I Don't Get AI
 

Like I know what it is and I understand in the rare cases where it's a woman who has done exceptional things for an organization.

What I don't understand is the desire for post-collegiate women to join an organization whose foundation starts in college. Maybe I just don't know enough because I'm still active and in college but part of me feels like alumni life is more volunteering at chapters, advising and such. Things that seem like it would help to have gone through active collegiate membership.

I guess my ultimate thought is there are so many other ways to volunteer if that's what you're looking for why AI.

i thought that ppl who were interested in AI were mistakenly thinking it was a good substitute?

AI will never be a subsitiute! How can it be?

Let the AI seekers think that and because they do - it will never matter what they read here. They are not the people needed for AI! That is why it is up to orgs to be ever so selective in the AI process.

I think what we need to do is encourage all of the young ladies presently in orgs and also alums to keep on the mentality that membership does not end when you graduate. If we do that the topic of AI will probably vanish over time. Maybe programs need to be put into place during membership about retention after graduation and why it is so very important to the future of our orgs.

It is all about numbers of alums, volunteering, and of course money that keeps these organization strong. They can't make it without all of that and just the collegiates can't keep it strong enough. We need to retain "active" members upon graduation on all levels. I believe this is why AI has come into play these days. (Just my opinion)

So, IMO, if we do better and support more in numbers on all levels I do not feel we would need AI.

I mean take a moment to google for an alum group near you that can help future PNMs out. If you can't find one easily or there isn't one near you we need to step it up. If you seek a group out and they don't contact you back something is really wrong. We all need to do what we can and gather other amazing women to carry on the greatness of the orgs. Ask yourself how many sisters in your house your four years of college are really involved in the org now? This creates a picture of how much support an org may have nationwide. I know orgs need post collegiate help and they need funds. This is the key to stay strong and it opens the door for AI.

I disagree about the majority of alumnae activity centering around volunteering for collegiate chapters. I think more women are members of their alumnae chapters than are members of their local collegiate advisory panels. That's just all you see as a collegiate member.

Alumnae initiation is SO DIFFERENT for every NPC organization.

It's funny to me that we excuse ourselves for lane swerves on nearly every other topic, but when it comes to AI, many GreekChatters often assert themselves with authority on what AI is and is not, and try to speak on behalf of every org in the NPC.

For some orgs, AI is honorary membership. For others, it is not. For some it's rare, and for others, you can start seeing movements toward a more formalized AI program that might one day look more like NPHC alumnae intake.

Nanners, what I'm saying is you should ask real-life people in your own sorority because there are so many different reasons for and approaches to AI that most people on GC ignore when it comes to providing their opinions on the topic.

My mother is an AI of AOII. To me AI has a different meaning. Do I think every person who wasn't in a sorority in college should do this, of course not. But for my mom it was special since both of her daughters are AOIIs. She wasn't in a sorority at LSU. She helped with recruitment at Ole Miss for 5years as a mother's club member. She attended her first Convention event this summer too. So, I think it's a case by case situation.

I actually want to read some NPC posts like this. :)

I agree with that. It is a completely different world then collegiate membership. We don't have an active collegiate chapter in our city and the one that we adopted is at least 4 hours away. That collegiate chapter does have an advisory board and certainly none of those women are members of our alumnae chapter. Alumnae Chapters have activities and goals to meet the needs of their members. If it involves being more hands on with a collegiate chapter, fine. If it involves minimal involvement with a collegiate chapter, fine.

So, no, AI is not a vehicle to try and relive old college days. However, it can be a way for a member to reach out to that "sister without a badge" who shares the organization's values, ideals, and goals. I would never advocate throwing out a sign-up sheet in front of Wal-Mart, but if it is a woman who has demonstrated her faithfulness, it can be a great thing. One of AOII's International Presidents is an AI and we do have many more who have faithfully served the Fraternity and still do. ;) Are they overflowing our ranks? Nope and never will. It is a special honor for a select few.

Personally, I think that is the perfect situation to do AI. Yea for your mom.

Perfect example!

