a national sorority of locals
 

hey- i was wondering if anyone has heard anything about an organization that is trying to create a national sorority comprised of all local sororities. i think the one web-site i went to was call united sisterhood of locals or something like that. i'm not sure how i feel about this idea. it would be interesting to have some kind of representation outside of the school but i don't know if an organization like that would take something away from us. let me know what you guys think, i would be really interested what other local orgs have to say about it. thanks!

United Sororities Site

I checked out the site, and it seems like they want to have the locals united under one name in order to get recognition from NPC, but give each chapter its freedom to operate as normal. Pretty good idea, but it seems like the sororities might lose their individuality over time.

That's pretty interesting...so will they have a "nationals office" or executive headquarters? It doesn't really go into detail on how it will provide "national backing".

I think this is more to get around campuses saying locals aren't allowed or making all the locals go national. From what they are saying they don't want to form an NPC-type group where all the chapters would have the same colors, flower, etc.

I don't think NPC would ever accept this.

I don't think it's got anything to do with the NPC -- like 33girl said, it has to do with the schools. For example, currently at UW-Madison there's a rule that says no Greek organization that isn't affiliated with some kind of national umbrella group will be recognized. That pretty much rules out locals at the UW -- but if the local sororities had this group that they were a part of, they could claim that that counts as their national group and thus could be recognized.

that's true.. although I'm still discombobbulated by it! :confused: :)

Sure, it is an umbrella group, but would it really have some kind of weight if there is nothing "behind" the umbrella group?

Like most NPC sororities have some kind of "nationals", and on top of that, they are part of the NPC, which also has it's own constitution, rules, etc.

This "umbrella group" of locals seems just like a name and nothing more (at least that is what I'm getting from their website.)

Their website also says under the "requirements" that in order to be a member, they have to be a "true local, having only one chapter".. so if they decided to expand, wouldn't that disqualify them for the "umbrella group"?

hehehe.. maybe I'm just making this way more confusing than it really is!!!

Well, I don't get it either. At first, I thought it sounded like a good idea, to grant recognition to local sororities on a campus where a national org. is required. BUT... how can they encourage maintaining individuality when they want every chapter to change their letters to Upsilon Sigma Lambda? I just think that defeats the whole purpose.

I think that their "formal" letters would be Upsilon Sigma Lambda, but they would use their old letters day to day. If you look at some of the local and regional groups in NY State they have letters but usually go by their old literary society names like Clio, etc. This sounds similar.

From my understanding, the formal name would be USL and then each chapter's name would be the letters of the local sorority.

I actually think it could be a good idea to give some backing to the locals. We'll just have to see how they do it. There may need to be some more organization by the umbrella other than just a short national constitution.

Sarah

Oh ok - I thought they were doing it so they could petition to NPC. I was obviously confused. ;) I still can't see schools approving this - all of the sudden the local would want to change it's letters just to be recognized by the school, but would still go by it's old name? I think the school would catch on to that? And what would my last school do? There'd be two groups trying to register as USL - would it go to whoever got there first?

hehehe.. I didn't even *think* about that possibility!

hmm.. maybe they would merge? but then i guess that would defeat the purpose of the locals being able to operate how they always have

That's what I'm wondering - because in Wisconsin, there are lots of schools I can think of where there is more than one local - and they aren't always on Greek councils, etc, because there are enough nationals to "keep them out."

Interesting idea... I'm reading this as kind of a confederation of local sororities.

I'm wondering how much autonomy the locals would really have. How much freedom would each member org have in structuring their rush, new member programs, rituals, philanthropy work, academic programs, etc? I imagine USL would put some sort of anti-hazing policy in place on the national level?

If there are two or more locals at a given school, my guess would be that they would be recognized as "Upsilon Sigma Lambda - ABC Chapter" and "Upsilon Sigma Lambda - XYZ Chapter".

But - what if two otherwise-unrelated locals that wanted to be part of USL had the same letters? We know there are locals out there with the same letters. Would one group have to change its letters?

Keep them out, yes.....

I'm so tired of this exercise and this activity and the talk of how locals are so bad. Just because an org isn't recognized as a national doesn't mean that they aren't greek. They should still be allowed to make decisions regarding greek life. I feel like it's such a discriminatory act and I won't even get into how else I feel. Not all locals are bad, and it's sure as hell the truth that not all nationals are good.

Remember, every single glo started as a local at one point in time.....

**edited to add**

I believe this could be a great idea for local soroites around the country adn I think it could work. If they had recognition from an "national office' and maybe setup a risk management program and insurance coverage I think it would work. ANd to be honest, I don't think schools should have anyway to deny a group in this "USL."

