New to the site - looking to start a local and need help!
 

Hi, everyone!

I've been lurking around the site for a week or so and finally joined so that I could post, and possibly get feedback/advice from anyone who'd be kind enough to offer it! I apologize in advance for the length of the post, I'm sure it'll be a long story ...

I'm just starting my junior year (first day of classes is today, actually! :)) at a very small, private liberal arts university in the NYC tri-state area. My school has very little by way of greek life. The only GLO we have on campus is Alpha Phi Omega, and while they're great and I'm friends with several members, it's just not what I was looking for and wasn't the best fit for me. I really want to be a part of the sisterhood that comes with being in a sorority, and while the APO members are active and do a lot of good service events, they don't do much by way of a social aspect or brotherhood, from what I've been told. Aside from APO, greek life is something that hasn't really been looked at positively at my school, though to my knowledge the university has no official policy on the matter.

There are three colleges all on the same street in my area, all within under 5 minutes of each other. One of these has an active greek system with several national fraternities and sororities. Something which has always been said at my school is that we were able to rush at our neighboring university, which was in line with what my best friend from home (who is an active member of an NPC sorority at her own school) had told me - that students whose schools had no greek life, or even didn't have a specific fraternity/sorority said student was looking to rush, were technically allowed to pledge outside of the university at which he/she is enrolled. So a friend of mine from school and I decided we were going to go through the recruitment process at the other school this year, as being members of a sorority was something we both were very interested in doing. (I know at this point you're probably wondering why we waited until our junior year - one, getting the bravery to go to a university where you know few if any people is hard, and two, my home university doesn't allow cars until junior year, and we wanted to wait until we knew we could get there on a consistent basis to be good, active PNMs/pledges/members.)

We were unfortunately told by the director of student life at the other university in town that we had been incorrectly informed and it was their policy to not allow students from either other college in town to participate in their GLOs. Which hurt to hear, because it's something we would both so dearly like to do, but we're hoping not to let it stop us!

The two of us have decided that we would like to pursue starting a local sorority on our own campus, if at all possible (and we also have hopes to push for affiliation with a national GLO, but let's not put the cart before the horse! :p). We know it will definitely be an uphill battle, but we think that there's room on our campus for a women's group devoted to sisterhood, service and scholarship, as the only other women's group on campus currently is Womyn's Concerns, which is more focused on activism. We also think that there is interest on campus - if no one was interested in it, surely the rumor about going through formal recruitment at another school wouldn't exist and float around as frequently as it does now?

So we're putting out feelers to gauge the interest on campus, and starting to get our organization in order in respect to our university's policies for student organizations. The name we've chosen is Beta Gamma Theta, the open motto for which is Beginning Great Things - we felt that was fitting for a group of women beginning something so new and exciting for our school! I've googled it several times and haven't seen any other GLO with that name come up, but if I've somehow missed one please let me know. =]

Anyway, I just wanted to post my story in the hopes that you guys could provide some guidance, since you all are so much better established and can hopefully give us some insight from your own experiences. Are we foolish to even try? What can we do to make our organization, and our case, strong to present to our administration? Any help or ideas you have would be helpful - the two of us are truly passionate about this and want to succeed!

I think you need to ask your administration before you get started. They may not want to support Greek life on campus.

Also, visit this thread: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=93174

Good luck.

ETA: I would take some of the details out of your story. I was able to figure out which school you attend with a 2-minute Google search.

Yep. Of course, that two-minute Google search turned up a page at the OP's college that gave this answer (in FAQ) about what makes the OP's school different from other small, liberal arts schools: "Many [students who chose us] also cite the absence of fraternities and sororities as a welcome feature." If that's the administration's attitude, I think it will be an uphill climb indeed, at least if the OP wants her local to be recognized by the school.

I wasn't sure if the forums had a policy about disclosing university names or not, which is why I worded my post the way I did, not out of any personal desire to keep it a secret. Is it okay to post school names? I just didn't want to step on anyone's toes, being new ...

In terms of the administration - we've had a lot of turnover in our administrators in the last year or so, and a lot of attitudes towards things the school's generally not been fond of in the past are starting to change. We actually had an information session about the traditionally African American fraternities and sororities, with representatives from nearby chapters, here in the spring semester last year, so things are looking more open then they have in the past. That new openness is something I'd like to push and keep going, so I was hoping for advice in that arena. I've looked through quite a few posts but the few that addressed schools without Greek life in place don't seem to have much resolution .. they seem to just end without any details as to their success or failure.

