LucyKKG, there are plenty of California Greeks on this board, you're just not looking close enough. ;)

Greek life is fairly popular in Southern California, especially at schools like USC, UCLA and SDSU.

.....Kelly :)

So if we are talking about how prevalent the greek system is in Cali, should we not include the NPHC. I ask because they certainly hold their own in our council. It fact my sister was initiated at USC years ago. And when I attended the University of Redlands, prospective members were included in the UCLA chapter. So there was even a presence there. Not to mention there is a strong alumne chapter presence with LA Alumnae being one of our largest alumnae chapter.

So I guess, it is a matter of POV.

Wow, I'm a troll? Really? Look at my other posts...duh!
And I don't think this question is KKG-specific. I also KNOW there is Greek life in CA. I'm just trying to connect with people in other parts of the state. I'm not from SoCal and I don't go to school there, so it's pretty different up here.

LucyKKG;
I believe that Benzgirl may have inadvertently confused you, as OP, with someone else also posting within this thread.

Things like that can, and do, happen in any situation that one just does not directly see the person that they are talking to.

I agree!!!! :)

I also think Kappas are cool!!! Both kinds!!!!

I have friends who are in both Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Psi so I love them both!!!!

:)

I lived in Santa Cruz back in the early 90s when my husband was getting his PhD there (grad students are not associated with colleges, but with their school - his was Astronomy and Astrophysics, NatSci II). When we were there, there were no sororities, but I think I remember either Theta Chi or Tau Kappa Epsilon being there at that time.

The campus is absolutely beautiful. In fact, the only time I would ever pick up hitchhikers was on campus, usually from NatSci II down to Bay Tree (if you've ever been to UCSC, you know what I mean).

Congratulations on going Greek at UCSC - Fiat Slug!

Kelly - I'd even add USD (Univ. of San Diego) in there - chapter size there (for sororities) is over 100 in the spring! We heard at the Order of Omega banquet a few weeks ago that about 30% of the university is Greek.

Back to Lucy's original question - there are California Greeks on here (I went to school out of state, but still consider myself a CA Greek since I live here and volunteer with my sorority), but I too feel that Greek Life isn't as prevalent as it would be if you were from the South - it's a different mind set here (at least in my experience with the girls I work with!) :)

Yeah, we have Theta Chi (my bf is a brother) and we had Gamma Phi Beta then. KKG only came onto campus last year.
Ohhh silly Santa Cruz. Btw, I read that 1% of my campus is Greek. I'm not sure how accurate of a figure that is, and I don't know if it includes locals. *Shrug* I guess that just goes back to my original point.

Take heart, LucyKKG. Even though the percentage of students seems low compared to other parts of the country, there's plenty of interest in Greek Life in California, and probably more alums from all NPC groups living in California than any other state! I think there are just so many different things for students to do in California that Greek Life is one thing you can do, but it's not the only thing to do while you're in college, so we have to provide programming that's of broader interest to attract more interest from a more diverse student population. It's nice to see that most chapters here don't fit the "stereotypes" that are often applied to Greeks, especially sorority women. It's great to see Panhellenic growing at UCSC and wishing all the best for your new KKG chapter!

Hello there Lucky KKG - I'm not a member of an NPC or an NPHC, but I'm a member of a professional fraternity - so I guess that means that I count as a California greek (I'm also from out of state but I consider California my home and I'm moving here as soon as I'm done with college)? ^_^. Anyway, I go to college at a pretty small school (not sure that you have heard of it because it's a really small school - I think that we have barely 4,000 undergrad) - it's up in Stockton, CA so Northern California. We have four NPCs on campus, 1 NPHC, four IFCs, and a few multicultural sororities and fraternities.

I have a lot of friends that are in social sororities and they are all darlings, I love them so much. Some of my brothers in Theta Alpha Phi (it's a co-ed theater fraternity so we're called brothers) are also in social sororities.

According to our website about 18% of students are in the social Greek system - they didn't include all of us that are in professional fraternities in that number (and there are a lot of professional fraternities on campus by the way).

My fiance goes to Chico - and I think that Greek life is pretty big there too. I've visited a couple of times while he was doing finals or I was on break (he doesn't live on campus, so sometimes I would drive him to class in case he was low on gas or something) and it seems like there are a lot of men and women who chose to go Greek (which is awesome!) at Chico as well. I've chatted with a couple of the ladies there and they were super nice to me - even though I don't go to Chico.

I just wish that I had the opportunity to get involved in a social sisterhood as well though, looks like a lot of fun and I want that type of sisterhood in my life (currently I'm trying to pursue membership in a community sorority).

Anyway, just thought that I'd like to say that the northern part of California is here as well!

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!