of Zeta Psi Sigma. We are Zeta Psi Sigma.

Beautiful, Klk! What great roots to come from!

/hijack
Gosh, this has inspired to me to want to show some sisterhood pride! Here's SAI's symphony.

Sigma Alpha Iota Symphony
-To study and practice the goodness of life, the beauty of art, the meaning of music.
-To sing the song of sincerity and universal peace.
-To speak the words that build, that bless and comfort.
-To play the harpstrings of loving kindness, tolerance, appreciation, and genuine gratitude.
-To strive for the joy of simplicity, for the noble, to be faithful over a few things.
-To listen, to be still and know the harmony from within.
-To falter never in seeking loving service, wisdom, and understanding.
-In a word, to be loyal to Sigma Alpha Iota and her teachings; to find joy, hope, inspiration; to remember that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" and "whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men."
-And again to practice.
-This is to be our Symphony.

~Esther Requarth, Nu

I was going to highlight my favorite lines...but I love them all so much...I couldn't pick!

/end hijack


WAITING FOR MOOOOSTARD!

At one time I might have had a preference, but the two rituals are so radically different that it's almost impossible to compare. Both sets of symbols hold special meaning to me. (In fact, I'm planning on getting two tattoos this summer... one of a peacock feather and one probably of three stars. :) )

The differences really are interesting, and I would love to be able to do some sort of research project to compare many different groups' rituals, even though that's impossible.

The Symphony of Alpha Chi Omega
To see beauty even in the common things of life
To shed the light of love and friendship round me
To keep my life in tune with the world that I shall make no discords in the harmony of life
To strike on the lyre of the universe only the notes of happiness, of joy, of peace
To appreciate every little service rendered
To see and appreciate all that is noble in another
Be her badge what it may
And to let my lyre send forth the chords of love, unselfishness, sincerity.
This is to be my symphony.
~Celia McClure, Delta

Has always been my favorite. Mmmhhmmm. Just a fabulous line.

And, I <3 the founding of Alpha Chi--if you couldn't have guessed that from my current affiliation. :rolleyes:

Yes, good move on that part. Sorry if it caused you any pain, but you seriously sound like you don't need that kind of an a-hole boyfriend.

ok so what happened with mustard and ketchup????

i don't want to read the cmu expansion thread because i agree it is like opening a christmas present early

Sorry for the delay... but I'm back and ready to talk about Mustard...

We had all been waiting impatiently for Mustard. We thought that they were going to be amazing!

They had set their materials up in our downstairs area, like Relish had, and we waited upstairs while they were getting ready. We came downstairs and sat in the chairs facing the projector screen set up at the back of the house. We settled in, and the presentation began. The first presenter introduced everyone, including her husband, who she had "brought along to operate the projector." You CANNOT say that to a room full of Carnegie Mellon women in any situation!

Each presenter read their presentation straight off of their note cards. There was hardly any enthusiasm or excitement at all. Time for questions came after that. They didn't seem to happy with some of our questions. The transition ceremony that we wanted to do was not a happy topic, and the members of Mustard instead said that we should invite everyone to come back for the chapter's installation. We also wouldn't get much input at all into the other women who would join us as the chartering members. They also said that in four or five years, most people wouldn't really be aware of the local that had existed, as all members would be only Mustards and not Zetas as well.

This was extremely depressing for us to hear. We were all very upset that our favorite on paper hadn't come through. Our chapter advisor compared the situation to an episode in season 6 of Friends, where the character of Richard Burke tells Monica that he would be willing to have children if it meant he could be with Monica--Mustard would be willing to take us if it meant that they could have a chapter at Carnegie Mellon. We could tell that they did really want to have this colony... they even had an advisory board and a housing board all set up and ready to go for when we chose Mustard!

We still had one more presentation to go, though, and many people really liked Ketchup...

Wow. Somebody didn't do their research as to the campus culture or the fact that maybe this is a local that has been around for a substantial amount of time. I can't believe they'd present like that at CMU!:eek: It definitely sounds like they just wanted a chapter at CMU because of the academic prestige!

I'm not sure what you mean by "transition ceremony". Would it be before, and separate from, the installation initiation? Would it be just actives or any Zeta Psi Sigma alumnae that want to come too?

It is true that in four or five years, once the last Zeta Psi Sigma graduates that the members would only be the national that you ended up choosing (obviously not mustard and pretty sure not relish), because they would only have experienced the national ritual. Or were you campaigning for all members to be initiated with both rituals? In 4-5 years, I can see that the general population wouldn't be aware of Zeta Psi Sigma--unless the history were outwardly honored, but it'd probably still be limited to the CMU Greek Community. That totally came out wrong, unless they were completely against honoring the history of Zeta Psi Sigma.

What we had in mind (and what we did) was like a modified preference ceremony. We wanted to honor what our founders had made and "pass it on" to the chartering members and the chapter advisors of the national organization that would adopt us. We had it during Carnival (which is like a spring homecoming) and had over 75 alumnae come back to the chapter, plus the 26 collegiate sisters. (Zeta initiated about 155 people in 12 years.)