You can reveal as much or as little information that you want. That was more for you -- not sure how much info you want floating around the net.


The NPHC organizations don't operate the same way as the NPC ones. Many (maybe all?) of the NPHC organizations have city-wide chapters. This is not the case with NPC.

Thanks, knight_shadow .. I appreciate the help, I really was just anxious not to offend anyone =]

We've been advertising via facebook and have been in touch with quite a few girls who are interested in starting a local sorority at our school. We're looking to get together for an informal planning meeting some time this week. We've also thought about presenting ourselves to our administration foremost as a service sorority, since we already have an approved service fraternity on campus. Working with a philanthropy is one of our biggest goals, so this isn't something we're we doing just for approval - we're really like to do some good for local organizations.

I don't know much about NPHC - my friends from home, who have been assisting me, are all involved with NPC sororities so that's where a good deal of my knowledge base comes from. I'm doing some research on NPHC right now but if anyone has an insider's knowledge that can let me know a little more about it, I'd really appreciate it! =]

I doubt anyone's really following this, but if anyone's interested -

Things seems to be going really well! We've been advertising around campus and have 65 girls who say they're interested in BGT .. of course, not all will actually follow through, but that's so many more then we thought would want to get involved! We only need 16 to demonstrate interest to the student activities board =]

Our Student Activities director also is interested in giving us a table at the Activities Fair this Friday, even though we aren't an approved group yet, which is awesome!

I'm feeling very optimistic right now and just wanted to share =]

Great news!

You need 16 new members or 16 members total to show interest to the student activities board?

The simple answer about CUNY
 

We need a minimum of 16 people who are willing to put their contact info on a list saying they're interested in joining the organization. They don't actually have to ever follow through with it, join, etc - but I've have 65 responses so far and a good number of them have offered help with anything we need - paperwork, advertising, looking for advisers, really everything. I've even had one girl who was in a sorority at the school she transferred from who is really interested in helping get organized. So things are looking good!

I emailed the SA director last night with a description of our group and why we feel we'd be a good addition to the campus community, so she could consider it and see about getting us a table at the activities fair. She opened it at 11:30 last night but hasn't replied yet. I know she's very busy and has other things to deal with first, but eeek! It's everything I can do to keep myself from compulsively checking my email. =]

My partner-in-crime and I are going to get things ready for the fair today, even though we haven't heard from her yet - since the fair is this Friday, we don't want to be left with nothing to show people if we don't find out quickly enough! We're going to make a big poster for the table this afternoon, and may even craft ourselves some teeshirts.

Wish us luck!! :D

Old_gold - I don't go to a CUNY school, but thank you for the information about the citywide chapters. If in the end, this goes bust (fingers crossed that it doesn't!) that's something I'd definitely look into. I live in a small suburban town at school, though, so I don't know how that'd pan out.

If you've actually found a decent group of women who are interested, it may be possible to get an NPC group to colonize on campus. I have to tell you I don't know how one would do it AT ALL, but it would still probably be easier than starting your own local.

Good luck. It sounds like quite a challenge!

Our biggest issue with colonizing a NPC sorority on our campus isn't interest, but getting the school administration to say yes (NPC won't allow extension without approval from the university/college). We've been really anti-Greek in the past, but like I said, attitudes are changing (yay!). They're doing it very slowly, however, so while we're starting a local we are starting our local with the intent to petition NPC to expand to our campus. We'd like to do that quickly ... but we think that by starting a local and showing our school how beneficial we can really be to the campus community, we can soften the negative attitude towards GLOs and hopefully get a national to take our local on as a colony!

In more recent news - WE OFFICIALLY HAVE A TABLE AT THE ACTIVITY FAIR! :D Yay, I'm so excited!! Sarah and I are headed to the craft store to get poster board and stuff in a few minutes, so we can have a great, informative and attractive table for Friday.

Good luck at the fair!

The activity fair on Friday went really well! We got quite a bit of attention and got 40 girls to sign our interest forms - many of whom hadn't joined our facebook group, so that was exciting.

