Dusquene timeline was much slower than expected so no presentations yet. Fifteen groups sent packets. Three groups were invited to present. Out of courtesy and the desire to not get into a "GO ABC" I am not listing which three.

I expect Carnegie Mellon will have the same response with 15 groups throwing their hats in the ring.

Regarding Dartmouth, which someone posted about, there are five dormant NPC groups. It is highly unlikely that all of those dormant NPC groups (5) will want to go back - of the 4 locals, three were NPC groups and it was the chapter who decided to disaffiliate with the NPC group (although I would not be surprised if the national wanted to close them up too for risk management issues).

We shall see!

Denise DPhiE! I tried to PM you and your box is full! PM me when you get a chance!

smaller GLOs
 

Smaller GLOs will remain small so long as their appeal is narrow;
it would be hard to establish a mormon chapter in Connecticut
as it would be a Jewish one in Kansas. Some nationals simply do
not have the insight. From afar it is not hard to pinpoint the reason for lack of success by the very scope of discussions in here
I think the GA man was misunderstood. You start with two men and an idea...and grow from there. I am speaking about an NIC
seeking group. It would be easier if a particular group is in mind,
and the biggest obstacle is the administration, the IFC or some
dumb-ass Greek advisor. "We gotta get the size up of Woo Fah
Noo, then we will add." Folks I can point out a dozen campuses
where they have been waiting for the roast duck to drop from the
sky, i.e., Woo Fah Noo to improve. Perhaps Woo Fah Noo either
needs to be rebuilt or to die.
I have started many chapters with two men. It is not a disgrace to be small chapter but it is a disgrace to stay a small one. If
you are one of these 'small ones', get out of the way!

OH ALI.... How I love you :D :D Ten year plan baby ten year plan =)

I have noticed that some GLOs cannot seem to keep a chapter up and running is some states. For example, Zeta Tau Alpha has closed all three of the chapters that were opened in the Commonwelath of KY, dating from the 1920's forward. Alpha Xi Delta has had to close it's two chapters in KY due to low numbers. Alpha Xi closed the Xi chapter on the campus of UK. On the other hand, Alpha Gam, Pike, Sig Ep, Chi O, and KD seem to grow all over.

MANY of my high school teachers were in Chi Omega at CMU! I was shocked when they closed that chapter! Do the Pitt sororities still have mixers with the CMU fraternities? They were some fun times!!

Alpha Delta Pi currently has seven chapters in Pennsylvania, and another 4-6 chapters on the borders of WVA or OH. The Pittsburgh Alumnae Association regrouped last year, and is on FIRE!!! The women in charge are going step by step to complete everything needed for both the Association and the Chapter to win awards - a great mentality!

I could easily see ADPi presenting at either CMU or Duquesne. I've also been curious as to why there hasn't been a new colony at Robert Morris - their campus is growing by leaps and bounds!

Would you have a problem letting us know who sent packets? :D

I don't think you can compare fraternities and sororities, and I would hardly say the other sororities you've listed are "growing all over." Nothing against them, just that I've heard of them having as many closed chapters in recent years as the ones you bring up. What happens in your state certainly has nothing to do with the rest of the USA.

No, that's very true. I think he's looking at it from a very limited point of view- his geographic area, which isn't very accurate. If he actually looked into the info,he'd see that he's wrong. I would hardly say that KD is growing all over. Hell, we haven't even colonized anywhere for awhile now. Every group is opening new chapters

Almost everyone not represented on the campus responded. I did not get the list of 15. He just told me there were 15 when I followed up with a call a week after the NPC bulletin said they would announce the selected groups for presentations. He said it was going to take weeks long because they had 15 packets to review when they only expected 5 or 6. I expect the same situation at Carnegie Mellon.

If you want to know if your org submitted a packet, you could drop an email to your extension director.
Denise

FYI, for Duquesne, the NPCs on campus are:
Delta Zeta (1969)
Alpha Phi (1970)
ZTA (1970)
Alpha Gamma Delta (1971)
Alpha Sigma Tau (1971)
Gamma Phi Beta (1995)
Sigma Sigma Sigma used to have a chapter there.

I know we had a thread on not discussing extention on the forums so we don't influence the campus' decision. I think it would be good to keep that in mind, so I totally ditto the idea of keeping it private. :)

I think extention is great, but I really do not think that this is the only way that NPC can help struggling GLOs. As we've talked about extention, we've said here that alumane bases, real estate and financial bases are just as important as an open campus. How can NPC groups who are doing well, help in these areas? You just can't expand without other ducks in a row...