Again, it's a case to case situation. Our Housemother (who was gone before I pledged) was initiated after years of service, and I'm sure she wasn't an exemption to the rule.

This is the kind of situation where AI makes sense, but unfortunately it seems that many women interested in it are after a social life type of involvement. I think when people say it's only done in rare scenarios (like a mother with 2 daughters in the same house) that we mean it's difficult. It's not that it's difficult; there's just so little point if you're not directly tied to a sorority in some real way. A once per month hour long meeting with women who could be 40 years older or younger than you pretty much loses the point if you don't have the collegiate background to draw from. Using your Mom as the example, would she have any interest in doing this if not for you?

I had typed up a whole theoretical scenario that turns out pretty similar to your Mom's when my computer crashed and I lost it. Real is better than theoretical anyway.

The thing is it's so hard to explain what alumna membership is because it does vary a great deal around the country and from GLO to GLO. But I don't think there are any that are going to fill the void of wishing you were in a collegiate chapter.

I don't think my mom would have joined any NPC group via AI without some type of personal connection. She does have friends in other NPC groups but since she has a different type of connection with them (lifelong childhood friends) I don't think that is something that ever came up in their conversations. For my mother it was not a way to "redo" her college years in any way. It was a way for her to experience AOII on a different level from just serving punch and cookies during recruitment. Her continued support of AOII through me and my sister allowed her to want a deeper connection. Plus, it's something the 3 of us share together. It was a wonderful experience to have my sister, my mother, and me altogether at AOII Convention this year. It allowed them to see AOII on a bigger picture. Plus, as an international volunteer for AOII they can see how much it all means to me. (Must have rubbed off my sister is a new adviser for her local collegiate chapter down in FL!)

I would also like to share another example. When I was a collegian our financial adviser was a local CPA and Accounting professor on campus. She had been helping the chapter and tutoring members as well. She had gone to a small private college where there was no Greek Life. We alumna initiated her since her hours of service and her dedication to the chapter were outstanding. She was overwhelmed with joy and accepted the invitation.

So, I think the best point of all of this is it is a case by case situation. There are some outstanding alumnae initiates in my own sorority and they have really done wonderful things for AOII whether on the local level or international level.

I completely agree with the idea of "needing a connection" in order to fully appreciate joining a sorority after graduation.

I am currently in the process of starting an alumnae chapter, and there are about 6 people who, right now, are fully dedicated to attending meetings, taking positions, and getting this thing off the ground. A couple of us are older, some are younger, and one of them joined my chapter a year after I did. We even had a dinner where more alumnae attended, including a member who just graduated last year, and another who was well into her 60s.

As you talk, you find that the one thing that ties everybody together is your collegiate experience. Granted, everyone has different stories, but usually someone will say, "I remember when we did this..." and someone else will chime in with, "We did that, also, but we instead of doing it that way, we did it this way..." Or we would talk about the fraternities that were cool to hang out with when we were in school, or about strange things that happened during ritual, or about the styles of hair/clothes that were in at the time.. whatever!

Not everyone is married, not everyone is deep into their career, not everyone is a grandparent... your time as a collegiate member of your sorority is the one common bond that you all have. If nothing else, it's something to break the ice and get the conversation going. Don't get me wrong, you can definitely be involved if you don't have that experience, but coming in with no connection at all to that sorority would probably make for a difficult adjustment... no matter what kind of involvement you choose to have (alumnae chapter member, collegiate chapter advisor, etc.)

Thank you! My thought exactly. Only a couple of the women in my alumane chapter help out a collegiate chapter.

And there are many alumnae chapters in cities where there isn't a collegiate chapter nearby.

If that occurs, then I look for that org to leave the NPC.

Touching on what baci said, there are good reasons for AI, but "we can't get our current alums involved and would rather just AI people" is most certainly not one of them. Don't have a baby to save your marriage - fix the marriage first.

Why should it want to leave the NPC? It wouldn't.

Everybody's AI is different in the first place, and it seems to me that at least some members of NPC organizations expressed a desire to tighten up the way AI's are selected for their orgs.

No NPHC organization "recruits" on the alumni level anyway.