But the most exciting part of the day was finding out from some other girls at the fair that the director of Residence Life is actually pushing to bring Greek life to our campus, and wants to have a Meet the Greeks with national organizations! Which is REALLY exciting! We sent him an email, and we're hoping to hear back from him soon. We would love to be involved with that process and bring a national to campus - it would remove the middle step of starting a local and pushing for affiliation with a national.

We used to have Greek life, I was told, so to recolonize one that was already on campus would be a lot easier then to have to start from scratch. Does anyone know if there's any way to find out what fraternities/sororities used to be on a campus? The student activities director is new to campus and doesn't know, and while I'm sure there's a way to find out through the school I'm curious if there's anyway to research that kind of thing online.

Your best bet would be to either try old year books, or maybe checking out the websites of the individual NPC fraternities/sororities. I think most of them have even inactive chapters listed.

Good luck, stardust! Truly inspiring.

I agree with Psi U MC Vito. Also, I have seen some pretty good information on GreekChat. (ie. under certain sororities they might have a roll call sticky with all of their chpaters, past and present - I remember seeing this somewhere on here). It might take some work.

Once again good luck! Are you guys having a "rush"/recruitment or anything? (If you already mentioned this I'm sorry, I could've missed it.)

Or Baird's, if you can get your hands on one. The school library might have a copy, even if it's an older one, or the local library might even have one. Our's does.

Thank you guys for all the advice! We have an older copy - the 1930 edition - of Baird's in our school library, which I'm going to go grab tonight (I have to go and do some archaeology research, so I'll be there for hours anyway :)). It's an older one, but since the school's been here since the late 1800s it might have some useful information. I'm trying to track down a more recent copy, too. I'm also going to look through old yearbooks while I'm trolling the library, and I'm trying to find out if we have an archive of old school newspapers anywhere.

Court - we really want to have a rush week, and we have some events planned for when/if we get approved, but it'll probably be pretty informal if only because there are two of us getting this started up and a lot of interested girls, lol! We're also not entirely sure yet what will and won't be allowed by the administration.

I see...thanks for clearing it up :) I look foward to hearing what happens so please keep us updated!

I checked out the Baird's last night. As of 1930 we had no Greek life on campus - but since that leaves a 61 year span between that and the latest edition, I'm going to try and get the most updated one. The town library has one, so I'm going to go over there at some point today or tomorrow.

On the plus side I heard back from the director of ResLife early this morning, and he is really serious about getting GLOs on campus! He wants to meet with us one day this week, which is very exciting.

PM the GC poster irishpipes and tell her what school you're at.

Hey everyone!

Thanks for the advice, 33 - irishpipes told me there's never been an NPC group on campus but there may have been other GLOs, so I'm going to look through old newspaper archives hopefully tonight.

Our meeting with the director of Reslife was AWESOME. He was Greek in college and he is really serious about pushing to get Greek life and national groups on our campus. There's another group of students on campus looking to bring NPHC groups to my school, so he's going to help all of us work together to discuss the matter with the administration. He's hoping to get us approved to have a Meet the Greeks night in early October, and invite reps from different fraternities and sororities at other schools in the state to come to represent their organizations.

So it looks like, as of right now, my local may never come to be - but I'll get the chance to be a part of a national organization instead. I hope so, anyway!

I wanted to wish you luck on this endeavor. What makes this story interesting and exciting to me is that there are students who also want to bring NPHC groups to campus. Having different groups interested in bringing both NPC and NPHC to campus at the same time can very well work in your favor.

From a PR standpoint for the Administration, it's an opportunity to recognize that Greek life can appeal to multiple cultures, celebrating multiple histories and traditions, etc. The fact that you have a group of women interested in possibly bringing an NPC group to campus, plus a group of (men and women?) bringing NPHC group(s) to campus demonstrates to the Administration that there IS a united interest in Greek life. Lastly, there is so much that your groups can learn from each other in terms of following protocol and process, by going through similar journeys (from an Administrative point of view). You will likely face many similar challenges and work as you proceed, should you be allowed to proceed.

When I was an undergrad member of Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority, we assisted Lambda Theta Phi in their journey to affiliate on campus. It was such a rewarding experience to stand beside them in their process. To me, your story brings back some great memories of working with these young men towards the goal of creating a brotherhood.

