Looking into Greek Life
 

Hello All!
I am going to school in Western Massachusetts. My school does not have greek life on our campus. They did a recruitment program at the beginning of the year with groups from some surrounding campuses, but I decided not to join any. First of all because I do not have a car to drive to their events and second because I felt excluded, the groups were all aimed towards latina or black men and women and when I went to the tables to talk to the representatives they didn't seem very open to me. Someone said that if we found 15 people interested we could bring them to our school. So now I am looking into what I can do to bring greek life to my school. I know it may be difficult joining in on the national level but I have seen some things about local sororities? I am really looking for the group to be a place to make friends and do community service. At this point my school does not have greek life, but we do have honor societies, so no greek life office. Thank you to anyone who has advice. Feel free to ask me questions or comment on this. I know this might be a lot of work but I am looking for some ideas and suggestions!
Thanks again!
WSUGirl19

I know it's probably impossible, but after a lot of searching I feel like I would really enjoy joining Kappa Delta. Although I don't know if they would come to my school. I was a girl scout for 13 years and completed my gold award, I would really enjoy working with the girl scouts organization more.

There is a very prescribed process for NPC groups to colonize on a campus. KD is not going to circumvent that procedure. To find an organization that might fit your needs, check with your office of Student Life/Activities/Involvement - whatever it may go by that is similar to one of those titles. You might also ask them why there is no Greek Life there.

Yeah, I figured they wouldn't do that. I guess I could talk to them, but I wasn't sure what the possibilities were in the first place if it was even worth trying to pursue. I assume they are trying to see if people would like it if they held the fair, but they picked organizations aimed towards a certain type of person, it was through the inclusion office

I can understand that but keep in mind that many of the multi-cultural groups do not restrict members to a certain campus like NPC groups do. There are many differences in these types of groups. It would not be possible for an NPC group on one campus to accept members from another. You have to be enrolled in the school where the chapter is established.

That's really odd, they were telling people that they could join and would need to drive to their campus for events, or they needed to find 15 members to make their own group on campus. Maybe I understood them wrong though. I am honestly very confused with the process of started a group and it may just be easier to talk to someone about it. I know a lot of people were interested in the different groups but were turning away at the fact that they would need to go to them for it. So these groups are not NPC, what would they be considered? There are more than one chapter so would they not be considered local? I apologize for being so uneducated in this subject

Kappa Delta reps said that?

Oh wait. I'm really confused now.

It's good to ask questions so we are all talking about the same thing. I'm surmising that you spoke to groups that were in other councils, not NPC groups. And that you like KD but you didn't speak to anyone from KD.

Nevermind. In rereading this thread, I can see where I got confused.

NPC is National Panhellenic Conference and there are 26 sororities that make up their membership. KD is one. I don't know what conference these groups you are talking about belong to. Yes, some let people from other campuses join and some don't. But ALL NPC groups have the same rules about this. Sure, any of them could decide to put a group on YOUR campus but they would all have different processes to do it. You mentioned KD so the majority of my comments were slanted towards NPC groups. You need to talk with someone in your Student Life office or whatever it's called to understand what is possible on your campus. To bring an NPC group to your campus your school must "open" for it - which is a determination and vote by the administration of your school. Next, they notify NPC that the school is open and accepting interest packets(applications). The school would then invite those groups for a visit. Then the school would need to pick several to present to the student body. Then there would be a vote as to which group is invited and for when. SO you can see, for an NPCgroup it's quite involved with at least usually a one year or more time frame. Hope this helps.

Sorry! The different groups that were not NPC that visited my school said they would create a group at my school if we had 15 members. Otherwise, whoever wanted to join would have to go to their school. I just stated earlier I wish I could somehow become affiliated with Kappa Delta, which I know is probably impossible.

^^^ it's okay I finally figured it out!

When you say they come visit your school, who is this? Are they then assisting in the process or is this all up to the school and what the students would like?

^^^ google "National Panhellenic Conference" and click on the link about extensions.

ETA: https://www.npcwomen.org/college-pan...sion-info.aspx

The groups send a packet to the school. The school (whoever adminsitration has picked to be on the team looking at this) looks over the packets and invites those groups to come for a visit. Then they pick ones to do presentations. Usually for a good sized school, there will be 6-8 packets sent and 2-3 groups invited to present.

WSUgirl, I know your school well. It actually may be a very good fit for NPC organizations. I would try to find some other interested women and approach the advisor of activities and clubs or whatever that would be called there and get yourselves to be a registered student organization. From there talk to that person about looking for national affiliation with an NPC sorority. Let me know if you have other questions or concerns and send me a PM anytime. Good luck! I think that greek life could be really beneficial to your campus :)

Prior to a NPC sorority sending in a packet to a school that is "open", a team from headquarters will go to the school and see if the school fits their needs/wants. The team will look at the number of students, why there are no sororities at this time, how well does the school fit with their core program, does the sorority see a need to open a new chapter at this time, how successful will that chapter be on that campus-- costs a lot of money for headquarters to open a new chapter. Once the sorority finds that they are interested, then the packet is sent in. As stated above, the administration then starts the selection process. With 26 sororities, the odds of KD in the right place at the right time for you to join is a long shot. Once the sorority is chosen, they decide which prospective members they want to invite to colonize the chapter. Even if KD is in the right place at the right time to be chosen, still does not guarantee you an invitation to join.

