Can I join a sorority??
 

I go to an all women's college (College A) and the school will not allow sororities on campus because the school is already so diverse that they don't want any more division between the girls on campus. I have always wanted to join a sorority and from my understanding I have to be a student at a college/university to join a sorority. My school allows cross-registration and I did it my freshman year and I was officially a College B student, I just wasn't a full-time student. If I took one class a semester until I graduate at College B, do you think that I could join a sorority at College B? Or is there a way that I could get in contact with the President of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council at College B and ask if I could join a sorority while being a student from College A? Don't know if this means anything but my college is only 6 minutes away from College B so I could go to all recruitment things and fully participate in rush activities.

Please don't suggest transferring because that is out of the question. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No.

You have to be a full time student to go through recruitment and remain an active member of a chapter.

Do any national sororities allow cross campus memberships? Some years back several fraternities began to allow cross campus membership in certain circumstances like one school having a Greek system and a close by school either not having a Greek system or having only a very few chapters thus offering an extremely limited choice. This usually takes place where there is an existing policy of cross registration for classes or very close proximity of campii. Tulane/Loyola in New Orleans comes to mind where the schools actually share some campus facilities and they are literally next door neighbors. The practice, as I understand it, is on a case by case basis, the national HQs must approve, and while the schools do not recognize the other school's chapters as official university organizations they seem to turn a blind eye to the practice so long as insurance matters are covered for the cross campus members. I gather that most of the Tulane chapters will consider a PNM from Loyola and at least one Loyola org accepts Tulane students. There is one local sorority that draws from Loyola, Tulane, UNO, and Holy Cross. Of course that one is not under the panhel rules.

So, is this pretty much a fraternity thing or do any national sororities do likewise?
(Note: I use the terms sorority and fraternity as general descriptions for simplicity sake. I do realize that several GLOs are womens fraternities).

^^ Yes, some do.

The rules will differ between NPC, NPHC, MCGLO and local organizations.

One must be a full time matriculating student at a particular university in order to participate in NPC recruitment and to accept a bid and maintain active collegiate membership. This is an NPC requirement.

NPC sororities?

I'm thinking this is one of those instances where we want to be careful to be specific, or else the OP and some others might be confused. As was recently noted in another thread, not all fraternities are NIC fraternities, and not all sororities are NPC sororities.

It's my understanding that some (all?) NPHC orgs have city-wide chapters that serve more than one campus. Other orgs may as well. And some fraternities may allow students attending a nearby college to pledge, like dekeguy describes.

But I'm pretty sure CGers in NPC orgs have said in the past that only full-time students at the school where the chapter is chartered can join chapters of NPC orgs. And since the OP mentioned the "Collegiate Panhellenic Council," I'm guessing she's asking about NPC orgs.

ETA: Cross-posted with thetalady and Greek_or_Geek.

dekeguy asked if any "national sororities" allowed it. Some do.

Agreed. Greekchat obviously has many threads that go off on tangents, but there are some cases where these tangents will only serve to confuse the original poster as well as others who will come along later. They don't understand the different acronyms and all they see is that "YES!"

To the OP:

There are two universities in our city, my school (U of M) is much larger than the other (U of W). My sorority (Alpha Gamma Delta), as well as the other two (Alpha Phi and Alpha Delta Pi) all have students from both universities. However, all three organisations (meaning international headquarters) made that decision. It is not in any way common, but you might want to email College B's panhellenic to find out if it is a possibility. The worst thing that happens is they say no.

Yes, but he also referred to "PNMs", which makes it weird, because I'm pretty sure no NPC group is allowing this (as he mentioned in his example), and I don't know of any non-NPC groups that use that term.

Loyola and Tulane both have their own Greek systems so that's not a good example.

Check dekeguy's wording. If by "national sororities" and "fraternities" dekeguy is only talking about NPC and NIC (fraternities that are only NIC), then the answer is "no" for NPC.

If dekeguy is talking about national sororities and fraternities, in general, NPHC fraternities and sororities are examples of conferences and councils in which GLOs have city-wide chapters, core chapters, and/or allow members from particular schools to affiliate with a chapter at another school. Generally speaking, the school has to be approved by the "GLO governing bodies" to allow members from a particular school(s). The administration of all of the schools must also agree with this. It generally cannot be a thing that the current chapter members decide completely on their own.

There are women's colleges, for example, that see the campus as one big sorority and therefore do not allow students to become members of sororities elsewhere. Therefore, sororities will not include these colleges' students in their potential pool of aspirants. In the relatively rare cases where a student at these particular colleges wants to pursue membership at a neighboring college or university, the GLO chapter must be permitted to accept that and the student's college must accept having a student who is a sorority member at a neighboring school. Whether or not that is allowed will depend on the circumstances. For NPHC aspirants at these particular women's colleges that do not want sorority members as students, these aspirants are almost always going to become alumnae chapter applicants OR eternal aspirants.

Exactly. Yet another reminder that if you are talking about a specific conference or council, do not frame your comment in a general manner.