I also wanted to add that also as a member of an NPC - Alpha Xi Delta - I have to say that each type of organization (and each group under the various umbrellas) has its own unique culture, traditions, personality, purpose(s) and goals. I feel very fortunate to be a member of two very special alumnae groups as an adult. I just want to suggest that you figure out what you want to represent and work towards, and be open to at least learn about the different types of national umbrella organizations (and each ones under the umbrella(s) as well as unaffiliated national organizations.

Only once you girls firgure out who you already are, will you be able to decide which direction you go. I sincerely wish you the best of luck. If I may offer one last piece of advice - because history seems to have set a precedence at your school - approach every person - admin/interested girls/other interest groups and types of orgnizations/etc. - with the respect you would like to receive back. Realize that change is never easy, and you are proposing making historic changes to your campus. I would love to hear more about your progress as it happens.

Ree, thank you so much for your advice and your support - knowing that everyone I've spoken to GC is so support is so great and I love to see that we're not all alone in this!

"Diversity" is a big buzz word on our campus this year, and administration is looking at us a little more positively right now then I think they would have in the past because their goal is to increase the level of diversity on our (in the past, largely homogeneous) campus.

We've also been doing a lot of research on retention rates, which is something I think will absolutely help to bolster our case. Retention rates have traditionally been on the lower side at my university, and the statistical rise in retention among Greek students as opposed to non-Greeks I think will definitely be attractive to our administration.

Your comment about respect is one that really hits home for me today and thank you so much for the reminder in that respect. I work in a computer lab on campus and one of the full-time (non-student) employees is an alumni, who I've always been quite friendly with. When he heard about the movement on campus towards Greek life, and knew I was taking an active role in it, he became very cold .. I think the comment he made was that "groups like that would ruin [our campus], and I don't know anyone here who'd want to be a part of that." It really stung, and it took a lot for me to stay positive and pleasant in the conversation (lucky my shift was ending so I could bow out gracefully rather quickly and only let my mom hear my anger!!). Thank you for the positive reminder to also strive to treat everyone I come into contact with with respect, even when they don't do the same for me. I needed it today!

I've been going through threads about colonization, trying to get a feel for exactly how it works so that I'm more knowledgeable about it when the time comes to go before the administration, and when it hopefully comes time for it to actually happen! I'm having trouble finding threads that deal with colonization at a school that has no Greek life at all, and I'm curious how quotas/bids would work when we have no Greek life at all to form a quota against, but quite a large number of girls interested (88 at last count just to my knowledge, and the girls in charge of the NPHC side of things also have a seperate running tally!) They're varied across classes, but I don't know if we could sustain a group that large past colonization. Also, how does having only one organization work on a campus? Would colonizing more than one, to accomodate the very large number of interested women and disproportionately small campus size?

I'm very confused as how to this process works - I've looked up NPC regulations, but it's hard to translate the official, very structured process on paper into the real life situation.

As I said earlier, I was undergrad and am alumna of both Gamma Sigma Sigma (Service sorority) and a pledge and now alumna member of Alpha Xi Delta (NPC). (I went to two different schools). Recruitment for both were very different.

In AXiD, at the time there were 3 other NPCs on campus, there were quotas, which also effected whether or not there were COB/other semester rush/recruitment (either not enough girls were extended/accepted bids, or pledges dropping out before initiation, or not making grades and having to pledge another semester). FYI pledges are now called "New Members". Each "house" or "chapter" on campus makes decisions based on their group's national standards for membership selection. This information is secret and only privy to initiated members. The campus Panhellenic helps set quotas (based on various reasons - some of which are not necessarily for public consumption, but others which might include a campus with houses that can only accept as many girls as there are empty beds for).

Because you are not gong to be NPC (at least now), you may not have to worry about quotas and limits. However, your campus may have regulations on class/member size, so that is something to make sure you find out. BUT you DO need to be able to scale every process/event/etc. to a bigger or smaller than originally thought candidate class. Example - If there are 16 members now and 60 interested women, think about how you would be able to handle if even only half of them wanted to become members. Each active would have 2 littles (if you have that program). But, the following year, you'd have 46 girls. Remember that even if 60 or 80 people are interested now, many will change their minds before/during recruitment and even on "bid" or "acceptance" day, and some may drop during pledging.

