Recolonizing - How does it work?
 

For those who read/responded to my previous post about Informal, thank you for the information. I have gotten in contact with both my Greek friends and the Greek office, so we'll see how that goes in a few months.

((And for those who might want to know, I am looking at a service fraternity that another friend of mine is in. She speaks very highly of it so I though might as well give it a go and get out there!))

Alright, so currently I am waiting for Spring semester to start to see who (if anyone) participates in Spring recruitment. I will definitely be looking into that as it gets closer.

In the mean time I have been hearing rumors (both on GC, from my school's Greek Office, from the GLO itself, and from my Greek friends) that a sorority will be recolonizing on my campus in the coming year or so (I've heard conflicting dates so not sure of the date).

I remember reading a story on GC about a girl going through recruitment for a sorority that was recolonizing, but I can't seem to find it. The search function isn't bringing up anything, and neither is Google. So I come to the lovely ladies of GC in hopes that you might be able to shed some light on how recolonizing works? I assume it is very different from Formal recruitment and may be something closer to informal?

Also, when -GLO- returns, if they do, I won't be a freshman anymore, obviously. I think I remember reading something about recolonizing chapters wanting girls from all grades? Is this true or is it just wishful thinking?

Once again, I do apologize for asking a question that's probably been asked at least a dozen times, and I'm certain that at the bottom of this thread is going to be at least one link to a thread that will help me understand how recolonizing works.

Any information is always welcome. :]

Thank you.

No personal experience with this, but I believe a recolonization works the same as any colonization. The national will visit the campus and probably do a presentation at the start of recruitment, but not actually participate in recruitment. Subsequently, they will have events after the conclusion of formal recruitment. And I do believe they try to take girls from various grades (if they took all freshmen, they would have a HUGE portion graduate at once).

Not the most loyal GC reader, but I recall seeing a thread about the DG recolonization at Bama. That might be your best place to start looking.

Good luck with this! This could a a great experience for you.

Thank you for both the good luck and the info.

I will most definitely look into that DG thread (if I can find it). :]

Is this a recolonization of a chapter that hasn't been there for a while, or is it a recolonization of a chapter who had all its current members take alumnae status and some of whom are still on campus?

i.e. - Has the chapter been off campus for over 5 years? If so, it's just like any other brand new colonization. The selection of members will still be the same.

Without giving away too much detail, I believe the chapter was closed over five years ago, yes. I can't find the exact date they closed, just articles from the school paper from x amount of years ago when everything started it's decline.

If you want I can PM you the school and GLO? In case you know any more info than I do?

It's pretty clear that you are talking about a recolonization that would operate in the same way as a colonization. There are quite a few threads around here; search "colony" to see what will come up. Yes, they will take women of all grade levels, and the process will be different from that of formal rush.

Awesome. Thank you for the clarification.

I will search and see if I can find anything. :]

Thank you all!

And yes, they will be interested in students from all 4 years. However, I would continue to check your options until then. Not that you should consider the colony a last resort, but holding out for them and then not getting in would be a huge bummer.

And I'm racking my brain trying to think of any rumored colonies on here, other than the ever-on the horizon Arkansas expansion. Feel free to PM me if you want to share some gossip!

PM incoming! :D

Speaking of colonies, has anyone noticed that the trend seems to be taking fewer than chapter total? I thought it was odd that A Phi at FSU took fewer than total last year, but it seems that each of the large colonies since then has done the same. I suppose they're keeping it tight and allowing them room to do some informal right away. Anyone know more about it than this or is it just my imagination?

I had not noticed, but do you know anything about the class break-down? If they take, say, 75% of total, but it is all non-seniors, then they should return with the correct number in the fall to be on par with other chapters.

This is most likely due to the desire to keep the classes even and the time of year for the colonization. On a colony coming in the fall to a campus that has deferred recruitment where campus total is 100, they might take 30 sophs, 30 juniors and just 15-20 seniors. Then they have balanced classes and can take 25-30 freshmen either through formal or informal recruitment in the spring. If they take 33, 33, and 34. In four years, their class balance is all off. If the colonization is in the fall after a fall recruitment they might take 23, 23, 23, 23 and leave themselves a few spots for COB.

Since we're all already here.....

And I feel like maybe I've even brought this up before....

(And please forgive my bluntness....)


So like....

1) How does one recruit seniors into a colony in the first place, assuming seniors are desired?

