New Chapter
 

I'd be happy to help you out with any questions you have. You can either post them here or email me at sdowiak@taudelt.net I work for Tau Delta Phi Fraternity.

You need to make sure the school is open to Greek life. Your first step is talking to student activities/affairs/organizations.

What knight_shadow said.

No, the OP needs to first go through the school. One of the best ways to piss schools and GLOs off is to waste people's time because you did not go through the proper channels.

I took out your email address in case you change your mind about Greekchat and get tired of making yourself easily identifiable.

Yeah, how you handle this will really set a precedent in terms of your school's relationship with Greek Life. Start off on the right foot.

Does your school have a Greek Life office yet? If not, is there something similar to a "student activities" office? Seek those out and begin conversation over there. There's a good chance that the people who are there are affiliated with a Greek organization (it's not just college; it's lifetime membership).

That'll get you past the technicalities of your school and allow you (and your group) to seek national affiliation soon. Good luck!

Big suggestion. Don't buy stitched letters until you are an official colony. Where I am, a pre-colony has done this, and some of the brothers are upset. But in all due to time, they'll learn about Greek Life. The school this is at only has one other GLO, and it has a bad rep.

FYP. What is the deal with stitched letters being so much more official? Letters are letters and if you're not even an official colony yet, you don't get them...whether they be stitched, screenprint or glitter puffy paint.

Getting way ahead of things here.

If and when he gets to the point that he's actually in a colony, then he should follow the rules, protocols and traditions of the fraternity he's pledging.

And yes on what others have said: Talk to appropriate people at the school first to see if there is any interest or will be any support (or opposition).

I agree...other than being more expensive, there's no difference. All these "stitched letters" rules seem to have come about when pledging got easier. But that's just my opinion.

Stitched letters
 

We actually had a colony (Alpha Phi Omega calls them petitioning groups), where getting stitched letters was *one of* the issues that ultimately led to the colony being shut down. For Alpha Phi Omega, a rechartering petitioning group should *not* use the chapter letters of the chapters at that school until it actually charters.

For example, if Alaska State University is rechartering Xi Xi Xi, it is the Alaska State University Petitioning Group *not* the Xi Xi Xi Petitioning Group.

This group made line jackets with PO on the sleeve and told the National Board member in charge of that area that it stood for Petitioning Organization. Given that they were attempting to recharter Rho Omicron chapter, this was a case of "How stupid do you think your National Board Member is?" (Note there were significant other issues too).

^^^The "stitched" part still isn't significant here...unless it would have been a-ok for them to get screen prinited PO tees/jackets.

I'm with you. I wore stitched letters as a pledge back in the dark ages. We didn't have a rule in my chapter with pledges wearing letters.

I am glad that Alpha Phi Omega specifically states that rechartering petitioning groups should not be using letters. This is why GLOs need to stop believing in "common sense" and think that people know what to do and not to do. People have a tendency to be impatient and put the cart before the horse unless they are prohibited from doing so.

Delta tells prospective members and prospective chapters that they are NOT members and chapters until Delta explicitly states so. Do not start doing anything that members and chapters do until Delta explicitly states that it is time to do so. That includes wearing using and wearing Delta symbols.

Does this mean that Kappa Kappa Gamma did not have a rule against pledges wearing letters?

Not to my knowledge, but that was a long, long time ago. Our Bid Day shirts were screen printed with the Greek letters for the pledges to wear. I do remember that the pledge educator encouraged us to go get Kappa shirts, cups, etc. in our first pledge meeting, so my guess is not (unless my chapter just decided to blatantly disregard the national rules, which I kind of doubt). Our instructions were more along the lines of what we could/could not do while wearing letters (no drinking, etc.)

I could go to the Kappa website and read the bylaws to see what the rules are now, but I really don't want to work that hard over something that I'm not overly concerned about.

