What does your GLO/chapter do about 5 year+ seniors?
 

In my chapter, everyone "graduates" from the sorority (becomes an alumna) after their 4th year as an undergrad, regardless of if their actually graduating or how many years they've been affiliated (e.g., if you joined as a junior, you'd still become an alumna after what would be your senior year, regardless of whether you were graduating or not). I'm actually not sure whether this is chapter or national policy.

I'd be curious to hear what you all do. :)

Well, you can petition to go alumni after your fourth year of being in the Fraternity, but there's one alumnus of our chapter who has a lot of influence now that always shoots that down. Most people at my school end up here 5-6 years anyway, so it's not like actives in their 5th year is weird at all.

Why do anything at all?
 

I'm curious as to why anything should be done at all. I don't understand why a brother or sister who is in the fifth and final year of achieving a double degree in Physics and Mathematics should be treated differently than one who is in the fourth and final year of achieving a Physics degree (just to pick majors at random).

Is this an issue of making sure there are places in the house for those who have just joined?

Note, I'm an alumnus of a Alpha Phi Omega, a non-housed service Fraternity and we at one point during my time as an active had a brother who was at CMU for his seventh year.

If we forced people to go alum after 4 years that would have been sorta silly...considering we had deferred rush and people joining as juniors or even seniors...not to mention a class shortage that compelled people to stay beyond 4 years.

IMO this is something the individual member should be able to make the decision about, in ALL groups. Some people have more time by the time they get to that last year to devote to the sorority and it would be a shame to not allow them to contribute.

naraht - because of the quota/total system the sororities use in formal rush, the groups can still take new members every year even if it puts them over the total number. So it's not a question of 5th year Fran sucking up Freshman Fiona's spot.

In my organization, a member who attends school longer than 4 years has the option to go into alumnae status if she has been an active member of the sorority for 3 years or more.

No one is ever forced into alumnae status.

A 5th year member in Delta Gamma can apply for alumna status but it is not guaranteed to her.

There is no difference between a 4th year senior and a 5th year senior in my sorority. Both are considered active. Alumna status is not granted until a woman's degree is conferred.

In my chapter (well when I was active) you can petition to be a 5th year active, but it isn't always necessarily granted. Along with that, it is based on the number of years you've been in school, not how long you've been in the sorority.

AOII allows 5th years to remain active if they would like or to become alumnae if they so wish.

Interesting to hear everyone's responses! I think part of the idea is to let the whole class "graduate" together and to not stigmatize people who take more than 4 years to graduate.

I'm particularly curious to hearing sentiment on another area of this topic; one that from my experience, some I/NHQs may have thought about when making particular policies: when has a collegiate member "overstayed" his or her time in the chapter? In your opinion, is having a man or woman that remains active for 7-8 years healthy for the growth of the chapter?

Yeah, Van Wilder did it. But is a real-life Van Wilder as fun and entertaining as the fictional character?

In reality you aren't going to be actively taking class, at least not as an undergrad, for 8 straight years.

I don't know if it's still the way it's done, but within the last ten years, a 5-year student had the option of staying active or taking alumnae status. One who took alumnae status couldn't live in the suite, however, or come to a meeting without permission - just like the rest of the alumnae.

I was about to post that the amount of those who stayed compared to those who took alumnae status were evenly divided, and then I realized the distinction. Those who stayed around usually held an executive office, while those who didn't stay didn't have an office or had a nonexecutive one.

This is only pertinent if the whole pledge class is made up of people who are the same year in school. That isn't true on most campuses.

A PSK brother at my campus was there for at least 6 years. He was also a national officer, so I'd say he definitely made "healthy" contributions to the fraternity and his chapter.

Any rule made by any group that in effect pigeonholes collegiate Greek involvement as beginning first semester freshman year and ending 4 years later on the dot is as obsolete as a clause barring certain racial or religious groups from membership. I mean, talk about a way to make commuter students feel completely unwelcome...most of them take more than four years to get through school. If NPCs are really serious about reaching out to "nontraditional" students, they need to walk the walk as well as talk the talk...beginning with abolishing nonsensical rules like these.

