Look, we don't know the whole story here - as in what the PNMs were told about the "colony" status, whether or not they really were told "the colony is closing if you don't get your numbers up,", etc so I find it hard to believe that they are really getting "screwed." Sure, it may be an odd situation but I would be willing to bet that the truth is somewhere in between. Esp since they were told "next spring" - that's a year away! By then she'll have 2 years in and since she is a Junior, she'll pratically be gone anyway. Come on folks, there is more here than meets the eye.

Am I the only one who is completely confused that a colony, colony, has been around for a couple of years, is initiating women but yet nationals (their EO, HQ) isn't actively involved (with a consultant and advisors) to get the membership up to charter.

I mean I know automatically it isn't an ADPi chapter because we initiate and install (or reinstall if it is a recolonization) in one big swoop.

Like Titchou said, we are not getting the whole story. If you really want your chapter to actually get its charter then you need to take a leadership role and rally the "troops". From what I've gathered nationals wants about 30 women and the chapter has about 15. So you need 15 more. First off, the chapter needs to get with the advisors, particularly the recruitment advisor. Second, the chapter needs to come up with a plan of attack for formal recruitment. Third, if there are chapters nearby, contact them. Your actual sisters are going to be more helpful than we are because you can't give us the nitty gritty on an online forum. Fourth, with recruitment you need to come up with a goal. Yes, aim for 15 but that might not be realistic as that 50% new members. Unfortunately the chapter may need to aim a bit lower and gradually build up. If the chapter could get 10 new members that would be awesome.

As for COB events, they are supposed to be laid back. The chapter I advised did Glee nights, movie nights, game nights, went to dinners. They did this over a 2 week time frame. The events were public (as it is a small campus) and whoever wanted to come came. After about 2 weeks we did our thing and voted on who we wanted to give bids too. COB is designed to be less stressful (on the chapter and PNM's) than formal, but you get more girls generally during formal.

Yeah...... I'm a bit confused too. The "boys are different than girls" statement seems like a bit of a non sequitur. (Unless 33 is thinking of AEPi?) Cuz if AEPhi is a men's fraternity, they really screwed up when they initiated me. :p

AEPhi is geared toward a particular population. AEPhi initiates colony members even if the colony has not yet been chartered. One has nothing to do with the other.

it was forever ago when i was initiated. i joined when we were an interest group that eventually became a colony, then active chapter 1-2 years later. from what i can remember, we had colony initiations each semester for the new pledge class. the colony initiation ceremony was very different from the active chapter initiation ceremony as the full meanings behind letters, symbols, etc were not revealed, just the basic stuff. maybe this is what the op is talking about? then again sororities may or may not have colony initiations.

Well they could have something to do with each other if they are required to have a certain number of members to charter and wish to focus on attracting Jewish members. If they are failing to reach that demographic, not communicating an attractive enough proposition to that demographic or even if there's been a miscalculation of the school's Jewish population or interest in a sorority, yes they would be related. All of those would be reasons a chapter might close before chartering but still have initiated members. Of course this is theoretical and not specific to the OP's chapter or the AEPhi colony mentioned later in the thread.

Dammit, I did it again. I thought that said AEPi. But the "particular population" may still stand.

Perhaps the colony started as an interest group, they let them get started with an NPC, and since the group didn't thrive, the school decided to reach out and do a ground up colonization with another group. As I said, I wouldn't blame the school for rethinking their relationship with an org that seems content to initiate women and then leave them twisting in the wind.

The bolded = not the point. "Well I'll be gone, so who gives a rat's rump if the colony gets chartered or not?" If that was true, we wouldn't have people doing dances of joy when they read on here about their collegiate chapters being recolonized.

I don't know what it is about you and me, 33Girl, but we are like oil and water. What I meant is that she is complaining about not have the collegiate experience. However, she pledged as a Junior and won't lose the chapter till next spring. So that's 2 years and the remainder of her college career. So, what's the problem? I don't know but I think we don't know everything. That's what I am saying....

Nah, I think we agree on most things, but when we don't, we REALLY don't. :D

Like I said before, it sounds like this group just threw letters and ritual at the women and then expected them to do all the work. If every minute of her collegiate experience has been worrying about whether they'd get chartered with zero help from an HQ, that's not much fun.

Not so much.

While AEPhi chapters tend to attract Jewish women, we have never restricted membership based on religion. So a colony wouldn't remain small because the Jewish female population is small and/or uninterested.

The fact that we initiate new members of colonies really has nothing to do with the fact that AEPhi was founded by Jewish women and tends to attract Jewish women.

Is this really the case, though? As Titchou has said, I'm not sure we're getting the whole story. And I'm not sure that the OP has even implied that HQ left them high and dry.

She asked for help to recruit more members...

.. and now she THINKS this is the reason the chapter MIGHT shut down next spring. Is this really the reason that the colony might not survive? Or are there others?

Has HQ assisted the chapter with recruitment? Has the chapter reached out to them?

And then...

..so.. she now just wants to drop the sorority altogether.

It seems to me she's not willing to put in the hard work that it takes to establish a chapter.


I definitely feel as though we're not getting the entire story.

I'm aware of that. I am simply saying that since there are chapters that have chosen to continue the traditionally Jewish route and even interest groups who have sought affiliation because of their desire to do the same, there is the potential that a chapter may not be able to achieve or sustain a specific membership level due to external circumstances. So you could potentially have initiated members of a chapter that never charters since you do initiate before chartering. So those two factors can be related, that's all I'm saying. This is all theoretical and I only brought it up since AEPhi was mentioned previously.

I don't think this is an AEPhi colony.

I'm not implying it is. I'm just off on a tangent. Like I said, theoretical.

It's fairly easy to guess who this might be based on the recolonizations listed in 2010 on Greek Chat.