I dont beleive that is true at all. Just because someone is paid, doesn't necesarily mean that they are more professional. Volunteers can do just as good of a job as a paid person and I dont really think they come out and say, "Hey, they pay me to do this, so we are more professional."
I think it looks better to have a volunteer presenting because it shows thewir dedication to their org. to work without pay! Im not trying to bash anyone I just took it as an insult to say that a volunteer is not professional in that sense.

*Sorry for the bad spelling, I am very very sick at the moment and do not feel like fixing any of it!

Any time anyone utters a phrase like this, it kind of makes me wonder. In truth, ultimately, the fate of the chapter is on the shoulders of the active members of that chapter. Whether it succeeds or fails, that's up to them. HQ and your alums give you the tools, actives must put them to use.

Even without the tools, a group can succeed.

I was using the word professional, in a very literal sense, juxtaposed against "volunteer," not against "amateur."

A professional director of extension might be ineffective, but if you are comparing an effective director of extension to a volunteer, the paid staff member, who spends 50-60 hours a week doing that job will be substantially more effective every single time.

The work load for a professional director of extension consists not just of making presentations. It also consists of attending conferences, making phone calls to administrators, alumni, and professional counterparts, and the follow up phone calls that set the stage for the presentation. It also consists of attending various interfraternal workshops that build professional competence, and professional contacts. So much of being a director of extension is networking, and quite simply, that requires time.

No one has to believe me, but all that you have to do is make a list of the NPC groups with a professional director of extension, and a list that uses volunteers. It will then become apparent which groups are winning the expansion presentations.

russell-It was my perception that when a university decides to open for expansion, all NPC sororities are notified. Therefore, while fraternities are making calls and scoping things out to FIND expansion opportunities, most NPC expansions follow NPC policies of extension.

We will be chartering our newest chapter of D Phi E at Drexel University in the Winter quarter. When Drexel voted to expand, all of the NPC sororities that were not already on campus were notified of their desire to expand, and 9 NPC sororities expressed interest. From those 9 sororities, 3 were selected to present. Two of the three have paid staff members to deal with extension. We do not. As is procedure, our organization sent a paid staff member, an international executive council member, the director of expansion and local volunteers to do the presentation. We were unanimously invited to come to their campus. I don't think that's an exception either. We have a great expansion presentation put together by volunteers and paid staff members. But D Phi E carefully selects expansion opportunities that we can be successful in. We probably wouldn't even express interest in a school such as, Indiana, where everyone has million dollar houses and lots of deep pockets, because we know, at this time, that's not our market. But we continue to grow in mid-size greek systems or newly forming greek systems where we are competitive.

PsychTau, you have a great idea there in the information sharing ideas. It'd be interesting to see what was actually shared though.

We actually did this when I was in college. We had sororitywide or greekwide programming events for career development, resume writing, alcohol awareness, hazing prevention, leadership training, assertiveness training, and eating disorders. They would be sponsored by the campus Panhel, Pan Hellenic or Fraternity Council, IGC, or a specific sorority or fraternity. For example, DPhiE would have an eating disorder informational event since ANAD is our philanthropy. The sororities, as well as some independent women, would attend and participate. The campus panhel would help with scheduling and getting the word out. It was a great collaborative effort. Most of these events were mandatory such as hazing and alcohol awareness, but even the ones that were optional had a great turnout.

A few random thoughts:

During the extension process universities and local panhellenics do, typically, provide guidelines for presentations (ie, limiting the number of members that can be present, limiting display items to one table, etc). Albeit, those guidelines come from the campus and not from NPC and no written NPC guidelines or rules exist that I know of.

Just like in formal recruitment, you have to find ways to put your best foot forward within those parameters. During formal recruitment some groups have better skits, better singers, more members to fill the room. During formal recruitment there may be a spending cap of $1000 - it's entirely possible that a smaller chapter may not be able have a budget of $1000 even though the rules say they could spend that much. You can only level the playing field so much without totally distorting what each of the groups truly have to offer.

During the expansion process, one group may appeal to the university/panhellenic more than another for any number of reasons - one group may simply do a better job showing what they have to offer. I don't think you can call it "unfair" that a group is selected because it can offer members more than another group. Why wouldn't you want a new chapter to have "the best"... whatever your definition of that is (my last comment below may be a reason).

Assume the number of current members that are allowed to attend an extension presentation is 10 collegians and 10 alumnae and a group showed up with 5 collegians and 3 alumnae, the Panhellenic may make an assumption that there are not enough alumnae in the area to provide support to a new chapter. That could be the truth OR the truth may actually be that 2:00 on a Tuesday isn't the easiest time for alumnae members to attend but there are more than enough local members to provide assistance at other times.

To play devils advocate regarding selecting a "big" or a "small" NPC group.... I heard of a local Panhellenic that wanted the new chapter to be well supported but did not want to bring on a "big" NPC group, with a "big" following because they were fearful of the competition. In this situation a bigger NPC was passed over for a smaller one.

Or maybe they felt the small group fit better on the campus. Or maybe the president of the school was an alum of the small group and there are a ton of alumnae in the area. Or maybe Jenny's ex-boyfriend dumped her for a big NPC sister at State U and she hates them so she voted against them. Who knows??

I don't think you can say why groups or individuals do or don't do something like this, unless you are the Amazing Kreskin and can read their minds. To assume the existing groups were "scared" sounds like sour grapes on the part of the larger NPC.

Of course there is a Huge difference between Fraternities and Soroities, DA!

But demogarphics do play a large part in this picture.

What Organizations are strong in a particular Area of the Country, as I am sure there is no one Soroity or Fraternity for that matter that are strong. Of course, the Fraternitys are as there are more Chapters.