I don't think other groups can help with alum support. Your group needs to look within itself and see why alums are or are not supportive and be realistic. It's easy to say "people are so busy nowadays and this generation doesn't want to do anything" but that's a copout. If your level of alumnae participation plummeted after you (totally random & silly example) changed the national mascot from a cow to a duck, well then, maybe the alums didn't want that and you should have explored it further before you unilaterally did it.

Making sure alums do not feel disenfranchised increases support, which increases donations and the amount of alums enthused about their sorority, which makes everything better.

As much as I bleed azure blue & white, I would really like to see Theta Phi Alpha there. They're based on Roman Catholism, and it would be great to see them expand (assuming, of course, that they presented)!

Apparently the sorority that wants to go national is Jewish based, so if that's still the case I would say TPA is out.

ETA can we move the expansion posts into a new thread? We are getting away from the original topic.

OOPS! So goes my theory!

I get the impression that while Theta Phi Alpha has Roman Catholic roots they have really moved away from them (not saying this is a good or bad thing, just saying.) I have never really heard references to them embracing their Catholic roots the same way, say AEPhi or SDT does their Jewish roots.

I wouldn’t expect a group rebuild another alumnae base, it would be inappropriate. What I’m saying is that (for example) alumnae support is integral to having a strong organization. I think we can learn from each other about how we transition collegiate members into alumnae. Some of the medium to smaller orgs are great at keeping alumnae members involved, that is what I think we need help other orgs replicate. How do we find ways to keep sorority participation if they are the only alumna in 60 miles?

I think that these types of ideas are beneficial to share across the board, none of us can say we don’t need more alumnae support.

I really feel like expansion is great, but not the key to long term survival.

ditto on moving the expansion convo...

I'm all for that!

Back to helping the smaller sororities, isn't that what both the Collegiate and Alumnae Panhellenics should be doing, also - improving the options? Let's face it - I was ready to be gung ho for TPA at Duquesne because of their religion, not knowing that the focus group was primarily Jewish! And as an aside, TPA was very strict about being Roman Catholic when I went through Rush.

I can understand that the sororities must speak up first, and say that they would like to expand, as for all I know, there's a GLO or two that wants to stay small(er). But Panhellenics are all about trying to spread the wealth - or at least, they should be!

This is interesting, too, because the NPCs with historical ties to a specific religion are some of the smaller GLOs we are discussing. At Illinois, we had 3 "Jewish" sororities - DPhiE, SDT, and AEPhi. Now, Illinois has a fairly large Jewish student population (considering it is in the midwest in a rural area) and that is largely because the Chicago area has a substantial Jewish population. When I was there, SDT was very well established and my perception was that it was kind of the top Jewish house. DPhiE was also considered a Jewish sorority, and they ended up closing. AEPhi seemed to move away from labeling itself as a Jewish sorority on campus, and their numbers really went up. It seemed that 1 Jewish sorority on campus could do really well, but 3 was just too many, even with a good-sized Jewish student population. The inevitable happened in that 1 closed and 1 ceased to be "Jewish."

In some ways, I think it is sad what happened, because I think it would be cool to have the bond of religion with your sisters, or at least many of them. I think maybe part of the heritage of AEPhi was lost when it went "secular" for lack of a better word. On the other hand, maybe it was a sacrifice for the greater good.

I am Catholic, and part of me is with Honeychile that it would be great for TPA to really get a stronghold at Catholic schools since that is their heritage. It is sort of sad that they are moving away from that, but maybe like AEPhi at Illinois, it is what they had to do to survive.

Signature worthy advice!

To take it a step further, alumnae who are enthusiastic about their sorority are more apt to help out other sororities.

I for one (being late to the discussion) would LOVE to see Tri Sigma back in SoCal :D .

My piont was and is, that there are some GLOs that seem to do better in some areas. We have seen that Phi Sig is big in the northeast. I am sorry that you all think that I was inacurate. I wanted to express the piont that some GLOs, men and women do better in some areas. I used the Commonwealth of Kentucky as an example. I defined a narrow section for study. Think about why some GLOs are more populus in some regions rather than others?

I hate to flame a newcomer, but your first post didn't really come across to me like your lastest one did.

I think probably naming names here was a little unnecessary. It isn't as if those are the only groups who deal with this. My own group has 3 inactive chapters in Kentucky.

Every GLO has strong chapters and struggling ones. It's great that you have a positive image of these 5, but basing this conclusion on what you see in Kentucky is sort of silly. (I know in my state, if you asked someone what 5 are strong all over, it wouldn't be the same 5.)

Again, sorry to flame.

That's true. But you ruined any credibility you had when you said certain groups seemed to "grow all over." Looking at this board for 2 seconds would have told you the groups you chose aren't necessarily doing that (again, nothing against them, just that they are not constantly opening and never closing chapters).