DaffyKD

This would be an interesting jump for any NPC group. However, I definitely see potential on the campus. We're talking about a pretty small school (5,000-6,000 undergraduates, I would guess) with well more than half the undergraduates living on campus. UMass Amherst is the nearest campus with NPC chapters.....

I can imagine that most of the groups that came to present and had city chapters were out of the Springfield or colleges in that area and were multicultural groups like suggested above....

I'm sort of surprised this school doesn't have any NPC chapters. It seems like a fairly residential campus with an extensive history.

Right? I totally forgot that they didn't.... and the percentage of students living on campus is misleadingly low because so many students rent houses/ apartments in the area.... I wouldn't call it much of a commuter school (though I did have some students who commuted there when I taught in the area)

I believe the reason for not having greek life would be the fact that we were not considered a university up until recently; I may be wrong though. Again, I never said I thought it was possible or that it would ever happen, just that I wished I could be a part of KD. I know it most likely won't happen. How many people would need to be interested to start this, or does this depend on the school and what they are looking for? I wanted to study abroad, but if this process will take a while is it something I should skip going to, or will my dreams of joining greek life be crushed and I should stay on my track to study abroad?

Sigmagirl2000: How much do you know about my school? Were you a part of another school closeby? Do you think that this would fit into my school?

Sorry that I have so many questions!

I just realized I missed this second page... I feel like an idiot now haha I guess I am just nervous to start this process, I am not doing it to party. I actually would rather the sisterhood and community service (like I had in girl scouts). I am also questioning if this will be too difficult to process with classes and everything happening at the same time. We do have a lot of students who live in the area commuting or living in apartments, we do not have enough housing for all of our students. I have heard that WSU may have had greek life, someone started a rumor that the houses on western ave were greek houses. After searching the internet I haven't found anything about those though so I believe that we never had them.

WSU has never had NPC sororities.

That's what I figured. Someone said they thought they saw a letter on a house, but it may have been a broken number.

WSUGirl,

No need to post the same question in multiple forums. It just makes it difficult to have a coherent discussion. :)

Your school seems to be a pretty good candidate for NPC sororities. That being said, not every NPC is likely to be interested. If your school's administration decides to open up for NPC, the 26 member sororities will consider many factors, including but not limited to:
Prestige of the school
Graduation rate
Student population
Number of undergraduate women
Student body demographics
Available alumnae in the area
Presence of alumnae on faculty or staff
Availability of housing or meeting space
And many, many more factors

Some of these factors will be positives for your school and some negative. Having a few negatives does not mean NPCs won't be interested. It might mean that certain NPCs will pass, but others may take the plunge, especially if they a strong alumnae base in the area. The fact that your school would likely not require sorority housing is a big plus and will open up interest to more sororities. Chapters that require competitive housing are a much greater investment and a greater risk. There are several sororities that are particularly strong in the northeast and sort of specialize in smaller schools.

What you can do is discuss the matter with your school's student life office, and be persistent. Gathering interest from other undergraduate women enrolled full-time at your school will help your case. If your school gets on board, the process will likely be out of your hands. (In fact, a sorority could colonize and then not even select you for membership. Not a pleasant thought, but something to consider.) IF you are able to gather enough seriously interested women to form a Sorority Interest Group (which would be a registered student org), your org might have some influence in the process and the sorority which is chosen. Of course you could only choose a sorority which applies for consideration.

Sorry! I figured this was getting a little confusing, so I thought making a new thread may be easier... I will talk to people at my school and see what the options are.

You should definitely try to create an interest group (so you can show that there is an interest and need for a sorority on campus) and talking the head of your student activities office.

It might be too late for this..but my best advice is not to get your heart set on any specific one organization. KD is an amazing organization, but the other 25 organizations that are part of NPC are all amazing organizations as well.

Any of the 26 sororities that are part of the NPC would give you incredible opportunities, outstanding philanthropies to support and an extraordinary sisterhood. You need to keep in mind that you'd be lucky to become a member of any of these organizations. They all offer very similar opportunities and experiences, just with different letters.

I can tell you that my experience has been pretty much the same as that of my friends in other sororities...we all support our philanthropies, attend social events, take on leadership opportunities (if we choose), and bond with our sisters any time we hang out (or take part in activities).

If you ask me...what's important about being part of a sorority is that you are part of an organization that accepts you and that makes you feel like you're a part of something bigger than you. And that you do the work involved in bonding and forging bonds of sisterhood with your sisters. The specific details (letters on your chest) aren't important if you ask me...you'll get everything out of the that you're supposed to, if you're lucky enough to have the opportunity.

Hopefully you're able to bring Greek Life to your campus.

I just wanted to update people on what has happened. I emailed who was stated to be student activities, but she never emailed me back. I have heard from another staff member that she does not usually reply or keep her promise with sending something to you. But I recently saw postings around campus for Lambda Sigma the honor society which they do a lot of volunteer things and I think I am going to try to join! I think it will be a great leadership and volunteer opportunity!