I understand it as USL being the letters of the main organization while leaving the locals to operate under their own letters. This still gives them their individuality. Very good idea though if it works correctly.

USL sounds like it's trying to start it's own national by taking in many many locals. Which could be a good idea, if that's what those locals want.

I really think it would be a great idea if there was a local sorority "conference" sort of like NPC. The only problems I could see arising are if a local wanted to eventually go national, there might be some bitter feelings about them "going over" to NPC (or any other national groups that operate outside of NPC). After all, there are 26 NPC sororities, and we all maintain our individuality. This way locals would have a "higher power" to turn to if they had problems or questions about operating procedures. I also think it would be a great resource for girls who wanted to START locals, but didn't know how.

Ah well, I can dream. ;)

Alright, I don't want to start a fight because this is the locals forum, but this irritated me on their site:
Unfortunately, it sounds like someone had a bad experience, but that completely undermines what all sororities stand for, local OR national.

astroaphi -- I saw that too and all I could think was "oooooooooo-k" ;)

I think the overall concept is pretty interesting for locals that are interested in it, however I don't think the idea was completely "thought out" because like mentioned earlier in this thread, there are sooooo many things that could not work with the way they [the website] outline on their site.

Like what if there was more than one local sorority on any given campus?

Considering there are probably hundreds of local sororities out there, there *has* to be at least 2 with the same identical name!

Like astroaphi mentioned, what if members later on decided to 'go national' with a NPC or non-NPC national sorority?

This is what the site says:
To join, you have to be
1. a recognized sorority at an accredited four year college.

If the local isn't currently recognized by their college, then they can't join USL. But if they aren't part of a national, then they can't be recognized by the college. It could be a catch-22 for lots of groups.

To me this sounds more like a NPC type of organization rather than a "National Sorority". I think it would function better as an NPC type conference...sounds like it would be easier to organize. But I don't know if it would help the locals get recognition on their campus.

What do the locals think about this? (Seems like the NPC-ers are talking more about this than they are!!)
PsychTau

Heh..the first time I read this over and looked a their website I was like, "Hmm..good and quick idea to get a nat'l group together. It's kinda like expansion w/o the big ole mess.."

I think it's a conspiracy :p

*points out that KGD will not join this...Kayla doesn't like the letters Upsilon or lambda* teehee

It looks like the idea is no longer being pursued. No explanation given. Any theories?

http://mysmilies.creativesell.net/cwm/cwm/uhoh2.gif

I think it's a horrible idea and if KLP were able to join USL I know that we wouldn't. For many of the local sororities out there that were either founded to join the NPC as their own group or to remain local, they would not want to change their letters. Our letters have special meaning to all of us, and this is why we chose them. For those locals out there that were founded to be colonized by an NPC sorority, there would be no reason to do this as it would probably hurt them. If they are really about finding the individuality and camaraderie that you can't find in a national (so not gonna comment on that one...) then why bother trying to start something that would act as a headquarters for the locals.

I'm guessing that they found they were biting off more than they could chew, or that their "we're national based so we can stay on campus even if you want all nationals" argument didn't hold water.

This is a wonderful idea to give local groups more powerful support and networking opportunities nationwide! I am part of an NPC, so maybe I'm just biased, but I think if the locals could maintain their local names, etc., and have that umbrella group supporting them, they would have more people in their corner, cheering them on!

Hello everyone! :)

I'm in a local sorority and to be honest, we're quite happy on our own. We thought about joining this organization of locals, but quickly decided against it as there were no clear-cut answers or definitive benefits in joining. No offense to the organizers (we think getting all locals together is wonderful) but this seemed like it wasn't though-out well enough. It's a big task to undertake; one that requires much planning and consideration. There just seemed to be too many "what if's" that weren't answered. We didn't want to jump into anything without having our questions answered fully and clearly.

Now, holding a convention where all locals can get together to share their thoughts and experiences, would be great! It's always a treat to be around fellow greeks, and we would love nothing more than to see all locals prosper. But to ask them to hand-over their hard-work and identity, isn't fair. We're local for a reason.

Just to make it clear, we have nothing against nationals. lol. We respect and have warm feelings for all greeks. We're local because our school doesn't recognize ANY greek organizations. There were no national orgs on our campus to join... so our Founders created their own Sisterhood. We have been going strong for 8 1/2 yrs now, and everything we achieve is on our own, without school help. This is hard lol... but it can be done. We still manage to recruit, it's just done "underground." lol. But hey, like they say, 'anything worth having is worth working hard for.'

Anyway, good luck to everyone this semester!!!! :D