Recolonizing a chapter
 

Hi I wanted to recolonize a chapter at my school. They were initially banned for hazing and is currently inactive for about 2 years.

How long will this take and what is this process going to be like?

Are you looking to recolonize NPC, IFC, NPHC, NALFO, or some other council? It varies wildly depending on the answer.

I was looking into a NPC sorority

Generally, the process for recolonizing an NPC sorority is out of an individual student's hands. The national sorority may have an agreement with the school to return at a certain time after all former members have graduated, or the school may not want that sorority back on campus and will look for other extension options instead. If your school is not open for sorority expansion or not considering it, it's unlike that any recolonization will occur. You can contact your school's office of Greek Life and ask if the sorority is planning on coming back any time soon.

I'd also ask why you want this specific chapter to come back. Are there other sororities still around that you've looked at? If you're hoping to get XYZ restarted and go back to their old reputation, whatever that was, it's not going to happen. Recolonizing an NPC sorority is such a large undertaking that I'd recommend considering already-established groups instead.

I feel like out of all the established NPC sorority chapters at my school does not exactly fit my philosophy and philanthropic beliefs. So I should speak to my school's Greek office?

Yes, they'd be the best place to go for information, but again I want to caution you that for the most part NPC sorority expansion is driven by the schools and the national sororities, not the students. Also keep in mind that just because you feel the groups don't meet your philanthropic beliefs doesn't mean that you have enough girls to start an interest group or a new chapter on your campus. It just means you don't feel like you've found your home, and there might not be enough other girls who also feel this way.

Thanks for the awesome answers! Do you know how long this process will take? And how exactly are new members recruited? I'm going to be a junior next semester, but I have about 40-50 girls who are interested in joining.

How long it takes depends on the group and other factors. If your school isn't interested in expansion, it won't happen at all. If they are then it will take at least a semester to announce that they're open for expansion and have an interest group that wishes to be colonized, receive interest packets, select group(s) to present, have these groups present, pick a new group, have that group come on and colonize, and then be installed as an official colony and then chapter. I'm not trying to scare you out of going for this if it's something you're truly passionate about, but I want you to know that it could not happen at all or take a very long time. I know of colony members on GC who graduated before their colony was installed as a chapter and had to come back to be initiated.

As for how sororities pick members, that differs too. Some groups won't consider interest groups at all, or the interest group might be absorbed wholesale, or a colonization team will interview girls inside and outside the interest group and hand-pick them.

If I were you I'd start by asking someone within your school's Office of Greek Life how they feel about an interest group being absorbed by a sorority and proceed from there. If they're against the idea it's not happening, but if they're not you've got a shot.

Also know that I am not the end-all, be-all for information about this. There could be other factors I don't know about that influence your chances, and anyone else on GC can feel free to swoop in and correct me if I'm putting my foot in my mouth:)

gogreekorwhat, please read the information here from the NPC website, about extension.

There ARE times when a sorority is invited to recolonize without opening up for the full expansion process. However, for that to be true it likely would have been negotiated at the time the chapter was closed. That may or may not be information that is available for public consumption.

Another thing to be aware of is closing due to hazing is not the same as closing due to low numbers. If the school has a reputation of being problematic with hazing, the sorority in question may not want to touch that school with a 10 foot pole. If the offending chapter only closed 2 years ago I would not look for resolution any time soon. Like at least 2 more years and likely longer than that.

Based on your enthusiastic responses, I have the feeling you think you can make this happen. I would counsel you to find a way to fit in with the existing chapters. It really is the only realistic way for you to end up in a sorority.

This rubs me the wrong way. You're a junior who is just now wanting to go Greek, yet you've already decided none of the sororities on campus meet your standards.

If someone on my campus decided to petition panhellenic for expansion based on not liking the current sororities, I'd vote no, every time.

It's one thing to petition for expansion if your active chapters are bursting at the seams, it's another when you petition because you don't like the current sorority choices.

Two comments.
1) If the group was kicked off two years ago for hazing, then there may still be sisters of the NPC sorority on campus, which is likely to make the NPC sorority *less* likely to want to come back on campus. (repeating more or less what clemsongirl said)

2) Of all of the councils, NPC is the *least* likely to support someone who specifically wants to bring organization XYZ onto campus. (Other end of the scale is *probably* PFA)

There have also been times where a "bait and switch" happens and even if an interest group does the legwork of getting an NPC interested, -none of the girls actually end up in the sorority.

Unless pledge class sizes have gone up stratospherically since this chapter's closure, I don't think this group is going to come back to campus just 2 years after a hazing-induced closure.

Just to clarify, is this code for "I want to join a Jewish sorority"?

It's very unlikely that a single student can push a recolonization forward in this way. You're much better off trying to find a home in the current GLOs available at your campus or letting the issue go.

According to her, that isn't the case.

Is the OP's college even looking to add a sorority? That is the first question she should ask.

Also OP, rarely does recolonization work as you have suggested. Most often the national officers and local alumnae of the (re) colonizing sorority do the presentations and choose the members. Even if an interest group exists, not all of the interest group might be extended bids. There is no guarantee.

why that particular group?
 

I'm curious to know what it is about that particular group that appeals to the OP given that they had an internal culture of hazing on that campus just two short years ago? For the chapter to have lost it's charter, there was either a pattern or history of that behavior OR a MAJOR incident.

Even if the campus is open to another group, why not one of the many other NPC groups rather than that particular group?

Sounds as if it could be a case of "or what" for the OP.

