HELP! I want to start this sorority, but does it already exist?
 

At James Madison University I am in a club called FLOC. We operate as a service sorority (with rush, book, bigs and littles) and are looking to eventually become a sorority. Our mission is to help fundraise and progress Colorguard. I know there is already a Drumline fraternity (Phi Buda Ruda) and several Band service fraternities (KKPsi, TBS, PMA) but does a Colorguard sorority already exist?

I don't think there's a color guard sorority that has info on the Internet.

Are you trying to start it as a local sorority or a national sorority? Also, does TBS have members who are color guard? If so, why should they choose your sorority and not TBS? Think about that in terms of the difference in philanthropy, etc.

Good luck. :)

JMU doesn't recognize local fraternities or sororities, so it would have to national. TBS doesn't have any members who are already in the guard. FLOC, our colorguard organization, has been in existence since 2004 and is now up to 40 members. How do you even begin to create a sorority?

If JMU doesn't recognize locals, you might be SOL in terms of creating a recognized organization.....

In terms of creating one, try the links at the bottom or doing a search of the forums.

Also, make sure to think about what need a sorority would fulfill that FLOC does not. If it's sole purpose is just to wear letters, you'll probably have problems.

please check your PM.

I guess what I don't understand is why your founding members weren't tapped by TBS or KKPsi to begin with. (Sorry if I'm stepping on any toes.)

http://breezejmu.org/2008/10/16/%E2%...orguard-tears/

Does your Winter Guard = Color Guard or is the makeup different? Do you automatically become a member of FLOC if you join color guard? If you quit can you stay a member?

Just trying to understand what this organization is really for.

I really don't know if/what happened with the founding members and KKPsi/TBS.
That news article was from last year when the SGA denied FLOC (For the Love Of Colorguard) a grant.
As a organization, FLOC does help fund the JMU Winterguard but you are not automatically in FLOC if you are a member of JMU Winterguard or in guard during the marching band season. It is a separate process that is already pretty similar to becoming a sister in a sorority. We have a rush each semester, big/littles, sister events, etc. So, yes, you can quit being a member of the guard and still be in FLOC, or be in guard and not be a member of FLOC at all, which a fair number of people fall into either one of those situations.
We hold a lot of fundraisers for FLOC. Some of the money goes to the JMU Winterguard but we are also sponsoring a local high school guard member and currently setting up a scholarship for high school seniors. In the spring we are going to hold a colorguard clinic for local high schools in the area.
I hope this helps, I apologize for all the confusion. FLOC is a complicated set up the falls somewhere in between a club and a service sorority.

What would be different if FLOC were to become a "sorority"?

Honestly, in the band, we are see as that 'cute little guard club' and we aren't taken very seriously because we don't have letters. If FLOC were to become a sorority, we would be recognized as a more legitimate organization, we would be able to do more and be able work on par with the other band service fraternities/sororities.

Honestly, you'd probably be seen the same way.

Letters do NOT make an organization legit.

It is unfortunate that the band does not take you all seriously. That may be a testament to how skilled and serious you all appear, as well as how closely you've been working with the JMU band. Thankfully, it isn't like that everywhere. Check out Kayne O'Brien (I assume he's transgendered or is TBS a co-ed sorority in some chapters? :confused:) who is a member of TBS and color guard http://www.eiu.edu/~marching_band/Ta...ta%20Sigma.php

Becoming a university-recognized sorority does not mean you all will be considered a legitimate organization. You may be laughed at for trying too hard to fit in and be acknowledged. Honestly, if being good at what you do and working together on service projects don't get you all taken seriously, not much will. If I were a student, I'd be more inclined to laugh at the founding of yet ANOTHER seemingly shortlived sorority. And I'd assume these were women who were lonely and couldn't gain membership elsewhere. Just telling you how people may respond to your reasoning.

This. I was in my college marching band and a lot of the TBS sisters were in color guard.

But it sounds like you are a sorority in all but name. Do you really need to became one (even local), and what would two or three greek letters really change?

I saw EIU and got all excited because I remember them going co-ed when I was there. (Yes, I transferred to Illinois later which doesn't have either band organization; it's in another thread. Anyway...) Prior to 1996, KKPsi was male only, and TBS was strictly female at EIU. That fall, a male TBS member transferred to EIU from another school. Both KKPsi and TBS decided to become co-ed, and he could then stay an active member of TBS. They are both still co-ed, but from my understanding, only TBS takes in guard members now. The KKPsi chapter no longer does, unless they play in a winter/spring ensemble, I think??

ETA: The allowing guard members is specific to the chapters at EIU not a blanket statement.

Thanks for all of your points, it really gives different ideas and points of view and it helps.

It sounds like FLOC is similar to what many bands have as "families" or when people "pledge their section"...

many people go on to join Tau Beta Sigma while others feel as though their section / family is more than enough involvement.

Tau Beta Sigma is a co-ed organization. This can get complicated at schools with both a chapter of TBS and KKPsi - but, we're still family.

The thing to remember though, as with other orgs and chapters, membership is all about "fit."

This, the guard at my school, along with the drumline and other horn sections had fake GLOs. The euphoniums had Epsilon Upsilon Phi, because sounded out it made Euph.

This is the first time I've heard about it being co-ed. Probably because many men don't join TBS. LOL.

Okay, TBS co-ed sorority and KKPsi co-ed fraternity.

Thanks for this info!!! :D

people need to know what they're getting into. LOL.

If the colorguard is getting screwed out of money, uniforms, what have you, then the COLORGUARD (the active members in it) needs to fight for what they feel they deserve - NOT a group whose members contain women who may no longer be colorguard members.

If you have a winter guard that competes apart from the band, then ask for student funding as winter guard, a separate performing group (just like the wind ensemble/brass ensemble etc would).

But don't try and mesh a bunch of stuff into a sorority just for the sake of a sorority.

Generally if a school has both orgs, they have men pledge KKY and women pledge TBS. If a school has one or the other, it acts as a coed. There isn't much preventing men from joining TBS or women joining KKY because of thise situations, even if a school has both orgs.

Indulge me please. If the women join the fraternity, they are also called brothers. And if the men join the co-ed sorority are they also brothers, while the women are sisters? I can't imagine most guys would be ok with being referred to as a sister...

Someone who identifies as female will be called a brother in KKY and the same for TBS. KKY is still a fraternity and TBS is still a sorority.

i've learned in my 13 years as a member, and serving in various local, district, and national capacities that this, while it *would* make sense, is not necessarily what happens.

True, I was just speaking from my experiences and talking with brothers and sisters of said orgs.

Slight hijack, but this sounds similar to the situation that Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority and Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity has, as they both are now co-ed. I only know of one male member of GSS, and he is referred to as a "male member", but in my personal experience, female members of APO (which is much much more common) are referred to as "brothers".

Just for the record, Phi Mu Alpha is not a band service fraternity; it's a social fraternity. KKPsi and TBS are the only band service fraternities with which I'm familiar.

Every time I see someone call Phi Mu Alpha anything other than a social fraternity, I just shake my head an wonder when you're going to pop up and educate them!

I know. I'm a broken record on the subject. :o

It's a good thing because I always forget that Phi Mu Alpha is a social fraternity. :)

I was called a brother of KKPsi, and when my biological brother later attended EIU, he decided to become a member of TBS and was indeed called a sister. Although he and I were never at the school at the same time, there were some people, like my lil' sis, who ended up knowing both of us. They found the situation highly amusing since he was something like my sister brother, and I was his brother sister.

Congrats to TBS and KKPsi for being another beacon of light in gender equality. :)

:p