Rushing a Colony after Resigning from Local Sorority
 

I've been searching GC for hours trying to find a similar situation, but since mine is pretty unusual, I thought I'd pose it to y'all. I am a member of a local sorority at my school, but I have never stopped believing that it was the wrong fit for me, so I resigned this semester. Before that, I was the president of the chapter and served on the board for Greek life, basically I was hyper-involved. Now, there is a new NPC chapter that will be colonizing. I was wondering what this would look like to the National representatives running the colonization process, and if it would kill my chances. I'd be thankful for all your thoughts!

First of all, no one here can say what your chances are.

I was pledging a local before joining my sorority. I depledged because I refused to be hazed. I met women from the Alpha Gam chapter on campus, went through Frat Ed, and initiated the following semester.

Your heavy involvement with your local and campus Greek Life will likely come up because no matter how big your campus is, girls will talk. This information will make it to the colonization team.

My situation is different from yours. I wasn't yet Greek. You already are and was very involved despite feeling that "it wasn't the right fit for you." You were PRESIDENT of the chapter, for goodness sake. If there wasn't a new NPC sorority colonizing, would you have resigned from your sorority? Or did you resign just because you saw a better opportunity ahead?

If I were a colonization decision maker, I'd question your dedication and integrity. I don't know what they'll think, but I'll be blunt and honest and say that if I were in their shoes, I would not extend you a bid to the colony.

Correct me if I'm wrong, those in the know, but isn't it pretty common for colonies to take (absorb) all or part of local sororities? I would think it's no big deal at all, and could be a selling point - already involved on campus, etc. I say give it a shot. The worst that can happen is they turn you down, but I don't see any particular reason why they wouldn't accept you based on your previous local sorority membership. However, that doesn't mean they WILL, just that what you've said doesn't seem to be a disqualifier as far as I can tell.

DubaiSis, I would not say that it is common at the present time, although that may have been a fairly common practice in the past. To my knowledge, with only one "exception", all the colonizations I've read of or learned about have been "from the ground up" with the national chapter coming in and recruiting an entire new class/group of members.

My opinion tends to run along the same lines as Always AlphaGam's opinion, but the OP certainly is welcome to try, as you also suggested. I do see many negatives coming from the OP's previous involvement in a local sorority, and not many positives. That's just my opinion.

:eek:

I would have a hard time extending a bid to someone who's been in a chapter for at least a couple of years, local or not, especially since this wouldn't be a situation in which a local chapter was being absorbed.

That isn't the situation we are talking about. This is ONE WOMAN who resigned from her local group, which is apparently still going strong and has no desire to go national.

darjeeling - when colonizing teams come in they have to be very very careful of whom they choose because they want to start off on the right foot. The fact that you were "hyper-involved" and that everyone in the Greek system knows your name might not make the colony look good if they took you - especially if, as it seems, the local group rushes and is on the same council with the national groups. People would look at the colony as poaching members from other groups, or taking people who have broken their pledges to their groups, and their name would be mud before they even got started.

You can go to the colonizing meetings and check it out, but I would honestly be shocked if the colony took you.

Point taken.

Certainly try it. There's absolutely no harm in seeing what could come of it. But I would think long and hard about why you quit your sorority. Surely there is more to it than "I wasn't a good fit", since you took the position of President. Then if you get a chance, explain to the colonization team why you quit. I would think having a concrete reason would be much more palatable than "I wasn't a good fit". They are going to want people who can be motivated, yes, but also dedicated, and quitting after being so involved will probably be a red flag.

OP - If you quit your current sorority, go through recruitment for the colony, and are not offered a bid, what, then?

I agree with the others that you are going to have a difficult time gaining an invitation to colonize another GLO.

You bring to the table a lot of experience and the ways of your previous sorority. Alumni will provide the experience to get the colony going, and they will have a vision for how to go about it. The fact you have a lot of experience being a leader in another group works against you here. Your practical experience- while in and of itself valuable to you in many future leadership endeavors- is not helpful in this particular situation. The fear is quite logical that you would- intentionally or subconsciously- work to build the colony in the way you led your former sorority, and not in the way desired by the alumni overseeing the colonization.

I do not know you, so please forgive me if I overreach, but it is a bit troubling that you express the feeling you never fit in with your previous chapter and yet you did so much for them.

Based on the facts you present, I get the impression you joined your local with the intention of taking it somewhere bigger and greater. And when that did not happen now you want to try another route to that sort of achievement.

I have no idea if that is accurate, but if I am thinking it (and others here are too I gather by the posts), then this perception is likely a strong obstacle you will face in your new quest.