Well then I have a question - are there NPHC alum chapters who can say "we aren't going to accept anyone at the graduate level" or is that bucking policy?

I think I might be responding to something different than I think it is.

To answer it a *tad* differently, I have never heard of an NPHC alumni/grad chapter that was required to have intake at all.

I have heard of alumni chapters opting to wait years upon years before conducting intake, up to ten years in some cases, simply because that's their prerogative.

All I'm saying (back to my original point) is that those NPC orgs which have looser requirements for AI are not going to reverse their positions and view AI as an "honor" -- it's more likely that they will take an NPHC perspective of "invitation only" at the discretion of the alumni chapter, while instituting a better screening process.

(Only responding to what I've read on GC over the years)

I run the risk of seeming that I'm running down the NPC groups when I say this, but I think the missions and histories of the groups are so fundamentally different than NPHC groups that I don't ever seeing AI like graduate chapter intake.

It's possible that AI will expand to serve undergraduate chapters, but I don't really see AI expanding to serve the general mission of any NPC organization.

I'm a little unclear...sorry if I'm sounding nosy I have no knowledge at all about NPHC orgs and how they recruit, I only know that the alumnae/grad chapters are really different than the typical NPC alumnae chapter, mostly much larger. Do you mean that alumni/grad chapters have candidates that wait ten years to be initiated or that an alumnae group may or may not participate in recruitment for ten years?

I know it's just semantics, but let's not call it "recruitment" and call it instead "the initiation of new alumni/ae members."

Depending on the rules of that particular NPHC group, I mean both.

Yes, somebody could be waiting ten years for the *chance* to be initiated.

AND

An alumni/ae chapter might indeed opt not to provide the chance of initiation for ten years.


There are 9 NPHC orgs and likely 9 different approaches to alumni intake, including residency requirements of the applicant. Some organizations conduct the initiation of new alumni/ae members by invitation only and you do not know you are being considered. For others, there may be a formal rush which is publicized in a local newspaper. For still others, you are responsible for securing one, two, three or more recommendations of your own.

ETA: What I do *not* mean is that someone is registered as an official candidate and just waits around for ten years. A chapter is either conducting intake or it isn't.

This. Membership intake for every type of organization is based on need (and want). For example, graduate chapters that have low member turnover may not feel the need based on numbers, but may eventually desire some newness.

But we never do recruitment.

It isn't semantics. I see a big difference in purpose and meaning. :)

Well, yeah, it goes without saying that aspirants will have to wait if a chapter isn't having intake and the aspirants can't access/qualify for a chapter that is having intake. :)

I think it is semantics depending on one's definition of recruitment. For example, I consider advertising for, inviting folx to, and holding a RUSH as recruitment. Both collegiate and alumnae chapter MUST have a RUSH. And to be perfectly honest many members do talk to non-members and encourage them to apply. And even in sponsorship processes, my guess is many of the candidates have been recruited by the sponsor.

What we DON"T do is give pospects a bid and wait for them to choose us.

Right. I'm talking about the formal events called "recruitment." We don't do that, so it isn't a matter of semantics.

Pardon me if I poorly worded my reply to Senusret. :)

^^^ Thanks! That's really interesting. As a collegian, I was aware of the NPHC groups on my campus, but didn't ever know much about their membership activities.

I'm an AI and was initiated almost 9 years ago. I did not join to re-live my college years or to attend collegiate type socials or b/c I didn't have friends in college. Sororities did not exist on my campus when I was there. One of my co-workers is an alumna and we started talking about GPB one day - what it was all about, what alumnae did, what she gets out of it now, stuff like that.

I did some research to learn more about the sorority (didn't know at the time I could join) and we talked more about it and I found that the values and mission of the sorority were very similar to mine. I told my friend that it seemed like a great organization and something that I thought would be nice to be a part of, thinking that would never happen. That's when she told me about AI.

I attended some alumnae gatherings and met them and they ranged in age from about 10 years older than me to 50 years older (I was 24 at the time). They were such a fun and nice bunch of women to be around. They didn't care that I was younger and that they could be my mom or grandma. We got along and enjoyed being around each other.