:) As for confusing the OP or other PNMs/aspirants, these college students can handle reading our comments and corrections (when applicable). That is part of the research, discussion, and learning processes of being a college student as well as GLO aspirant. They can handle being perplexed and doing what they need to do via the Internet and in real life to figure stuff out. If they cannot handle it and cannot do what they need to do to figure stuff out...well...I weep for college education and the future of all of our fraternities and sororities.

There are a couple of organizations that use the term officially because "pledge" is still seen as taboo by some.

But dekeguy has been here long enough to know that there are multiple conferences/councils. If he meant "NPC," he should've typed that. I read his post as he wrote it.

Oh, I did not know that. Who else uses PNM?

Right. My concern was for the OP, or others like her, who may not know the difference and who may think pretty much solely in terms of the NPC when they think "sorority."

Your answer to dekeguy's question was certainly accurate. But in the context of this thread, where the OP appears to be asking about NPC sororities, it seemed like fuller explanation could be beneficial just so that the OP, and any others like her who may read the thread, are clear about the answers. That's all.

Right. I would hope that members of other councils would show the kind of respect that is expected in threads that involve their organizations and not derail conversations about our policies and procedures. NPC recruitment has lots and lots of rules and our recruitment process is governed by those. Our recruitment is also unique in how time sensitive it is. If you don't manage to navigate it at that time, your chances of becoming a member may become virtually zero. We also don't promote the same kind of research and reflection as others may. We're allowed to give PNMs straight answers about the process and other answers and at least some of us strive to do so here.

I agree with you that both have their own greek systems, but I think they fall under my comment about two closely located schools, one having a stronger or larger system and the other having only a few.
Anyway, since I really do not know very much about the rules governing sororities I was just seeking information in broad general terms. I appreciate any info available.

Knight Shadow,

You are correct. I was just looking for general info about a subject I know very little about. Since there are several national umbrella groups I asked a broad question hoping for a broad answer. As to the use of PNM you are right again, I figured that it was a generic term that would hopefully cover the range of words describing what I always thought of as a "pledge".

Thanks for your comment which did answer what I asked.

Mystic Cat,

I take your point and I agree. My question was very broad and a more precise query would have been of better help to the OP.

They will survive. :)

LOL. Hush with that nonsense.

Meanwhile....

I assure you that members of our organizations hardly consider out procedures nonsense. Your respect is greatly appreciated.

::groan::

LOL. Is this your way of admitting that knight_shadow was correct? It is okay. :)

No, it's my polite way of saying you're driving in the wrong lane.

Then vrooooom vrooooom all in "your" lane. :)

(If you really desire to believe that I was disrespecting NPC policies and procedures and calling them nonsense. Have at it.)

Hey,what happened to that warm, fuzzy DrPhil we saw helping out the new college student last night? :p

:o I did not believe that I was saving that poster from himself, though. I also told him to research. :p

We aren't even sure this is an NPC lane. She never said.

Are women from Barnard allowed to join Columbia's sororities?

What? I missed warm and fuzzy? Oh,sigh. Well, the DrPhil I know & love has excellent music appreciation for the BEST music, and that's all that I care about anyway.

Back to whatever this thread is about...

(now waiting for a smartaleck comment from a certain someone who shall remain nameless)

:p

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=128702

Thank you, my music buddy. :)

Who knows what it's about. :)


You have to be talking about MysticCat. :eek:

:D Nope. Name starts with " " and ends with " ". That's all I'm saying. He shall remain nameless (cue thunder and crashing music); perhaps he is sleeping and I've dodged a bullet.

Off to find some happy tunes! I'm feeling the need for some Reverend Al Green this evening.

She did talk about contacting the president of the "Collegiate Panhellenic Council," which I took to be an indication of NPC interest, but maybe not. She also mentioned "rush," which while the NPC doesn't use that term anymore, many PNMs do.

Yes ma'am, they are. But the official name is "Barnard College of Columbia University" and they share a course catalog. Barnard students join the Columbia scramble band, Columbia student orgs are open to Barnard women. Barnard does have some orgs that Columbia students can't join, but.. Columbia is pretty much open to Barnard.

To clear up some confusion and maybe get a clearer answer, I want to try and become a "member" of ZTA or Phi Mu. Sorry if my terminology isn't incorrect, I will have to do my research :o

So, while reading through every answer and tangent, someone said I might need to get permission from both schools. I don't have time to go through recruitment (?) during the Fall (fall athlete and working) so I was planning on trying for the Spring. If this is at all possible, should I email both schools' administrations and the President of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council and also officers from the sororities I want to try and get a bid from (I understand they can't promise bids)?

Again, any and all advice/help would be useful! But please, avoid tangents :)

Oh, and ZTA and Phi Mu aren't the only two sororities I would email, I would email all the ones on campus. Those are just the two I am most interested in.

No. You either didn't read very well or you didn't bother to clarify your terms. You can not join an NPC organization (which includes both ZTA and Phi Mu) if you are not a full-time student at the school where the chapter exists.

This.....