Expansion Experience
 

As some of you know the University that I help advise at is in the process of expansion. It is a really interesting process and one that I have never seen written about here so I thought I would share it. When I started to think about the process it is a lot like recruitment and the stakes are high. There are 2 "bids" available. They want to bring a GLO on in 2012 and 2016. The reason why there is a 4 year break between the two groups coming on is there is a group who had their Charter pulled this fall for hazing (apparently hazing is making a comeback) and they have requested to come back on in 2014. Here is how the process works:

There is a bulletin that is sent out from NPC to every GLO letting them know that there is an expansion opportunity. There are currently 11 groups on campus so a lot of GLO's could have responded. I'm not sure what the GLO's use to determine if they will submit a booklet, but I imagine they do research that involves how many local alumni are in an area and if there are existing Chapters in close proximity and if they feel a colony would be a success. We had 6 groups respond and send booklets. I'm going to call them Sorority A, B, C, D, E, F. The expansion group is made up of Advisors, collegians and University people. I would say there are approximately 20-25 people involved in the process. Our group has 2 Advisors and 1 collegian representing them. After all the GLO's respond we were each sent their booklets and extension criteria sheets. The sheet had 17 questions that each GLO was supposed to answer and then we ranked them 1-5 with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor. It is a lot of work to go through 6 packets. It probably took me 2 hours to read through them and score them. The scores are then compiled and 4 GLO's were picked to come and present to the extension committee.

Booklets/Expansion Packets

These varied a lot by each GLO. Some were very easy to read and follow and find the answers to the extension criteria. Some were not so easy. Some looked like they had a generic packet that was sent for each expansion opportunity and the specific questions were never addressed. Some had a lot of information on 1 or 2 aspects of their GLO's, but didn't relate to the criteria. After looking through each booklet I scored mine as follows:

Group A 53/85
Group B 46/85
Group C 45/85
Group D 45/85
Group E 31/85
Group F 28/85

My scores did line up well with the entire extension committee:

Group A 893
Group B 889
Group C 895
Group D 895
Group E 810
Group F 655

Groups A-D were picked to come do presentations.

Group A's presentation.

I was very impressed with Group A's booklet. They were my front runner after scoring the booklets. I have two nieces who are A's so I'm pretty familiar with this group. The biggest advantage this group has is that they have a successful Chapter at a university located within 100 miles of the expansion university. The two universities are very similar in the type of girls that go through recruitment and they are similar in size.

The group representing this GLO was impressive. A diverse group of women both young and old that included the National President, Expansion, Recruitment, Housing, collegians and a traveling consultant. Very put together women (they all had pearls on which I loved) and all had an article of clothing on that represented their color (dumb, I know, but it is that first impression thing). The speaker was excellent and they did a very thorough presentation. The presentations have a lot of information in them that are in the booklets. The presentation allows them to expand on each individual topic and then you can ask specific questions. One thing this group does with their colonies is that they will initiate mothers along with the colony members if they are not currently in a GLO. That just really impressed me and I think it is smart. It is an instant way to get parent support and buy in. I was impressed and they are currently my "rush crush"

More to follow.....I have to go be a Mom.

Now here's a perspective I don't remember seeing before!
Looking forward to this thread.:)

Oooh, this sounds interesting. Can't wait to read :)

I like... keep going

Interesting! Keep going :D

*jealous*

If only real estate wasn't so ridiculously out of sight, maybe I'd have a chance to write an expansion story. A snowball has a better chance in hell than the University of Arizona Panhellenic has of expanding the sorority system.

Looking forward to reading your story!

Thanks for relating your experience. Looking forward to reading the rest.

This is exactly like the process we use at my company to select vendors of different services. We send them a Request for Proposal, they send us a giant proposal, I spend hours pouring over them and scoring. Then, the top two or three get invited to come present, and we pick one.

So, collegians who get to participate in expansion decisions, you are preparing yourself for the real world!

Question: it's the collegians on Panhellenic who actually vote, correct? The expansion presentations are open to all (so to speak). Please correct me or clarify, thanks much.

I'm pretty sure each chapter gets a vote, but that's not to say that people like the Greek Adviser don't have very strong pull in some cases.

I love expansion stories, having never experienced an expansion they sound so interesting. Keep it up... and if anyone else out there goes to expansion presentations or is on some sort of committee where you aren't bound to secrecy, share your story too!

I think that just depends on your chapter and how you generally guide your Panhellenic delegate on important votes.

(It's kinda chicken-and-egg, though, because the Panhellenic delegate is the one telling the chapter about the presentations, and then the chapter is voting on which one to tell the delegate to vote for)

We always make it clear at my school that the delegates are to take it back to their chapters for a vote. So the delegate is voting the way the chapter tells them.