With GSS, there is a non-discrimination clause (though Members In Training must reach specific goals and policies to be initiated), and essentially, not a "quota", max or minimum number of class/chapter size (though particular chapters may prefer to keep the chapter a certain size). HOWEVER, there are differences in running a bigger vs smaller sized chapter (doubling up on positions, smaller projects, etc.). We were the only sorority on campus at that time, in additon to co-ed Alpha Phi Omega, another national service group (though the two do not have a formal relationship, on many campuses, they both exist).

My advice at this point is to work on your policies, practices, and procedures. Know your different "reasons to exist" - be it your motto, something in common, etc. This will help you attract girls from different backgrounds or interests, who might be successful members because they are in a similar field of study, agree with your standards (ex: academics, equality, diversity, service).

Many groups have secret handshakes to identify other members they don't know, knocks to enter meetings, etc. think about your symbols and possible pins or other memorabilia.

Come up with meeting procedures (I suggest following Robert's Rules of Order), how to operate a business meeting vs. an event planning meeting, elected positions, committees to support events and processes, a recruitment process (do you vote? what are the cut offs for GPA?), a BID DAY plan, a pledge process (do they learn your chapter's history? do service or hold community events? are they required to attend meetings?), ceremonies/rituals (Bid/induction, initiation, founders day).

Having a lot of this done before you have an official rush will help establish your legitimacy - that is, the things that many girls think of when they think "sorority".

Well, to be honest if we are a local sorority without a Greek life system on our campus, we wouldn't be allowed to give out bids. We can have a "rush week" of activities to see who's interested, but in order to be recognized, we must take absolutely everyone who wants to join.

Because of the way our club/organization system is set up (or, at the moment, NOT set up - it's in the process of being overhauled and rules are changing drastically in terms of what clubs can and can not do), we've been advised by the director of ResLife that we may be significantly better off to not go through the student activities approval process, to remain an unrecognized group of students who are interested in Greek life while those of us who are working to get Greek life approved get that process in order, and colonize a national group when that time comes. It's trickled down that the administrators may be more accepting of national groups because of the idea that there are more people watching over what we do, insurance, risk management, etc.

Just because you might have to accept every interested person, you CAN set up standards that New Members/Members in Training must adhere to, in order to be initiated. This can weed out people who aren't willing to do the work required to sustain the organization.

This can be learning creeds, history, passing a written test, maintaining GPA, performing study or service hours, attendence at meetings, etc. Just be careful that any requirements that exist support your reason for existing/motto or values/etc., and that they do not humiliate or draw unwanted attention to the pledges/new members/Members in training (ie. scavenger hunts, performing seductive dances for boys, having to interview actives - something that often creates an atmosphere of having to "earn" the interview/signature). For a better list of what might constitute hazing, a google search can come up with a list and examples and explanations as to how the activity is considered hazing or harmful mentally/emotionally/physically.

As ridiculous as it sounds, any group listed as a club really CAN'T do any of those things. We could choose not to initiate them, but we can't tell them that if they aren't initiated they can't come to meetings or events, unless we simply don't tell them they're happening.

We've been working with our adviser about progressing towards a meeting with the deans. They've been very positive and supportive of our efforts when our adviser met with them himself, and we've got a meeting tentative scheduled for the week of 10/12. We've also got a Meet the Greeks event scheduled for 10/9, which is SO soon, but we didn't have much say in the date. The group working with the NPHC fraternities/sororities is planning/sponsoring it and already set the date, but has invited us to collaborate. So we have to work VERY quickly to invite representatives from chapters at nearby colleges to come and represent their organization to our campus! I know of at least a few who will definitely come because I have friends in the organization, but the time crunch still makes me nervous. If anyone is a member/knows a member of an NJ chapter of any group, or an NY/PA group that's close to NJ, and would be interested in coming please let me know!

I just wanted to wish you well! It sounds like you have some determined ladies who really want to make things happen!