It did not matter that I did not have a collegiate experience to relate to their's. We had families, hobbies and other things that we could talk about. Alumnae life does not exist solely to talk about what you did in college.

Why is AI beneficial? To bring women into the sisterhood that share the same ideals and values of the organization and are willing to advance it's mission in whatever way she is able to (advisor, philanthropy work, being a great sister). It's pretty much the same reason as collegiates recruit members, but doing those things with other alumnae and often on different levels. Not every woman who has the potential to be a great sister had the opportunity to start that journey in college, so why look down upon them if they are truly a good fit for the organization?

I do agree that AI is not a substitute for not getting a bid in college and it is not for everyone. The intent of the PAI must be determined before considering her for membership.

Alumna membership in our organizations is so much more than just assisting collegiate chapters. I am MUCH closer to women from my alumnae club than I ever was to my chapter sisters. We have gotten married together, had babies together, become single moms (divorced) together, cared for our sick parents.. the support system is amazing. It was an alumna sister who found a care giver for my mom when she needed one. Several alumnae were there for me at my mother's funeral. I went on a vacation with an alumna sister from another state who I met through being on our volunteer services team this year, because we are both single moms and needed some time away without our children, but who do you do that with when you're a single mom? Most of my friends at work, from grade school, college and who I've met through my kids activities are married and cannot do things like that. I've got a corp group of women and know that I can shoot an email to the club saying "Hey, this band is playing at the city festival next weekend and I want to go, who's interested?" The friendships I've made with sisters from all over the country through volunteering as an alumna are some of the strongest I've ever had.

I was a collegian for 4 years, I am an alumna for life (22 years so far). My life as an alumna has been rich and rewarding. I think the NPC groups are lacking in this area because we are too focused on the collegiate experience. The majority of our members are alumnae, not collegians.

I agree with those who have said that those hoping to live a collegiate experience that didn't happen would be very disappointed with AI. AI is the exception and not the rule and there is definitely an expectation for involvement. However, there is nothing is in the Alpha Gamma Delta Purpose (or any other NPC creeds, symphonies, etc.) that allude to the collegiate experience only! These are lifelong value systems for which we strive to meet. Being involved as an alumna doesn't necessarily have anything to do with collegiate chapters. It IS about sisterhood, philanthropy and living up to the ideals of the organization. It IS about support, friendship, genuine caring and sharing the bond of our ritual as we live our lives, for a lifetime.

Well said.

I thought of a good NPC vs NPHC point.

From what I have gathered, meetings for NPHC chapters - whether they be undergrad or grad - are conducted the same way. Well, as far as NPC goes, meetings for collegiate vs alum chapters are NIGHT AND DAY. (Or even more than that - Vineyard Vines and Ed Hardy. LOL.)

Plus it would be kind of hard to institute the same membership selection process for all alum chapters because some of them are basically 5 little old ladies meeting for lunch at the Dew Drop Inn 4 times a year. Some are huge and dynamic. If we told the 5 little old ladies they had to change, they'd tell us to F.O. and quit sending us their yearly dues.

Also, a PNAI's tie/sponsorship to a collegiate or alum chapter varies widely from group to group within NPC.

This probably sounds kinda scattered but I hope it adds something.

It's all about expectations - if you have an expectation that all chapters will conduct business in the same / similar manner, then they must.

Another difference that may exist between the NPC v. NPHC, is that there is just as much activity at the grad level than undergrad. In the NPHC the main financial resource for the org comes from the grad chapter. It is my understanding that this is different for NPC. In NPHC grad chapters we usually pay more in dues than undergrad, and the grad chapters tend to have more active financial members. I said that to say that if we had five old ladies who did not want to make a financial contribution, then they would probably not be missed.

Has it always been this way for NPC alumnae chapters? Im sure there is just as much variety in NPHC alumnae chapters (from "5 little old ladies" meeting at the local diner or whathaveyou, to bigger chapters that meet in auditoriums and conference rooms), but the format, in regards to frequency (and related to running the business year-round) seems to be consistent. I'm just thinking that the amount of responsibility or duties an NPC alumnae chapter sets out to accomplish in a year may vary VASTLY if youre only meeting 4x a year (like, to bring it full circle, if AI happened more consistently or was more of a regularity, you'd have a need to meet more, or if you were holding events...?)