But can't other chapter members also come to the presentations and request to see the packets? I certainly would.

Yes, the Panhel delegate should vote on what the chapter wants, not on her personal preference. (That applies to anything taken back to the chapter, not just this)

And I'm sure that if group A and group B present, the vote is taken, and the winner is group B (who the GA loved) and all the members look at each other like "huh??" because they all voted for A, there's going to be some investigations made.

Is this common? In my experience, the group would have to go through the same process to return as a new group.

Agreed on both points, I just meant that

a) Most of the chapter members are not going to be at the presentations. I know they are open, and some will care, but I'd bet that a handful of women will go, and then report back to everyone else, who will vote as they suggest.

b) I'm not saying that the GA would change a vote, I'm saying that the GA can (and should) weigh in and give her opinion to the voting chapters. For example, if an org presented at IU and said "no problem, we're going to have a house in two years", it would be remiss of her not to tell the voting delegates that is whack.

That is operating on the premise that the GA can distinguish between his/her ass and a hole in the ground. Not always true, unfortunately :) but I'm guessing you don't get to IU GA without knowing which of those things is which.

I have seen it happen more then once at this University where an agreement is made to return prior to them pulling off. I don't think that they went through this process that I'm aware of.

Biting my tongue and clenching my teeth because I think that I know who Group A is. This is only because I have a ton of friends from both schools. I could be way off. So, I will keep my suspicions to myself. Oh, and, I don't want to ruin the story.

School is almost over here and our meetings are done for the year. I'm not sure how the voting will actually work after all the presentations are done, but I will certainly share what happens as long as I am not bound to secrecy.

Group B

I loved pretty much every thing about group B prior to seeing their presentation. Their booklet was put together well, I could find the answers to the criteria questions and I liked their website. I was, however, disappointed by their presentation. There was a very small group in attendance for Group B. There was the President, Housing, Expansion and an Alumni officer. I thought the presentation was a little flat and they spent the majority of their presentation talking about their philanthropy. I think the philanthropy is an important aspect of a sorority, but if I'm narrowing down who I think is going to fit and be successful on campus I'm not going to choose a group because of their philanthropy. I don't care who you're in partnership with or that you were on the news. I want to know what you're going to do to be successful. I also thought this group was the least polished of all the groups. I was surprised that there was no collegiate representation or any women under the age of 40 there to represent B. When asked specific questions about things this groups answers were very vague. I was also concerned by the small alumni base in the area. New Chapters need those alumni resources. My biggest concern with this group was the lack of Chapters in close proximity and I didn't think they had a good sense of what the campus or greek life was like.

yes .. I've seen this several times recently where a charter is pulled (for whatever reason) and the national has requested that panhellenic allow the group to come back on in 3-5 years.

Group C

I was pleasantly surprised by group C. I wasn't sure what to expect since I'm not real familiar with this group as a whole. The women of this organization were very down to earth and very put together. They gave a thorough presentation and were able to answer all the tough questions. They did a good job of bringing in collegiates and national representatives. They had several National representatives that were west coast based which was a plus for me. I felt like this group understood the culture of the school better then the other groups. The one challenge this group was going to have was the relatively small alumni base in the area. The other concern was that their only Chapter in the state is at a small school with a small greek system. This group was my new "rush crush".

I can hardly wait for more!
I thought that I knew who Group C is but I am not sure.
Just added duct tape to my mouth to keep secure!

I'm very interested in this story too & thinking I'm figuring out each GLO, which is fun for me!

Question: From these 4 that are presenting, are you picking your 2012 AND 2016 chapters, or will 2016 be a separate process?

Any sense of when the college Panhellenic will vote and the results will be announced? Is there another step? That is, after the Panhellenic votes, does the sorority chosen still have to accept? I mean, oh... like...what if there is ... oh nevermind.

AXOrushadvisor, just let us know the outcome when you know, please? Thanks.

The GLO's are being picked for 2012 and 2016.

The GLO's should be notified sometime today.