Thank you Cougar! :D

So, an update. I had a hunch, having read through the paperwork for the NPC extension process works, that we might not be allowed to invite NPC groups to our Meet the Greeks fair. So I got in touch with the NPC extension chair to double check and she let me know that my hunch was correct! We can have Greek women come and talk about what it means to be Greek, about the Greek system in general, etc, but they can't give information about their own group or push their own group. Kind of like being a Rho Chi, I guess would be a good analogy?

However, she did say we could definitely have an NPC representative come to the fair ... which would be awesome if the date the other interest group didn't fall right smack dab in the middle of the NPC national convention! :o She did give me the name of a woman who lives right near my campus, has taken classes there, and is part of her organization's NPC delegation. She's also served as the Chairman of the College Panhellenics Committee for NPC, and as she's willing to help us in any way she can that's a HUGE benefit! She's out of town until Monday, so I'm going to be giving her a call to set up a meeting ASAP.

We're also meeting next week with the Dean of Judicial Affairs at the university down the road. Sarah (my partner in all this) is friends with his son, who is president of one of the fraternities at the school, so that's how we got in touch and in for a meeting so quickly. He's agreed to talk to us about the different types of issues that arise from Greek life, and advise us on ways they can be dealt with. He's also going to help us brainstorm questiosn about Greek life our own administrators could potentially have to deal with, so that we're preparded to answer them as accurately and eloquently as possible when we give our presentation (which will be an HOUR LONG we were just told, eeep!).

So the ball is still rolling, which makes me happy. I really think that we're determined enough to make this happen through sheer hard work, and the (unofficial) responses we've gotten from the admins so far have been positive. I'm staying optimistic!;)

Hey guys .. just an update to let you all know what's been going on. (It's more for me I guess .. it's kind of cool to have a record of this!)

We met with the Dean at the other university, and he was SO helpful. He talked to us about policies, statistically how often Greeks come across his desk as opposed to other students, how we could set up policies to keep Greek life on the up-and-up, etc. He was also so supportive and proud of what we're doing, and it was a real boost to see that support from someone who doesn't know me from Jack, you know? He even offered to come and speak at our meeting with our administration, both as someone knowledgeable of the policy side and as a parent of two Greeks, who's seen a benefit in his own children. So we're really happy with how that met.

We're FINALLY getting a meeting together with the reslife director, Sarah and myself, and the girl who is part of the other interest group on campus. I am trying my best to keep a smile on my face in that regard, but I'm really starting to get a nervous feeling in my stomach in terms of working with her. She's a really nice girl, but she doesn't seem to really be serious about this, and it worries me. We've been trying for two, almost three WEEKS to get a meeting together, all four of us, so we can touch base and really move forward if we're all presenting together. But she is ALWAYS too busy to meet! I understand being busy, I really do. I take more credits then the average courseload, I work on campus, and I'm on the executive board of two other campus organizations in addition to working on this project. Trust me, I know busy! Sarah's just as busy too - and she works TWO jobs, and has to commute to campus so getting here for meetings involves travel time. And yet we still manage to find time to meet and talk. It's even more irratating when I see this girl's facebook statuses about how she's going to have a great crazy weekend ... really? You can't take a half an hour out of your partying on the weekends to meet with us??

Ugh, sorry to vent, but I had to get that out. It really does make me nervous - it seems like Sarah and I are putting SO much work into this and I don't want someone who's underprepared or not as serious about it hurt our chances of the administration approving Greek life. We've even pushed back the meeting with the Deans because she's just too busy! And it's not fair. If we wait too long we'll miss the Board of Trustees meeting and then we'll have to wait an entire semester for this to even be discussed.

Anyway, we're meeting tonight and hopefully it's a productive meeting. Sarah and I have gotten a good deal of the presentation powerpoint done and are getting binders full of complimentary information (academic journal articles, surveys we've taken, info from NPC/NIC websites, etc) ready to give to the Deans for review one week before our presentation. We're so close to being ready to present and make our case to the adminstration, and get the ball rolling on this .. and I hate being held back by someone else who's not willing to do their share. If in the end of this, the administration tells us no, Greek life isn't an option, I'll be sad but I'll know I worked my absolute hardest and gave it every ounce of passion that I had, and I can't do anything more than that. If it doesn't happen because of someone else ... I'll be even unhappier.