To get back to the topic at hand, Lui, I would suggest that while it's important to investigate the school's rules, you also need to put an interest group together. The school may or may not be open to Greek Life. If they are a state school, even if they aren't open to Greek Life, that doesn't mean that you cannot, in the end, put a chapter on the campus. You can find all of the NIC fraternities at www.fraternityinfo.com. Finding a national sponsor is also another way to help you through the process.

There is a reason that threads like this get off topic and hardly ever organically find their way back to the topic.



Oh! Look! Ice cream!
/more random off-topicness

Does that mean you'll be taking your ice cream and going home, or will you be sharing?

Oh, sugar pie, don't you fret, I'm not going anywhere, bless your anxious heart.

I would be very surprised if what is bolded above is true: The following are state schools:
Citadel
Maine Maritime Academy
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of California, San Francisco
Southern University Law Center

I think the point about the stitched letters was simply - don't get yourself all fired up like it's a done deal after you've had one reasonably successful meeting. I can see a group of 4 or 5 18/19 year old guys having one meeting and then going out and spending a ridiculous amount of money on apparel (and those stitched letters are ridiculously expensive) when they could 1-not be allowed by that organization and 2-be spending a truckload of money on something that's never gonna happen.

Before anything else, do this. You need the university/college's backing for Greek Life expansion.

naracht, there are a lot more state schools then what you put on your list. Believe me, there are many, many, many state schools out there.

You don't need the university's backing to start Greek Life. You need to get it eventually, but not initially.

So, basically you get your group together and get national backing and THEN go to the school and say "Hey, I knew y'all would be against this, so I went behind your back and did it anyway...can you sign off on this now?". That is bloody brilliant strategy if I ever heard it.

Alpha, the school won't see it as going behind their back if they don't have a greek system in place. which Lui intimated they don't. If you go to the school initially, they may be supportive or may not. My point is he should have an interest group together and be investigating national orgs when he goes to the school.

I know that there are. And your statement is true for a large number of them, but I really doubt it is true for *all* of them, and the five that I listed *are* state schools. Do you believe that your statement to be true for those five?

Randy

I'm not talking about their individual policies. I'm talking about state schools that have greek life already...eventually they would have to let you on. I understand that some schools have banned Greek Life, and the legality of their ban is questionable if they are a state school.

I know the answer! Pick me! Pick me!

Unless the reason they don't have a Greek system in place is because they have decided not allow Greek life. Or unless the school, unbeknownst to the student, already has a plan in place for bringing Greek life to the campus and the student is not working within that plan.

Except that what you said was "if they are a state school, even if they aren't open to Greek life . . . ." I'm confused.

MysticCat, to answer as best I can, a college student has constitutional rights. Those rights have to be upheld by a state school. Now, state schools will try not to uphold those rights if they can get away with it. However, generally speaking a national organization can help a student group leverage for their constitutional rights (we are speaking here about the right to association, which is covered as an extension to the first amendment). Some campuses try to stifle expansion or Greek organizations altogether. That is why I am suggesting to the student to put together an interest group, try to find national backing and then go to the campus and see what they say.

Eh. If a school is not open for expansion and your organization still tries to gather an interest group to form a chapter, chances are the Greek Life Director will be pretty POed that you did not follow expansion protocol. The chapter would be considered an off campus group, not sanctioned by the school (which raises red flags for PNMs). I'm not sure what national organization would want to start a combative relationship with the school from the very beginning, and expect to thrive.

When and if the school does open for expansion, being on the Greek Life Director's shit list is not in your group's best interest.

taudelt, I'm a lawyer and I'm familiar with First Amendment law. And I still say go to the school first. (BTW, the right of association doesn't mean the school has to recognize a GLO. At best, it means the school can't take action against a student for joining an unrecognized organization.)

But read my post again: That wasn't what I was confused about. You said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by taudelt1910 (Post 2102012) The school may or may not be open to Greek Life. If they are a state school, even if they aren't open to Greek Life, that doesn't mean that you cannot, in the end, put a chapter on the campus.