We knew that our ritual would sadly stop, but we wanted to continue some of our non-ritual traditions. They told us that they had colonized a "local" in the past decade, and that they taught about the chapter's founding and history. However, the local chapter's history was only about 4 years long, so the founders of the local were seniors when they were colonized. 12 years is a lot more history than 4. We asked them other questions about family trees, chapter traditions, and so on, and their favorite phrase was, "We'll talk about it."

What a cop out. That whole presentation just sounds sketchy to me. Note cards...no enthusiasm...unwilling to really answer questions.

There is a post on here somewhere. There was a local that was colonized by Omega Phi Alpha. The OP was a national officer or something and was officially pledging the colony. It was at some sort of camp retreat or something and come time for the ceremony a bunch of the girls were wearing the local's letters. She could tell the girls were getting emotional about "leaving" the local and she allowed them to wear the letters during the pinning ceremony. A lot of the girls said that was the first time they really felt a connection to OPhiA.

I mean really, when you have an established local that has traditions, rituals, and bonds under the 'old' letters, you really have to be willing to honor that at least for some amount of time.

I guess I kind of understand what Mustard was trying to put across...there was a thread on here about a campus whose longstanding locals all went national and after being allowed to do "local" things for years, one of the groups got into a giant brouhaha for not doing things the national way. Mustard is starting as they mean to go on - they intend for anyplace they colonize to be 100% Mustard and not looking back at the past. However, I think that you can honor your history without violating national procedures.

It does sound, though, like Mustard just wanted a CMU chapter, and not necessarily the women who were in front of them.

This is SO well written...and I love to see that. Keep going! :)

^^^^I think that was Wake Forest and the group formerly known as Fidelis in the early 2000s. Again, another nationally ranked school with very driven students....



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This is a really interesting story. Do the rejected groups ever get or ask for feedback as to why they weren't chosen? I think it would be very eyeopening for Directors of Expansion of the 3 groups that weren't eventually chosen to read this.

Thanks to Greek Chat -- not only will they get to read it, but we ALL get to read it!

Mustard couldn't be Chi O. However, in light of the WFU/Fidelis issue occurring only a few years before and the fact that the WF chapter was holding on to local rituals over a decade after they had been absorbed by a National, was Mustard concerned that the same thing might happen at Carnegie Mellon?

Wow, Mustard sounds so disappointing! Ugh!

It is definitely a different kind of challenge. I don't know how many locals older than four years seek national adoption. I would think that most orgs speak to interest groups, but I don't know any statistics on this.

This is the first I've heard of that situation, but it is completely possible that they were worried about this.

That's really disappointing about mustard, I expected more from them from how you said they were your top choice on paper.

Dear Klk,

I would realllllyyyyyyy like to hear about Ketchup. Pretty Puhweese!

Seconded.

Ketchup was our last hope. We knew that if we weren't happy with any of the groups who presented to us, we could go back to the drawing board and pick even more groups. We did like them on paper, though, so we'd have to see what happened during their presentation. The presentation was the day right after Mustard's, at 9:30 PM.

They gave us a lot of good information during the presentation, and a lot of the things they told us set them apart from other groups. We would keep our officer positions and move into comparable positions in the Ketchup model executive board. They also wouldn't actually start the colonization until about a month after we would contact them, so that they could get organized and get the Zeta alumnae on board, too. They said that it would be disrespectful to appoint an advisory board with only Ketchup members, and wanted to include some of our alumnae initiates as well. They also didn't have a resident consultant with them, because they wanted to meet us before they decided who to hire.

They did bring the executive director, a regional consultant, a regional manager, several alumnae from the Pittsburgh area, collegians from one of their oldest chapters that's very close to Pittsburgh, and the national president. The national president was a cute Texan woman, complete with accent... and she even knew the mother of one of our collegiate sisters! They went to the same school and were both presidents of their respective chapters. Talk about a small world!

One of the amazing things about Ketchup was the sense of sisterhood that I felt from them. They were all happy and enthusiastic, and I'm pretty sure they all smiled the entire time they were in our house. And not a fake smile... a genuine smile. They were extremely articulate and intelligent, too. After I went upstairs to finish up some homework, people were still milling about in our living room. My big came upstairs at 1:30 AM and told me that she had spent a long while talking to the regional people about a lot of different things, including her study of art history. I could tell that she was completely in love with Ketchup. :)

Yay! I love ketchup, too! I love how much they talked about including Zetas alumnae in the future of your chapter.

Now, see, that is what I'm talking about! If I was you, I would fight hand, tooth, and nail for Ketchup. Just sayin'.

I think Ketchup sounds wonderful-gotta love those Texas accents:D

Thanks for the memories.

When I went to CMU (73-77) the DG house was the DU house, and most of my sisters were at least as familiar with that house as they were with our suite in Morewood Gardens (6D).

My best friend was a ChiO (she resigned her junior year), but they left campus.

6th floor of Morewood Gardens was great, especially those corner rooms with the vaulted ceilings.