My http://img5.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/twocents.gif,

Regardless of its official category (social, service, professional, and honorary), regardless of how many hoops you have to jump through to join, if all you ultimately do is party and/or stick it on your resume, then the entire experience can be viewed as an absolute waste of time. Some Orgs, the NPHC for example, are in many ways a perfect blend of all four anyway, because of the academic standards and focus on brotherhood/sisterhood, community outreach, leadership and professional growth.

To answer the question,

^^^ I agree. I don't believe it is or has to be more complicated than that. Moreover, a person who is not part of ABC is hardly in a position to discuss what it is or what its members consider themselves, unless he/she is considering membership. As RedRose stated, "Each organization should do its best, and not worry about anyone else. It's not a competition."

Re: social vs "other" groups
 

and

Quote:

perhaps Sigma Alpha Iota and Phi Mu Alpha now consider themselves as "social." But I doubt it.

Erik, your perspective, at least as to Sinfonia, is understandable. When you would have been in college, we were a professional fraternity, no argument about it.

For us, though, it's not quite as simple as "we decided to become social." We were founded in 1898 as a social fraternity, albeit a "special interest" one, not unlike Triangle, Farmhouse, or Alpha Gamma Rho. We filed a niche in conservatories and similar schools where general fraternities didn't exist. It was in the 30's and 40's that, for a variety of reasons that our histories document, that the leadership of the Fraternity steered us in a decidedly professional direction. By the 50s and 60's, partly influenced by a desire to differentiate ourselves from "Animal House" type groups, were were calling ourselves "The Professional Fraternity for Men in Music."

But by the 70s, many brothers were looking to move us back to our roots. In the 80s, the Fraternity officially decided to return to our roots as a social (again, albeit special interest) fraternity -- "professional" was removed from all documents and publications, and we committed ourselves to become again what we had been founded to be.

But as you can imagine, such a process takes a while -- we're still seeing some of the effects today. This is especially true when you've got decades worth of alumni who think of Sinfonia in terms of "professional fraternity." We're still explaining to some schools what kind of organization we are. And, of course, we still belong to the PFA -- this has occasioned quite a bit of discussion among us as we assess the implications of that and consider what might be a better fit for us. On a growing number of campuses, we have joined the IFC. (And I believe that mutual exclusion is in fact practiced in such cases.)

As many others have noted on here, a lot depends on the actual campus. With us, I suspect that greater involvement with the IFC/NPC/NHPC Greek community is more likely on smaller campuses, while on larger campuses we are perhaps more likely to stay in the music school/department and perhaps form a music-Greek council with SAI, TBS, etc. Some of our chapters, perhaps because of campus culture, still act like "professionals" despite steps taken by the Fraternity as a whole to move back to our roots as "social." It all takes time, and it happens at a different pace on different campuses with their different cultures.

I don't mean by any of this to imply that we "are just like" NIC groups, because we're not -- we have a special interest focus that permeates what we do and how we act and that makes us different from a "general" fraternity. But I did want to clarify that, for us, being "social" is not a recent change as much as it is a return to the principles and purpose on which we were founded.

As to the OP's question/comment, I agree that there will always be one group closer to one's heart. Doesn't mean better or worse, but personally more important.

Don't know how I missed this last winter, Boodleboy.

Last I knew, that description applied to the chapter at William and Mary.

While I have not read each reply on this post, I get the gist of what OP is saying. Here is my take on it.
I am in a professional social organization, Alpha Psi Omega, which is for theatre majors/minors/etc. I say it is professional social because there are aspects in the ritual that make it so. I did not make the ritual, this all went down decades ago with the founders, but when I was active I tried to live the ritual. Some people thought we were trying to be a strictly social greek org. APO was not something you could just sign up for. You had to get a bid and pledge. Pledging was not easy, either.
Since then I joined 2 additional greek honor societies- Sigma Tau Delta and Phi Kappa Phi. I wore APO letters because they were meaningful. STD and PKP weren't as meaningful because all I did was show up. It didn't feel like an honor because there was nothing to it. I didn't know any of my "brothers" names. Yet, that was ok because the purpose of them are different. I think with non NPC, non IFC, non NPHC each org is different. I cherish the time I had being an active APO member, but the others were just for the resume.
For the OP, I hope that sheds some light on the subject.

Re: Re: beg to differ
 

Well said, soror (both this and your last post).... :D

I always find it amusing that those who trivialize non-NPC/non-NPHC Greeks always say "you may be visible where you're from, but you're not Greek on MY campus" and assume that their experience is the norm rather than the exception. They don't say it in so many words, but that's the tone/position they take. Unless you've traveled to every campus where my organization has a chapter, you can't make a statement like that with a straight face... :o

As for dual membership in Greek orgs, I don't personally have a problem with it, although I don't see how anyone can be give equal devotion to more than one org without one of them suffering (no offense to any of the Psi or in TBS who are in the D9/NPC/etc., you do you). For me, there is only one brotherhood and one Bond.... :D

For those who don't believe that musical Greeks are on the same level: I am willing to bet that I spent more time with my LBs, before, during, and after my undergraduate "crossing", then many of you did. If you really know about Psi, then you'll understand why I make that statement. Even though I left my undergrad years behind me a while ago, I still carry Psi and its purposes in my heart wherever I go, and I am continually living those purposes to this day... ;)

It's not about trying to "be" NPHC/NPC/IFC/whatever. It's about being Greek. The NPHC/NPC/IFC don't define "Greekdom". Besides, trying to "be NPC", per se, is a pointless, losing battle. It's not about what another org thinks of us, it's what we do to uphold our purposes and uplift the community we serve. And yes, it is an honor "to be asked to serve" (Psi/TBS know what I am talking about).

The musical Greeks (KKY/TBS/SAI/PMA) are in a class by themselves. We don't want to come live in your house, but you may want to drop by ours for a visit sometime... :cool:

And that's my $19.19.

LMAO!

Now, there's officially a smiley for EVERYTHING!!!