If anyone's still reading, I'm sorry for the melancholy sort of tone of this post. It's just frustrating to work so hard and feel like someone's holding you back by the hem of your shirt. Regardless, I AM still excited about this and I AM still working hard to make this a reality. There are so many girls here interested in this .. all we have to do is open the door in the minds of the administration, and we can prove how much of a benefit we could be to the campus.

ETA: Is there any way I can change the name of the thread/the board where it's located, as the focus has shifted away from starting a local?

Let me be the first to eat my words. I was completely off base - she is JUST as devoted and passionate about this as we are, and I have no worries about working as a united front.

We have three meetings this week to finish our presentation and information binders. On the 12th, we're delivering the binders of information that accompany our presentation to the 3 deans we'll be presenting to, in order to give them a week's time to review the material and come up with any questions they have for us. Then we're having a practice for the presentation the 16th and a formal dress rehearsal that we're going to invite parents, some faculty, and the Dean from the other school to, so that they can critique us and make sure that we are as prepared as humanly possible. Then we presenting during the week of the 19th!

BTW, keep updating, because I know I for one and interested in this.

good luck .. all that preperation and practice leads to you making your own luck!!

please let us know how it goes ... as the old saying goes .. practice makes perfect

It's so nice to know you guys are reading and interested in what we're trying to do :D

So our presentation date is set! We are presenting 10/26 at 10am ... ahhh I'm nervous! But not really ... I know that we are so well researched, and in the two weeks we have left will become so well rehearsed, that we are truly giving it our very best shot with everything we have.

Today was interesting in a lot of ways. For one, I had a long conversation with one of my anthropology professors today about what we're doing, trying to gauge the faculty response. His comment was typical of what we've heard from several faculty members and administrators - he's a little skeptical of Greek life in general, and has some reservations about having it at my school, but he also said that since we're obviously well researched and are also obviously good representatives for the positives Greek life can bring, he's willing to be open minded and hear and see what we're about and what we think Greek life can do to enhance our school. He's also very much in support of giving us a probationary period so we can prove ourselves to be above the stereotypes - which is really the best thing that can happen from all this. If they're just willing to give us a chance to prove the stereotypes and misconceptions wrong, I know we can show them that Greek life can really be a success.

Talking with my professor was also really helpful in terms of really getting a better handle on what the concerns of the faculty might be, and just talking out my viewpoints with someone really helped to strength them in my own mind. I think I did a decent job at least making him start to think about it and open his mind a little bit ;)

Also today - I went to a grad school reception (I'm planning to stay at my school a 5th year in an MAT program) and met a very nice girl from a school not too far from us .... and she happens to be the PR chair of her university's Panhellenic Council! She was so sweet and seemed SO excited to hear that we're trying to bring Greek life to her school! I mentioned to her the Meet the Greeks program we're having and how we can't have NPC groups come for their specific groups but we can have Greek women come and speak about being Greek in general and about the benefits. I used the Rho Chi analogy and she told me she's a Rho Chi at her school, and would talk to the Panhellenic president about having the Rho Chis come to our Meet the Greeks! Which would be SO AWESOME! I'll double check with the NPC extension chair to make sure that's okay, but from our previous exchange I think it should be okay to do that.

Finally, I finished our powerpoint presentation. If anyone wants to give it a look-over and tell me what you think, I'd really appreciate it!

I know your big presentation is coming up, so well wishes are coming from my direction! Good luck, and I hope everything goes well for you guys!

Awh, thank you so much Sunflowers! I really appreciate it .... our presentation is in less then a week and I'm starting to get some SERIOUS butterflies in my stomach!
I know I shouldn't be nervous. We've worked very hard to be as prepared as possible, and I KNOW we know everything in our presentation backwards and forwards. The Deans are very open-minded and really do have the students' interests at heart ... so why won't my heart stop pounding about a mile a minute every time I think about our presentation!

We brought research binders to each of the Deans this Monday, so that they have a week prior to the presentation to go through the info we've accumulated, familiarize themselves with some of the terminology and basics of GLOs, and come up with questions and concerns in advance. I think they were SHOCKED (and hopefully impressed) by how much research we've done. They knew they were getting some background info, but I think they were expected a manila folder's worth or so. We have 1 1/2 inch binders literally full to the brim with information and research, academic journals and studies, and an interested students list 26(!!!) pages long.