The majority of the Colleges are at about 10-15 % of the Student Population, correct? So, if a school has 13,000 students, then that means between ALL Greek Orgs that 1,300 people are members.

Take for example, My school, there are 6 Fraternitys and 3 Soroities on Campus. My Chapter LXA is having problems, SPE, just had a huge house cleaning, and PSK is relative new and still small. Two NHPC Groups, one a Fraternity and one a Soroity which have normaly been small! There used to be 2 each when I was there!

We are in the process of regrowing along with the PSK. Now SPE is in real trouble of being gone! So down to 5. This is with a Population of @ 6,500 students.

So what is the answer? Well as was said above, it is up to the Active Chapters to strive to grow and force New Organizations to come on Campus. The Stronger We are as a Greek Organized Unit, the better We Will all BE! :) The more Greek influence on campus, the stronger We as All Greeks Become!

And Yes, The Heads of Our Organizations do meet and discuss things about Growth and The Betterment of All of the Greek Community!

LXA Has presented Awards to Fellow Greeks from Fraternities and Soroities in the Name Of LXA!

Why, because of the Fellowship on that level that does not seem to get down to the Chapter level!

This level is where it needs to start to keep Us Growing Over all!

Actually, in this particular situation, I know for a fact that competition was the reason that some groups voted the way they voted - this was on a campus that I advised. I didn't hear about this situation from the "sour grapes" larger NPC. So, while you are correct that this may not always be the case, in this one, it was. In my post you will see that I didn't say that "I assume" this was the reason - I said that it was.

Incidentally, that was almost 5 years ago and the new chapter is doing quite well.

I think a lot of the smaller groups are sadly destined for the pages of pledge book history sections. The only way they can even compete is to find a niche that nobody else fills. This whole group is a better fit for campus thing is a bit hokey - there really isn't too much difference between a bunch of sororities and fraternities. How do you choose between 5 sororities that are strong nationally and locally and have alums at the school?

-Rudey

Is it just me Rudey, or did you just contradict youself? I'm not disputing you or ragging on you, I just didn't quite get what point you were trying to make. :)

It's a business
 

I love to think of GLOs as businesses selling memberships and the benefits of membership.

Sure, some cooperation is good - to set the date for Homecoming, intramural schedules,etc.

But there is no way XYZ sorority is going to help ABC "sell" more, and in fact their goal should be to sell as much XYZ as they can.

This really benefits ABC, since it forces ABC to "sell or get off the can". If ABC is small, they can sell "we're really sisters, and we're really close." If ABC is house-less, they can sell plans, lower costs, etc.

If we look at our goal to "sell", everybody can find something to truthfully sell.

The famous Buckwheat in TKE has repeatedly gone to tiny chapters, gotten them fired up, and pledged 50 to 100 guys in a few weeks. (Unfortunately, when he leaves, some of these "buyers" seem to disappear, but that's another problem. I suspect that if you offered Buckwheat cash money (say. give him each new member's $100 pledge fee), he could make any chapter on any campus into a 50-man chapter {maybe even 75}) He's a saleman with a large supply of pledge pins.

It's just you
 

When it comes down to who comes to a campus, it tends to be the bigger names that have the resources to get there.

In the bracket of larger GLOs, it's difficult for one to gain an edge over the other since they are very similar.

In the bracket of smaller GLOs they will have difficulty expanding because they are a) dealing with problem chapters and declining memberships, b) are naturally at a disadvantage because of lack of resources and the fact that people haven't heard of them as much.

The only way, in my always right opinion, for a smaller GLO to increase their numbers with limited resources is to fill a niche. That way there is a sorta natural attraction that lowers their costs of expansion and marketing. If the resources are fixed, the costs are fixed, some competitors have larger endowments and resources, then you can only compete by changing the product to achieve greater demand for it.

-Rudey

Rudey, I think I got waht you are talking about as you and I are both some what disjointed in not thinking but typing!:)

Hoosier, the story you just told was relayed to me By None other Than Erik Conard, one of Your Finest Fraters!:cool:

That has always seemed to be the problem with All of us!

The New Kids get pumped up and do not see the fact, Hey, It Cost Money! Until they become fully Initiated Members, they do not Know The True Meaning Of Fraternalism!:(

Re: It's just you
 

I do agree with this to an extent. I think that from a marketing standpoint, it may have been a mistake for SDT and AEPhi to try to distance themselves from their "historically Jewish" roots. On the surface it makes sense: if you're not historically Jewish, you appeal to a much larger section of the population, thus you should attract more members. But now, without a niche to appeal to, you don't have anything that sets you apart from the rest of the sororities, and you're competing with Kappa and Chi O who have the bigger numbers and more money.

And if TPA was still thought of as being a "Catholic sorority," it would automatically have a point in its favor when Catholic-based schools were considering expansion, because school officials would hope that it would be the best sorority to promote the Catholic ideals that they were founded to teach.

Of course it can have the opposite effect too: schools turning down AEPhi because they don't think Christian women would be attracted to a sorority that plays up its Jewish roots. So maybe the issue is just knowing when to play up what sets you apart and when to play it down. Surely it doesn't make sense for AEPhi to show the same presentation if they're trying to expand to a school in New York and to one in Mississippi. That's a given. Aside from the religion issue, the cultures are completely different.

Part of this is that the NPC sororities are all virtually identical these days -- some of them were founded for different reasons but all of them have moved away from those reasons. When schools are considering a new sorority, there really isn't a way to say "Oh, that sorority would fit in well here" because all of the sororities are more or less the same when it comes to ideals and what kind of members they hope to attract. All that the expanding Panhel can go on is the size, alum support, money, perceived strength of the organization -- and all of that will tend to fall in favor of the larger groups.