2) How does one know they are not lame and crazy people who rushed thrice before?

Minor update - It appears the chapter only closed a few years back (less than five). If this is true, will it be different than a normal colonization?

1) Some seniors are going to be around longer than a year, or are staying in the area after they graduate, or really want the alumnae connections. Also as I said in another post, your world CAN turn upside down at a late date in college (i.e. guy you've been dating for 3 years dumps you, or all your friends were older and they graduated).

2) You ask them if they rushed thrice before. If they are lame and crazy, they usually get weeded out before chartering occurs.

The new chapter might have to fight an old, undesirable reputation more than a group that's coming back after a longer hiatus would. They also might have to deal with members who are early alumnae, and depending on how the sorority and the members tend to deal with it, it can sometimes end badly.

However, the sorority has obviously deemed this a risk they're willing to take or they wouldn't be recolonizing.

Gotcha. Thankies!

^^^I can only speak for my sorority as I don't know about others, but as for us, it's the same as any other colonization, no matter how long the chapter was closed.




1.) You don't really go out looking for seniors, per se. When you're drumming up interest for a colony, you emphasize that all classes are needed, and there are always a few senior ladies (who are maybe transfers or are going to be in school for an extra year) who are interested.

2.) I've seen it asked on colony interest forms (ex: if you go to a colony website to sign up for colony recruitment) if the PNM has ever participated in formal recruitment or other recruitment before. Also, if you're working closely with Panhellenic, they may provide colony teams with a list of women who maybe dropped out of recruitment or didn't get bids. Now as to the crazy part, it's just like any other recruitment process, it's a roll of the dice and hoping that that person isn't a crazy girl who just wants letters. I find that the process tends to "shake out" those kind of women (as being part of a colony requires more than say, being a NM of an existing group) They're usually all "OMG all this work! I just wanted letters. I'm out of here."

Gotcha -- makes sense.

RE: Seniors
 

I have no idea if the is common practice, or becoming common practice, but I know when ZTA recolonized at Louisville this year, they asked to have seniors be "free," meaning they could recruit as many seniors as they wanted without them applying to their total membership numbers. The motion was defeated by the college panhellenic.

That's really short-sighted, IMO. How could that possibly hurt the other chapters? All it does is make sure they have an instant alumnae base, and to deny them that seems a bit petty.

The reasoning I heard was that then they would not have any graduating members, making them larger than the other groups entering FR next year. ZTA presented a compelling argument, I thought, about their attrition numbers over the first two semesters of their colonies, which (if they held true) would have basically equaled the average number of seniors graduating from the other chapters. However, I think the impossibility of knowing for sure there would be attrition scared some of the chapters into thinking ZTA would be significantly larger entering FR next year.

They were allowed to recurit to total of 94. If they could take 94 freshman/sophomore/juniors (and seniors were free) then technically there was a chance ZTA could have 100% retention and enter fall FR with 94 members. This isn't a campus where total is 94 but most chapters are at 130 or something, most of the chapters are around 94, so when the Panhellenic polled the number of women graduating from each chapter, for some it was going to be 15-20 women. So, they would be returning to FR with say 80 women to ZTA's 94. That was their logic, anyway...

ETA: So, the other chapters were betting that ZTA would take some seniors in their colony of 94, to help make it more even. I haven't actually seen the class breakdown of the colony to see if that came true or not.

Question.

If campus total is 200 (as in, each sorority is allowed to have two hundred girls), would the re/colonizing chapter take 200ish (or 3/4 that, as with what y'all have said above)? Or would they take less than the 3/4 or..? I know this is going to be different per sorority and each case, but would they try to colonize a "full" chapter or just do partial?

One would assume full, but I just wanted to make sure I am understanding. :]

Yeah, I would have DEFINITELY voted thumbs down on this.

You don't know what people know, and wouldn't it have just been a giant "coincidence" when all the seniors turned out to be double majors who were staying for another year.

CaffeinatedPNM: Typically a chapter will try to recruit up to total. If they don't, there's a reasoning behind it.

Some campuses have allowed a colony to go to average cahpter size - such as Delta Gamma at Alabama. Total or average chapter size are the norm.

The issue here is stated versus actual total. Some schools go into rush with every chapter being at/above total already. Obviously if they only let a chapter colonize to total they'd be in a world of hurt. But typically (I think) a colony will pledge around the stated total. However, as I stated earlier, they they seem to be taking 10-15% fewer than that lately.