As for whether to do it or not- you may as well try now. You have already left your local sorority- so you have nothing to lose. My only suggestion would be to seriously consider your own motives inwardly and move forward on that basis. This is going to be a very exciting time for a group of young women and their mentors. If you cannot surrender your own personal goals to contributing to that greater good, then it is best not to proceed. If you meet with them and find a real connection and things move forward- then there you go and you have done a good thing for you and them. At this point, given your previous experience- I think you will only really know once you go through the rush process with that colony and see how it goes.

She already quit. So regardless of what happens with the colony she is not an active member of her sorority anymore.

The colony taking her would be kind of like them spitting on the whole campus culture - I would hope national officers and volunteers aren't dumb enough to make that mistake. NPC vows aren't the only vows that matter, and at a school where the locals and nationals operate within the same framework (which it sounds like this place is, otherwise she wouldn't have been on the Greek life board) leaving a local and going to a national, although not technically prohibited by NPC rules, would be looked on with as much disdain as going from one NPC to another.

I'm still trying to figure out how someone who doesn't think she fits in ends up as president and repping her chapter to the greek council.

Well, Steve Perry said once that he never felt like he fit in with the rest of Journey. Maybe this is like that.

I still think there are ways this could work, but a come to Jesus with yourself is step one, and then admitting the cold hard facts to the expansion team is step 2.

We also don't know if the existing panhellenic thinks poorly of her for having quit. Maybe they do; maybe they don't. There are a LOT of variables here we aren't hearing. She hasn't said anything negative about her local (which is the right thing to do) but they could be awful, on the verge of folding, the campus laughing stocks, big ole hazers, etc. Then her primary problem would be why she hung around so long.

But I would say, more than the other non-affiliated girls, you better have some very clear answers for them. And that isn't the answers you think they want to hear, but the ACTUAL answers. You may have just a sort of vague idea in your head that something wasn't right and you're looking for something else. A "regular" PNM could say they want to join for "sisterhood" and "involvement" which are both way too vague to actually mean anything. You are going to have to spell out your exact history and goals.

Oh, and 33girl, all 4 members of the Beatles said the same thing. All 4 of them said in interviews that at one point or another they were going to quit because the other 3 were such good friends and they felt left out.

Sorry but I disagree.

If this had been an NPC and they had been "awful" or "on the verge of folding" or "the campus laughing stocks", you would have berated her for quitting because of those reasons. You would have said sisterhood is more important.

She took a vow to that group and broke it: it doesn't matter if they were popular or not, or a local or national.

In addition, if they were "big ole hazers", she was the president of that group of big ole hazers. Yes, some things can fly under a president's radar, but (from past experience) there are not many things which do, and we almost always find out later. And those were minor things, not the major hazing which you are insinuating.

If it were wn NPC group involved, there would be no discussion to be had.

Right, because she wouldn't be allowed to even consider joining the colony.

I'm just saying that it shouldn't be more "OK" for her to dump a local than a national.

DubaiSis's reasoning was what bothered me.

I still think we're assuming a lot as far as her motives for quitting the local being the colony.

Also, I believe we have had a few girls on here asking for advice about quitting an NPC and joining a local and it was received similarity.

THiS.

darjeeling, there aren't that many expansions going on in the NPC at the present time. We all have our fingers on the pulse of expansion, because it is thrilling and exciting for a chapter to have a new colony. You have posted your situation on the internet for everyone to see. Believe me that Panhellenic = we all talk to and with each other, all the time. The particular expansion team on your campus is going to check out everything, and I mean everything, about each potential new member. There won't be any unturned stones. Right out of the gate, an expansion chapter wants to be 100% on top of the game.

There is no blowing sunshine to make this all better for you coming from me. No rationalizations, explanations, sugar coating. These may be harsh words, but for me, they are my truth and need to be spoken. Crystal ball says: highly unlikely.

I've read all of the posts and have held off giving my opinion for some time. To the OP, you had your chance at sisterhood and jumped in with both feet. Being President indicates a level of participation above and beyond the average sister. It would be an immense slap in the face to your former sorority for a new NPC group to come onto a campus and pledge you after you went from their President to a disaffiliated sister. If you can't see this, then you haven't thought about it long enough.

When new chapters are being formed, they have to think about more than individual members, they have to think about their position on campus and relations with other campus organizations. This would set a standard of disrespect for another sorority (whether or not they carry the banner of NPC) especially since you were the PRESIDENT. Think twice about disrespecting the women you once called sisters in this way. It likely won't be worth it.

Thought:
Possible that the OP attempted to get her local to affiliate/be absorgbed while President and in failing decided to quit so she could affiliate solo?

I'm remembering a similar situation. Some of you may remember this at the college where I taught...there were 3 hard-hazing locals. The college ordered them all to go national. One went national, one folded due to low membership, and the third sent a million alums to the administration to beg and plead and cry until they let them stay local with many conditions.