(Emphasis added.) naraht disagreed:

Quote:

Originally Posted by naraht (Post 2102037) I would be very surprised if what is bolded above is true . . . .

He included examples of state schools where he thought that what you said wouldn't hold true.

You then responded:
(Emphasis added)

So, in one place you say you're talking about schools that don't have Greek life, but then when challenged you say you were talking about schools that do have Greek life. Hence, my confusion.

Really? :eek:

Anyway, some of us have worked with colleges and universities to bring Greek Life. My experiences tell me something that I knew before I had the firsthand experiences: Go through the school FIRST.

Our chapter does not allow new members to wear letters of any sort. Along with the near by chapters. Don't know if this is just what we do or Kappa HQ rule.

Pardon me but how could you not know this?

Delta chapters have chapter guidelines that are informal chapter policies and practices (i.e. my chapter is one of many chapters that had certain paraphernalia protocol in addition to Delta's protocol); and chapter policies and practices that adhere to university guidelines because some university guidelines supersede some Delta guidelines. But, first and foremost we have to know what Delta's national guidelines are. We have to know whether our chapter's policies and protocol adhere to Delta's policies and protocol. We also have to know whether our policies and protocol are just a chapter thing (and other chapters) or mandated by Delta.

Despite my claim that I wouldn't look up our national bylaws, standing rules, etc., I did. I was unable to find anything as far as Kappa's national rules regarding wearing letters. The only restriction that I could find regarding wearing anything is the badge is allowed to be worn by initiated members only. I think this is a chapter to chapter thing, but I'm open to someone who really knows our rules back and forth to correct me. I openly admit that I don't know the rules as well as I should, but I do know where to find them and how to use an index. :)

To my original point in agreeing with 33girl, I also think that this has become more prevalent among NPC groups since pledges became new members and had a shorter amount of time preceding initiation. I don't know when Mevara was initiated, but if it was during this century, her road to initiation was definitely different than mine.

DrPhil, I hope this isn't your first time at the "but it MUST be national policy since my chapter does it" rodeo. We have that all the time on here (see the drinking in letters threads, all 5289 of them).

As far as taudelt talking about state schools - I know where he is going, but the fact of the matter is, if the state school decides they want to be dickheads about something like that, the students don't always have the money or time or (the most important) want to forfeit their career, to fight it. My state owned alma mater basically forced a fraternity (that was recognized and supported by their national) to close. The guys in it didn't want to resign, but they were told if they didn't, they'd be suspended from school. These are students of...I wouldn't say humble means, but not rich enough to get a superlawywer to clean things up. They're also ed majors who would have a hard time explaining to a school/prospective employer why their college expelled them.

In other words, yes what you're saying is true, but unfortunately it is often not real life. The best thing to do is to go to the school first and tell them you want to start a fraternity/Greek life, for the RIGHT reasons.

LOL, no it isn't. I was moreso interested in chapters and active members (collegiate and alumnae) not knowing what their NHQ mandates which goes beyond chapters wanting their way to be the only way. They have access to that information if they want to know.

Deltas around the world go around trying to correct Sorors, only to be told "I respect how your chapter does things...or your personal opinion as a Soror...but that isn't mandated by Delta." As collegiates and alumnae Sorors, we are encouraged to know what Delta NHQ mandates so that we will know that common practices among Sorors (even if most chapters do it that way) are not "Delta practices." That doesn't stop Sorors from forgetting that what we eat doesn't make other Sorors defecate but we chalk that up to Sorors being stuck in their ways rather than saying "I don't know whether this is just my chapter or Delta, as a whole." That justification is frowned upon because it implies that there is no access to, or no interest in, the information from NHQ. That's all. :)

I think that all goes back to the fact that (for the most part, I'm sure there are some exceptions out there) your members join DELTA, rather than joining A CHAPTER of Delta. (Applies to any NPHC, actually.)