Guess I went off on this, but I just can't imagine saying to one of my chapter sisters "ok, you went over your 4 year limit, yerrrrrrrrr out" - and barring her from participating in an active sisterhood, that has probably been one of the things to KEEP her in school - just the thought of it really upsets me.

I'm thinking in fiscal terms. ie: dues. Are the 5 year members paying dues, parlor fees etc? What about chapter total from a membership perspective? There is a lot more that goes into it than just "being a part of the chapter" I know plenty of girls who are 5th year seniors who are still around but don't participate "officially" to allow room for new members and quite frankly I can't imagine them wanting to hang on.

In Theta Phi Alpha, as long as you're a current undergrad student, you're an active unless you ask to go alum.

If you're an active member, you pay active member dues. Kind of a no brainer there IMO. :confused:

And again...unless you go to a school where there is no formal rush and groups can only offer bids when they're under total, YOU CAN TAKE QUOTA EVERY SINGLE YEAR IN FORMAL RUSH, EVEN IF YOU ARE 5000 MEMBERS OVER TOTAL. I don't understand the "moving aside" to make room for new members concept from anyone who's worked with NPC rush. If you were over chapter total and had 2 seniors and a ton of juniors, would you tell juniors they needed to quit "hanging on"?

In Phi Mu Alpha, you can request a move to alumnus status if (1) you're off campus for one or more "professional semesters" (things like student teaching, internships, study abroad, etc.), or (2) if you've paid 8 semesters of national dues. In the case of a professional semester, you automatically return to collegiate membership when you start taking classes again.

Your right! I guess it just seems odd to me to want to continue being active and paying the dues and parlor fees and trying to get out of school at the same time.

I attended school for an extra semester (because I switched my major so many damn times!) and I was still an active member. Was I busy as hell? Yes. But I still loved it. I took on the position of New Member Director, and it was one of the best ways to go out. I never even think of regretting staying around for an extra semester.

I did go to a smaller school with a small chapter, but it wouldn't have mattered, anyway. I loved being involved, and I couldn't imagine still being in school without taking an active role in the sorority.

I think I would have been really upset if someone told me, "Sorry, you've been here long enough. You have to go."

I don't think it has to be difficult to relate to younger members when you reach your mid-20's...you relate to them differently. Many of us have siblings who are ~10 years younger or older than we are, and we are close to those siblings, enjoy socializing with them, etc. The older member in the group might be a skilled mentor and comfortable in the big-sister/big-brother role, so their membership can benefit everyone.
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Thanks, KSUViolet, for saying what I was trying to say. My experience is with the traditional college age members and even our seniors are ready to fly as much as they have loved the experience.

Is your rush deferred, or first semester?

I know sometimes people burn out, but everyone's different. I've seen people who were just "minimum requirements" type members break up with their boyfriends, change majors, what have you, end up having to stay extra time, and get super involved and make huge contributions in their senior years and beyond. It would be awful, IMO, to tell her that just as she is starting to really blossom as a member, that she has to go alum.

Like I said, I just think arbitrary rules that assume every campus and situation is the same are asinine. No wonder we have problems with alum involvement.

This thread is so interesting to me because most of you have a much different policy than we do.

In Delta Chi you must be an active member as long as you are enrolled in the school. There is no such thing as "early alumnus." If you do not wish to be an active member of the chapter you may resign your membership or, more commonly, go "inactive" which means you have no material participation in or attendance to any Delta Chi events. You cannot go through the Alumnus Ceremony if you are inactive.

Exactly. Especially because, as you pointed out earlier, at many campuses, new member classes aren't made up entirely of freshmen. At my school, it's not uncommon to have juniors, and sometimes seniors join. To tell them after they've been a sister for less than 2 years that they'd have to leave would be disappointing.

Again, I just think that to have a rule like this across an entire organization can hinder the potential progress that some chapters could make. Just my opinion.