Thank you! Very exciting...can't wait to hear about D's presentation & see if I can figure out who they are. :p

Group D

I wasn't sure what to expect from Group D because again I was not very familiar with the group as a whole. There wasn't a D at my school and there is only one D in the State at a smaller school. The woman who did the bulk of the presentation was very articulate and I could tell she was very comfortable with her role. This group also brought along the President as well as a LC who would be graduating this year and starting her work next fall and a current Chapter member from a Chapter that had colonized within the last 5 years. Both girls were darling and very good at addressing a group for being so young. The presentation went pretty much like the rest of them with the only difference being video clips that had current members telling us what D meant to them. This would have been more effective in my opinion had the sound been better. It was hard to hear. This group has a large alumni base in the area and had over 50 women who were willing to take on an Advisor role. The presentation was more business like then some of the other presentations. The other thing this group did was to let the collegians know that the LC that was present would be the LC for the said Chapter if they got the nod to colonize. The LC was very good at working the room and a lot of the girls spoke with her prior to the presentation and I think that give them a good feel for the group. I didn't hurt that the LC looked like so many of them. I thought it was very smart marketing. Group D had the BEST branding I have ever seen. Totally top shelf and cute. Worlds above every thing else any other group gave us. It is so incredible that I'm sending the package on to our Nationals. Beautifully done, girly, and very expensive looking- think the nicest wedding invitation you have ever seen. This group certainly seems to know how to market themselves and put on a very nice presentation.

Post presentation:

It is very interesting when you get a group of girls in a room that have seen the same 4 presentations you have and what pieces and parts they remember. All the Advisors had been to all 4 presentations and had written extensive notes about each group. Group B we all agreed pretty early on wasn't going to be a good fit. Although, there was a lot of discussion about whether their philanthropy might in fact be good for the greek community. Group A had a lot of support in the room from the get go. There was a little more discussion on Group C and D. I really like both groups, but they both had a very different feel to them. I thought group C had a really nice vibe to it and the women were so warm and down to earth. Group D for me was a little more business like and I didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling from them. Honestly, I don't think we could have gone wrong with any of the groups. They all had positive things to offer to the greek community. We discussed for a couple of hours and then had our 2 groups picked........ A and D. We then needed to decide which one would come on in 2012 and which would come on in 2016. I'm happy to report that Sigma Kappa will recolonize their Chapter in the spring of 2012 and Alpha Omicron Pi will colonize at Arizona State University in 2016!

Yay! Sigma Kappa's coming back to ASU! I was hoping that was the campus you were writing about. It's the Theta Omicron chapter and was only there for a short time, but glad they are returning.

Woohoo!! I'm so excited! Wish I didn't have to wait until 2016, but I'll take it! Congrats to Sigma K for the 2014 slot. I wanted an AOII/AXiD extension for me and AZ-Alpha Xi, but this is good.

Thanks for sharing your experience; I was so nervous and now I can say congratulations to Sigma Kappa and to Alpha Omicron Pi!

ASU currently has 12 active chapters and if all goes well, that number will swell to 15 in 2016. UofA has 11 chapters, and I so wish we could expand. Sigh.

UofA did add ADPi with a big ole house remodel in 2008.

We actually lost KD this fall so we are back to 11. SK will bring us to 12 in 2012 and then KD will come back on in 2014 we should end up with 14 in 2016.

Yes, you have a great memory and I do not. It's been a week of depositions and hearings and I'm pretty tired. I didn't make any of the messes, I just witnessed a bunch of unpleasantries.

ADPi recolonized year before last. AXO went off at about the same time. Still and all, we're "bursting" - 1200 pnms the past few years, 70+ new members in the past few years. The system could accomodate more chapters, it's housing that is the sticking point.

ETA: man! you guys (AOIIAngel & AXOrushadvisor) are not letting me feel sorry for myself at all tonight! Dang. It's that Phoenix-Tucson rivalry, isn't it? And I miscounted on IrishPipes' thread. I'm stepping away from the keyboard, NOW!

ETA: here's what IrishPipes has listed for ASU:


Arizona State University Tempe, AZ: September 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=125
Quota last year=60
***************
Gamma Phi Beta Beta Kappa 1949
Alpha Delta Pi Gamma Rho 1950
Sigma Sigma Sigma Beta Kappa 1950-?
Chi Omega Psi Epsilon 1951
Alpha Sigma Alpha Beta Chi 1952-1964
Kappa Delta Beta Psi 1952-2010
Alpha Epsilon Phi Epsilon Zeta 1958-1972/2006
Alpha Phi Gamma Pi 1958
Delta Gamma Gamma Phi 1958
Kappa Alpha Theta Delta Epsilon 1959
Kappa Kappa Gamma Epsilon Delta 1959
Delta Delta Delta Phi Omega 1965-1997
Pi Beta Phi Arizona Beta 1965
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Pi 1982
Alpha Gamma Delta Delta Xi 1987-2005/2009
Sigma Kappa Theta Omicron 1989-2002
Sigma Delta Tau Gamma Psi 1992-?
Delta Zeta Pi Zeta 2005

If you don't want to tell us this, I completely understand, but I have to ask...

Who is Sorority C?