I'm so proud of all the work we've done so far, and I can only hope and pray that the Deans see that, see the dedication and desire of the students here, and that we don't stall out now.

Also, today Sarah and myself, along with our staff advisor, are going to meet with a woman who works with the NPC who lives just a town or two over, and who works in the same town as my university! The NPC Extension chair passed her name on to me and said she'd be an excellent resource, and she said she'd be happy to meet with us and help us navigate this journey and help in any way she can. Which is really exciting! We've done a lot of research, but she obviously has years of experience and knowledge with all the rules and procedures, and can help us make sure that we don't mess anything up when (I refuse to jinx things by saying if ..) we get approved.

Thank you for keeping us and our project in your thoughts, guys. I really, really appreciate it- it means so much to know that I have the support of other Greeks out there. It might sound silly and sappy but it's still nice to know. :)

I'll update you guys after our meeting today!

^^^ Wow. Sounds like you have worked very hard. Very impressive.

Best of luck to you. I will be interested to learn how things turn out.

Hey girls/guys - just an update really, REALLY quick to know that in terms of Greek life efforts all is wonderful right now, presentation is in just 3 days, Monday at 10am! However my personal life, in terms of my on campus living situation is a train wreck right now so I may be gone for a few days ... I'll be let you know ASAP how the presentation goes/how the meeting with the NPC rep went!!

Hi everyone! Things in my personal life have started to hit a lull, thankfully, so I have time to catch up here :)

Our meeting on Wednesday was really, really great. We were expecting maybe a half hour meeting ... we were there for over two hours discussing everything under the sun. Benefits and negatives about Greek life and how best to describe them to the administration, issues about liability insurance, how many groups we should have (she thinks that having just one sorority colonize at first would be a bad idea, because A)we're a small school and if we had a couple smaller groups we'd be more analogous to the rest of the campus groups and b)they'd get so well established that they'd eat another group alive when they eventually tried to colonize as the Greek system grew .. she thinks two or even three at first would be much better, but anyway I digress!), how we could work on constitutions, etc. She was really supportive of how much we've tried to stress involvement and co-operation with both other Greek orgs (as we're looking for NPHC/NIC groups as well) and with non-Greek orgs, which I'm glad for - I know that will be a major draw for our administration.

She told us that, having lived in our town for so many years, she knows a LOT of people at my university .... including people on the board of trustees! Which could really be a huge help to us, if she could say a choice word or two in the right ear (and she said she'd be in touch with people about this!). She also said she would be very happy to come to our Meet the Greeks fair and that having Rho Chis come would be perfectly okay too. Yay! Everything seems to be falling into place well right now

She said she was impressed with all the work we had done and how passionate we were about this. She said something to the effect of "Women with this kind of drive are the essential sorority women and I know you can demonstrate that at your presentation." EEEP! :eek: Sarah and I took that as SUCH an amazing compliment, and it really bolstered our confidence.

Tomorrow is our presentation and I am utterly terrified. Not terrified-terrified, though - just a swirl of anxious excitement and nervousness. I know we will do well. We know what we're talking about and it's obvious when we speak that we love and truly believe in what we're talking about. It's just very, very nerve-wracking to know that no matter how well we do tomorrow, we can be told no and that's it, I've lost my chance to be Greek. Well, that's NOT it - I know the three of us are as obstinate as horses and if we're told know we're going to want to know why so we can find out how to fix it and present again, lol! Like Sarah said the other day ... if I have to fight for this until 5 minutes before I walk onstage to get my diploma, so be it!

The presentation is 10am-11:30am tomorrow morning. Being the typical mom types Sarah and I are, we know that refreshments are important that early in the morning, lol! ;) So Sarah's coming to pick me up at 8:45 so we can go get a Box of Joe from Dunkin' Donuts. I have an assortment of teas in my own room I'm bringing (our advisor told us one of the Deans is a tea drinker and we want to be prepared!), and Sarah's mom is the absolute best and is getting us bagels (Sarah's family gets bagels every Sunday morning for breakfast, it's tradition, and her mom offered to get extra for us, which is soooo sweet of her). We all know information goes over a little bit easier when you've got a hot cup of coffee and something to nosh on. :)

I'll try and get on as soon as I can afterward to let you guys know how it went .. please keep us in your thoughts!