Or maybe yall have figured out a superawesome way to be efficient in your work to only have to meet 4x a year vs monthly. which i would personally enjoy.

This comes from someone who has no clue what an NPC meeting looks like, collegiate or alumnae.

Many NPC alumnae chapters are moving away from business meetings all together and are having mostly social events. My chapter has an executive committee that keeps up with any of the needed business and we have two business meetings a year. Previously we had 7 meetings a year that were always fully business. We never got anything done because we always argued about the same things. There really isn't that much "business" that the average alumnae chapter has to deal with other than arranging philanthropy projects which our philanthropy chairman handles. The other main work we do is recruiting alumnae from our list of local sisters each fall. Other than that, we mainly concentrate on spending time together as sisters. Collegiate meetings are far different, but they have a far busier schedule.

To the first point: is that intentionally, or do you think that other chapters (and organizations) are going the same route (meetings going from business to social)?

and to the second: if NPC alumnae chapters' focus is on reclamation/retention vs AI, i think thats a way better response to the "i don't get AI" argument. from what i gather, there is a hard transition from collegiate to alumnae (between both councils but especially) for NPC women, so if energy is spent on getting your members to go from PNM --> active collegiate --> active alumnae without missing a beat, then AI isn't as important.

i just wonder if that deters new alums - the day-and-night factor of how sorority business runs. going from weekly meetings and a packed calendar to meeting, potentially, a few times a year on business and hanging out every so often for social.

You've identified many of the challenges NPC alumnae orgs face as we evolve into our next era. Back in the days of hats and white gloves, NPC alumnae meetings were more business like. Today, much of the "business" in terms of operations management is managed at the National or International level by a network of both paid staffers and volunteers. Some volunteers may not be involved directly with an alumnae chapter at all! My sorority is offering training programs on line for advisors and other volunteers so that women who want to be involved, but are juggling family and career, or are geographically unable to travel often, can be involved from the convenience of their home or office.

So where does that leave traditional alumnae groups? For us, there's an increasing amount of flexibility to do what you want with the resources and interests of the individuals involved. Some groups do a lot of community service. Others focus on support for a nearby collegiate chapter, and some are just promoting sisterhood by getting together when you can. If a chapter has a candidate for AI, they can participate in those activities, but some alumnae chapters never participate in AI. It's never the focus of an alumnae groups' activities, in my experience.

I do know Gamma Phi has announced they have "refined" their AI program - it will be interesting to see what that means.

I think it would deter new alums more if we had huge business meetings at our alumnae meetings. We are finding it harder to attract younger sisters to join our alumnae groups to that traditional formula. Having fun sisterhood activities seems to draw a larger group of young sisters, but they also tend to join other committee groups like our alumnae advisory committee for our local collegiate chapter. Things aren't compressed into one body anymore. We have an alumnae chapter, an Alumnae Advisory Committee and a Collegiate Chapter Corporation Board that you can join to be involved as an alumna. The thing that has chased more new alumnae away from my alumnae chapter has been long business meetings.

The new grads are always totally shocked when they come to a "meeting" and it's social, not business. We are a social organization, sisterhood is the main goal. We do philanthropy. Some reporting is necessary, but certainly not to the extent that it was for collegians. We are different from the NPHC.

We have three different types of alumnae groups. Alumnae Chapters have specific requirements and are dedicated to assisting a specific collegiate chapter. Alumnae Clubs are primarily social (and that's what I choose to be in because I work hard for the Fraternity in my Volunteer Services Team position and need "just sisterhood" from my alumnae experience) and Junior Circles are affiliated with a chapter or club but are focused on women below the age of 35 (and are social in nature). Chapters have to have business meetings more often than Clubs. They have more extensive newsletters and a lot more to manage. All of the groups do some community service/philanthropy, but the main focus is most definitely social :)