Deactivate/Terminate
 

Hi,

I was wondering if deactivation and termination were the same thing. If not, how does one terminate after deactivating?

Also, is getting a release a difficult process?

IMO, a termination is a decision made by the group, and a deactivation is a decision made by the member his/herself.

Fraternity? Sorority? NIC? NPC? NPHC? Other?


This is an organization specific question. Ask the appropriate person at your GLO's HQ.

For a NIC fraternity.

Then ask the appropriate person at your fraternity's HQ. Aside from the fact that you're asking a group of people who, I think it's safe to say, have never sought a release from their GLO (and wouldn't do so), the difficulty of the process, or whether there even is such a process, is going to vary by organization.

Thanks. I was hoping there was at least someone who had gone through that process out of the great number of people on this forum.

Why would you think that? This is "GreekChat" not "IoncewasgreekbutIquitforwhateverreasonbutIstillli ketotalkaboutitchat." The people on this forum are either active members or alumni, or are people who aspire to be in a greek organization. There are people who come asking the same thing as you, and they're given the same answer, "Contact your HQ." But none of them ever return to brag about their story.

Even if there is, unless they terminated membership and got a letter of release from the same fraternity you are terminating your membership in, the process they went through could be quite different and therefore irrelevant to your situation. The only way to get a reliable answer is to ask appropriate people in your fraternity.

Given the few questions he has asked here, my guess is that he wants to terminate membership in one fraternity and try to join a different one.

IrishLake, thanks for the laugh! "IOWGBIQFWRBISLTTAIC." You must be in a great mood today, along with everyone else in my circles.

I am not ashamed to admit that upon reading this, I guffawed. :D

I actually did go inactive as an undergrad and thought that I had been terminated at the time (due to personal issues not because I didn't love being an ADPi). I thank the powers that be that it never happened, and am currently striving to be a better alum then I was an active. So there are some of us who may have been through something like what he is dealing with, but I'm guessing we are few and far between.

monster, I recommend talking to your HQ and seeing what they say. There may be other options other than deactivation/termination. You never know how you will feel 10 years down the road, and may end up regretting the decision to throw in the towel. Only HQ can give you the true answer as to what needs to be done.

You pursued deactivation and/or termination of your membership? Going inactive as a collegiate and thinking that meant you were terminated is not necessarily the same thing as pursuing deactivation and/or termination. Unless you went inactive with the hopes that they would terminate your membership.

Yes and I wonder how many times this needs to be typed before the OP gets it. Coming to Greekchat before contacting his HQ doesn't make sense but that's the case for quite a few threads on Greekchat.

Like I said, I think the point is that he wants to join a different fraternity.

I did. I went inactive then turned in all my things with letters on them and was told I was going to be terminated. Like I said, I had personal issues at the time, and it was probably the hardest period of my life (I'm tearing up just thinking about it). I don't know why I was never terminated. Maybe it fell through the cracks. Maybe they knew eventually I would want to be active again. All I know is that my little D held on to my badge and a couple years later mailed it back to me with a note that said, "This still belongs to you." I cried from sheer happiness as I had regretted my decision from the moment I made it (though it was the correct one at the time). The point being, that even when the going gets tough, you never know how you will feel when that period is over. Look for other options, because termination is awfully final.

This is touching. :) The power of growth and forgiveness through life's struggles.

For Delta that probably wouldn't have slipped through the cracks (there are things that slip through the cracks but depledging members tends not to be one of them even if it takes a long time to finalize). And, rightfully, Sorors wouldn't let you (in general) forget that you wanted to depledge. That is another reason why this varies based on organization.

CougADPi, what happened to you, in an NPC organization, would probably not happen today - with BillHighway, financial termination is automatic. No pay, no play.

I don't know how common it is, but my organization has a procedure (I think it's called interim status, but don't quote me on that, it's been a very long time) for women who need a semester off. The chapter has to vote to give it to you, and then it has to be approved by several levels of higher-ups. If a woman has an extreme medical situation, or family thing, or something like that, it should be her first option, though I don't know if it is widely known.

Yeah, I can't imagine mine is a typical story (I hope not anyway). I'm not entirely sure what happened to allow me to still be a member. I have an idea, but I would rather not post it on a public message board.

Moral of the story: Don't deactivate or terminate unless you know without a doubt that you will never want to be affiliated again. And who can say what you will want 10+ years down the road?

Yes I know someone this happened to and yes, they re-affiliated her

I've never heard of such a circumstance. I also went financially inactive midway through my senior year. It wasn't because I didn't want to be a Theta anymore, it was that my last year of classes required so many weekend field trips that I couldn't work, and working was how I paid dues. I hated having to do it. We had girls who would go inactive, which at the time the limit was 1 year of inactive status. After that they were expected to become dues-paying members again. Most of them just quit.

I just recently found out that my BiLs wife, my SiL, was a Tri-Delta at Ohio State back in the early 90's. She deaffiliated after 2 years though.

OP, not all groups have an inactive status. So there is no reason to think that out of ALL the NIC groups that the one you belong to will have someone who posts here. Call HQ

My organization has a marginal status. Without getting into stuff that's too personal, the normal reasons girls go on marginal are study abroad or student teaching, though there are other reasons, like an overly large courseload.

Deactivation, on the other hand, like most organizations' policies, is final.

We have a process for that.

We have a process as well.