Okay, some of that local's members had seen all the advantages they could get from a national group at the presentations, quit it, and pledged the national immediately. Others hung in there but pledged the second national that came in a couple of years later. They saw that on that campus, there was no comparison.

This campus is still seeing members quit the local to go national. During recruitment, you see clueless freshman buy into that, "You should pledge us! We're inexpensive and we've been here forever!" Then on down the line, they look around and see they're getting exactly what they've paid for and they pledge one of the NPCs.

In your opinion. I don't think any of our national officers are "dumb" if they find that she would be an asset and take her. She might very well be an amazing potential member. IMO the main reservation here would be that she took the office of President and then quit because she thought she "didn't fit in". That sounds like a wishy-washy reason. She might have a far better one that she doesn't want to detail on the internet (which is wise, if that's the case). If I were picking colony members, "I didn't fit in" wouldn't be a good enough reason to quit, and I would therefore question her potential dedication. But who knows...there might be more to the story, and personally I can think of more valid reasons for quitting that might make a difference.

I think this is really a question you need to be asking your office of Greek life. At my alma mater, the local sorority was a fully participating member of the local Panhel, and while NPC didn't have a relevant policy, our campus regulations treated the local just like any of the NPC organizations. The new colony would not be allowed to offer you a bid.

I looked up the PH Constitution at the local college. It used to say that women had to wait a semester before pledging the nationals if they were in that local and vice versa. That's not in there anymore and it was probably challenged successfully...I mean, how were they going to make that rule stick?

From her post (which she could be spinning of course), it seems to me like she already had made the decision to quit before the colony materialized. YMMV.

Yes, but it is usually the exec board or people who have represented the sorority in Panhel/Greek council who are the ones quitting?

No. They would be dumb. Period. See AOEforme's post. Regardless of whether she quit the local because of the colony coming or independently of it, the fact is that she is well known on campus as a former president and representative of her local group. That immediately throws shade on the new NPC chapter, the same as it would if they took a girl who was known on campus for her anti-Greek tirades in the school paper or for running a meth lab in her dorm room. It doesn't matter how dedicated they would be...campus perception is the issue. A colony screws that up and they're always going to have to deal with it.

33, yes, when the local first went national, a whole slate of local officers who had fought for their group to go national left their local. They had seen all the benefits and talked to the women from the nationals one-on-one and they wanted what they'd seen. Others followed within a couple of years.

Now you see a mixed bag of older and younger girls leave. It's not even like I'm comparing apples to oranges here in comparing the nationals to the local on this campus, it's more like comparing apples to...hackberries.

If the whole local went national doesn't this naturally follow? Or do you mean that local A went with Phi Mu (just using their name so I don't get more confused) and women from local B also joined? Or ZTA formed and a bunch of women from local B joined it?

Either way, I'm not talking about then, I'm talking about NOW. Do women who have taken leadership positions in the local often quit to join one of the NPCs?

I don't think the OP's situation is similar to what was going on at your college at all. If there was a horde of other women going from local to national (and a whole system trying to transition from local to national) she most likely would have thrown that fact into her post.

Yes, it does happen now. Not like it did 5 or so years ago but you do see some of the older girls, even leaders, leave the local out of frustration or feeling cheated because of all the benefits that the NPCs can offer.

What I meant about the earlier locals going national: okay, one whole local went national. The second was split in half about going national and their alums came in and cried and the group was left local. By then, though, lots of the girls from that group were sold on what a national could do and they left the second local and rushed to be part of the new colony.

There were a few who were still around a couple of years later when the second national presented and left the local to join that colony.

In your opinion. Period. On some campuses, this truly wouldn't be a big deal to incoming freshman, and I don't see any case in which it's the same as taking a meth dealer.

It's not just incoming freshmen you have to worry about, it's the Greek and campus community in general. If your name is mud with those people, the freshmen will pick up their attitudes and follow suit. I admit the meth dealer was an extreme example, but my point was it's all about perception.

FWIW, I don't think it's OK for the women at carnation's old school to dump the local and pledge a national either. Personally, I'd be very wary of taking someone who is from a group (local, national, regional, professional or what have you) with a reputation of hazing, especially if she was an older member. AAG put across the only reasonable scenario I can think of, quite frankly - I was pledging, didn't know what I was getting into, and once I knew I got the eff out.

If freshmen hear the only reason XYZ and ABC think DEF sucks is because they took a girl like the OP, they might not give a shit. And on some campuses, it truly might not be that big of a deal, most especially if something similar has happened before. Basically, it may or may not be an issue, but there's no ONE answer since campus cultures can be so extremely different.