And take your example of ZTA "not being able to keep a chapter open." The three chapters in Kentucky closed in 1977, 1982 and 1992. Two of them had been open since the 1920's! I hardly call an existence of 70 years "not being able to keep a chapter open."

Please research your facts before you spout off about something you know very little about and insult other Greek organizations.

So, to get back to the original question (?) who is supposed to help the Smaller GLOs or Chapters on Campus?

Ding ding ding! I realize I'm taking this statement out of context, but I think it's still a great point.

Campus Panhellenics, when expanding, could make the effort to diverify the state. When a campus is looking to expand, I wish they would be more open-minded to inviting groups that already AREN'T represented at another campus in the area. I've noticed from other threads that campuses seem to pick groups that are at a neighboring campus. For example, I've seen comments such as, "Well, ABC is at Tri-State U (45 miles up the road), and since we're trying to be competitive with Tri-State U, we decided on ABC." Granted, this means there is a better chance that more alumnae from that group will live in the area, but that's not an absolute. There may be more XYZs than ABCs who live there!

Something someone else mentioned that I'd like to reiterate is that NPC needs to stress to each college Panhellenic that they are only hurting themselves by trying to limit other groups. Example: a campus here in NC was expanding. A local interest group had petitioned for a new NPC, and they asked some NPCs to come present. One of the groups chosen to present, ABC, was chosen because many legacies of that group go to this particular university and were a part of that interest group. When the college Panhellenic voted between having ABC or XYZ come to that campus, they decided on XYZ, because, "if we bring ABC to campus, our numbers will go down because the legacies will now have the opportunity to join that group." :rolleyes:

What bullentin is this from? Just curious.

NPC Extension Bulletin - sent 6-10 times per year to Executive offices, NPC delegations and Expansion Directors for each of the 26 NPC groups.

Denise

I don't think this is the original question, is it?

Denise

Can someone please tell me where this rumor that Dusquene's interest group is Jewish? This was NOT communicated through the NPC bulletin.

Besides the national in question, I think it is the job of the campus panhellenic to help the struggling chapter (this is not the smaller NPC groups I am talking about). Every campus has a chapter which could be doing better. Release figures should help a bit as larger groups cannot hold onto extra girls in earlier rounds.

Denise

Denise, please clean your PM box. :)

I think you are right that some of the solution is local campus culture. Unfortunately, I think that most young ladies in college probably have a hard time realizing that when the whole system is strong, we all benefit. Recruitment is so competitive, so it is difficult to reconcile the two concepts, especially when you are young and your life revolves only around your own GLO. If NM programs stressed panhellenic ideas as well as individual GLO information, maybe these young ladies could see the other GLOs as allies rather than competitors.

I just want to clarify. I was told the local at Duq was originally Jewish based after I made the same TPA assumption as Honey did. What their current makeup is I'm not sure. However, I would think/hope that the current sisters would honor their founders by taking that into consideration when choosing a national group.

I think on a campus chapter to chapter basis that's true, but not necessarily on a national GLO to GLO level... I doubt the women on the panhellenic council at my campus even have the foggiest idea that Chi Omega has beaucoup chapters all over and Phi Sig is strongest in the Northeast.

Isnt it true that Many if not Most GLOS are in a Regional Situation where they are stonger as not?

Granted, they may be trying to spread wings as it were?

Tom, the original question what WHAT can be done, not WHO is supposed to do it. I think most people would say that if XYZ is seeking help, and NPC does not want to loose member orgs, NPC would need to help. There are two conversations going on in this thread, one is about extention, the other is what can be done to help other groups. Similar, but different beasts.


AXiD670- Though it is slightly out of context it does point to the fact that our orgs futures are essentially up to the minds of whimiscal 18 yr olds who only have a HS degree. I think if we, NPC, wanted to make new strides toward regional chapter diversity it would have to look at new rules for extention and HQs would have to play a much larger role in that process. For example, AST (cause I don't want to pick on anyone else) would have to say, we do have 23 chapter is PA, the next time a campus open up, we will promise to forgo those opportunities for the chance to have a preferential presentiation in CA. I just, sadly, think that might be way to much to ask. Of course you then have to have alumnae support to make it work, or all hell will break loose. :)


Just thinking while I type....

No, still thinking, Who is Supposed to Help? That was My Question. (?)

At What Level as it were. National or Local Greeks?

As for as i know, we don't have a chapter at CMU. But we are growing by leaps and bounds...:D

CMU is a very diverse campus ethnically and ideologically as well. I think that Theta Nu Xi or another MC org would be well recieved there, actually.