I really don't think that you should let this stop you from seeing what amazing organizations those groups may be. I have to be honest. My sorority has changed philanthopy focus since I joined, and if I knew then, what i know now, and had the current philanthropy focus been our philanthropy focus THEN, I would have steered clear of my sorority because I significantly disagree with this organization (charitynavigator.org doesn't have anything nice to say about how they use the funds they raise and I think it's total crap that our girls are raising so much money for a company that's being wasteful...)

Anyway.... I love my sorority. My sorority is NOT the philanthropy. As an alumna, I choose to not be involved in that aspect anymore. I have other ways that I get involved in philanthropic efforts in my personal life. I would have hated to miss out on my sorority because I wrote them off dur to the philanthropy group they were associated with.

Just something to think about....

I understand. But she (and her interest group) must convince the NPC sororities on campus to agree to expansion and the school has to agree to expansion. (If any of the remaining groups are weak in recruitment, they are likely to drag their feet on agreeing to it.) Then they have to advertise the opening and accept proposals from interested NPC groups. The NPC groups may visit campus to check it out before hand. They will visit campus and make presentations. The Panhellenic Council will vote on who they want the extension group to be. The school will approve that choice. An invitation will be extended and accepted. The extension will be scheduled and the sorority chosen will start working on building alumnae support and campus interest. Usually campus extension recruitment occurs after formal recruitment, so ALL of that would have to happen before August for OP to be recruited as a junior for a school that does fall recruitment, or December for a school that does spring recruitment. I just don't think that's a very likely scenario. It could easily happen before her senior year, but seniors are usually the smallest component of a recruitment class. Just on a timing basis, it's going to be difficult for OP to get a bid even if she does successfully convince everyone to engage in extension.

When KD was selected at WUSTL, it was almost 18 months AFTER the selection as announced happened that colonization recruitment occurred. WUSTL is currently open for extension and it's going faster this time. (The whole process took almost 22 months.) They plan on choosing a new group by the end of the year and holding colonization recruitment in late January or early February -- 10 to 12 months after the announcement that the campus was open for extension went out.

And all THAT is assuming that OP is chosen to get a bid. It isn't a guarantee. The sorority that is chosen doesn't have to take anyone and everyone in the interest group. They are doing recruitment and they get to choose their own members. They can invite or decline any potential new member they choose.

Colonization is not a strong bet if OP wants to be in a GLO.

An interesting thought. She's a Junior, the group was kicked off two years ago, so that's when she was a Freshman. So it was on campus when she got to the school. I wonder if she had any contact with the Sorority when she first got to campus...

And even if the school is open to expansion, my guess is that the school would prefer a sorority that doesn't have any sisters who were (probably) forced to be early alumni still on campus.

(Can anyone think of a situation with a GLO that a school derecognized the chapter (even if the National didn't pull the charter based on Hazing and let the group back on campus in less than 4 years?)

You're talking about multiple different things here.

If she really did know the previous members as a freshman and this is a sort of backdoor effort (as in, once the chapter is reinstated the collegian alumnae will be invited to functions and such) I'd hope she'd be a little more discreet than to bring it up on GC where someone will invariably (as you did) think of that possibility.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that this happened at Miami University(OH) a few years ago. Two (or three) organizations got in trouble, were suspended by the university, but came back 2-3 years later.

So what's your organizations philanthropy?

Suspended isn't closed and recolonized. I thought what happened with those groups was that they weren't allowed to participate in anything social or Panhellenic (in other words rush) but that 2 years later if the same members were there they could be active. The Miami peeps on here would know more.

In the instances where we've have experienced suspension, it included losing the house, all recognition, etc but with an allowance to return in X number of years without going thru the expansion process - IF we wanted to. So in essence, we were kicked off campus and given first dibs on coming back in 2 years time. All members were instantly alumnae.

So you moved your feet but did not lose your seat. ;) For some reason I recall the Miami suspensions LaneSig is talking about as not instantly alumni-fying the current members though.

Another important issue for the OP to be aware of is whether a group thinks the campus is worth it. A school where the chapters have 200 people and a 60% Greek population is going to be one that they'll be chomping at the bit to return to. One with 40 member chapters and a 10% Greek population, not so much.

But we have no idea if the banning the original poster spoke of came from the school or from the national headquarters. Schools don't always consider things hazing that HQs do.

This, OP, is known as Panhellenic Spirit; sincerely hoping your campus offers same.

As for how long it takes, it could be anywhere from a year to 4, 5, 10 years. It depends on the campus's need for more sororities.
Your best bet is still to talk to your school's Greek life office.
After that, you could also call the sorority's national/international headquarters and talk to someone there, but don't be surprised if they decline to talk to you.
Another tack would be to form a local sorority...maybe with the hopes of one day affiliating with a national. That's still going to take a long time to set up, and even longer - years, possibly - to affiliate with a national.
Again, talk to your Greek life office to see what the needs are and how you'd go about creating a new organization.

LOL.

Now don't you think if I wanted it to be obvious what organization I was a part of that I would have just said so? :rolleyes:

For starters people on GC who won't name their organization but make strong statements about Greek life or their chapter make me suspect. Just how it is after the years.

Aside from that, if you feel so strongly against your organizations philanthropy and for a good reason (how funds are spent, something I too look for and place importance in) I don't get why you want a hush hush secret.

Also a majority of the NPC organizations are involved in/with various large and well know organizations, so if one of them is so terrible I'm curious to know what it is.

I don't know that I disagree with Ramsey. There's one NPC sorority I can think of where I don't believe in how funds are spent from the national philanthropy. I would be upset and steer clear of that group as well if I were a super smart 18 year old who knew better, that group was at my university, etc.... Since the group wasn't at my school, it wasn't an issue, and I'm pretty sure the specific partnership has changed since I became greek anyway