create a social sorority
 

I posted this message to another section of this message board. I'm not sure where it belongs.

I am very much so interested in starting a social sorority chapter at my college. How does one go about doing this? Does one need to find a chapter to be affilated with to call it a "social sorority"? Is this process different than starting a regular sorority chapter?

The term "social sorority" is just a way to distinguish between the different types of Greek lettered organizations that exist (service GLO's, and honorary ones as well).

When you think of a typical sorority you more than likely picture a social sorority, with a chapter house, parties, intramurals, formal recruitment and so forth.

there are 26 National sororities affiliated with the North American Panhellenic Council, and they would be termed social sororities.


So in answer to your question, a social sorority is no different than "regular sorority chapter" in the typical connotations of a sorority.

The sorority I want to create is strictly social. We won't have a house, and there won't be any alcohol involved. I know some campus' may allow that, but my campus is a dry one. There is one dorm on campus that allows alcohol in your room, only if your 21. The purpose of the sorority (that I want to create) is for a social kind of one. Organize social activities within the community of Newton and for the campus.

I'm not ready to go affiliate my sorority with the big guns. We have chosen a name, and it is not taken.

I think that it is awesome you want to start your own sorority. It will be alot of work, but if you are really committed you can definitely make it work. I think that it is important that you have someone in the greek life office at your school or maybe someone who is an alum of another sorority who can advise you in everything that you do. At USC, in 2000, we had girls who did just that, started their own sorority, and now Alpha Gamma Gamma is its own sorority, has had the highest gpa out of all the sororities on the usc campus since 2002, and is an associate member of Panhellenic. I wish you all the luck in the world!!!

I'm a chapter founder. I'll give you the piece of advice I give everyone who wants to start a fraternity/Sorority: start a local, not a national chapter.

Why? Becauase at least at my school, locals have certain benifits:

1. You can vote how you like in IFC/Panhel without your national strong arming your vote on certain issues (we have had trouble with this in our IFC).
2. Dues are cheeper (all locals dues are 100-150% cheeper at duquesne). Overall it costs less.
3. No national convention bullshit to attend (which costs money).
4. You get the recogonition of a FOUNDER of an alpha chapter of a sorority/fraternity. This is probably the BIGGEST reason why.
5. Your national isnt trying to override the alumni board and tell it what to do...
6. You dont have consitutional limits placed on you (ie: you can write your consitution without having to worry about national clauses saying you cant do this or that).
7. It is a much more of a learning experience... you don't get the same amount of learning going on if you have national officers comin in and recruiting entire floors of dormitories for your group in like a week. (like one national on our campus did--our national made us do all the work by ourselves)

8. No Restrictions on Pledge programs... some nationals require that pledging be no less then 6 weeks... on average at duquesne, pledging is much shorter for the locals (and way more effecient, and less taxing on the group) then the nationals. One local's pledging is 7 days, one is four weeks.

you might check out
 

wishinhopin's rush thread. she started her own sorority in california.
good luck.

I'm wanting to start a local chapter, not apply to be a national chapter. I looked up some already exisiting sororities, and I like what Sigma Kappa stands for and represents. I have chosen a name. The name of our local sorority (not affiliated) will be called Sigma Kappa Epsilon Pi. I have checked one of the sites that has a list of names that have been taken, and the name we (my friend and I) chose is not taken.

I took some notes from a website about starting a local sorority, and I've begun brainstorming.

How could you know what "Sigma Kappa" represents when it is in their secret ritual (key word secret).

I don't think you understand the things like Sigma, Delta, Chi, Tau, and other letters are just that - letters. These letters actually stand for greek words which translate into english and in turn gives the chapter a purpose and a meaning.

When you say you like what Sigma Kappa represents, so you used those letters - unless you know Sigma Kappa's ritual, then you don't know what they mean.

What others are saying is pick something that means something to *you*. Like if you want your sorority to stand for "peace", you would need to find the greek word for "peace" then take the letter from the greek word to use it as an abbrevation. That way only the people in your group will know what that particular letter stands for (which is what makes all sororities different). You are working your way backwords. You can't start with letters, you must start with words or phrases that mean something to you.

"peace" in greek is "eirini" - so you can take the first letter and use Sigma in your name to stand for peace. Of coarse you never tell anyone what the Sigma in your name stands for - but that is how sororities and fraternity founders create letters for their org - by the words they stand for.

Edit: http://www.kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon/ <---go there and play around with different words that are important to you. Translate them from English to greek, look at the first letter of the word - and there you go! A meaningful letter!

Wow, a little harsh, eh? I think the point she is trying to get at is that after educating herself on the NPC sororities, she liked everything she learned about Sigma Kappa through their website and how they represented themselves there.

cristinasmile: While founding a sorority can be frustrating, stick with it! Best of luck to you!

I'm not trying to emulated SK in anyway, shape, or form. While us who are creating this believe that the women of Mount Ida are represented fully by SK's mission statement, this does not mean we are going to rip off SK and call it our own.

And as for the letters being meaninful, whatever the letters are, they should be meaningful- yes.. to the Sisters who founded it.

Why don't you try and become a colony of SK then? I'm sure there are lots of other mission statements you could make up that would make you UNIQUE. You don't just take a mission statement because you like it.

We are calling SKEPi as a women's club not sorority as of now.

** hopes to become a sorority in the future **

My $.02 worth...

If you are so adamant on creating a women's social club, rather than a sorority, I would respectfully suggest that you NOT use greek letters. If later, you want to affiliate with a national sorority, then adopt Greek letters which are meaningful to your organization.

When you say a women's social club... are you meaning that you wouldn't have some of the things that make a sorority different? ie. rituals, initiation, selective membership, etc. Right now it kind of sounds like you want to start a sorority with greek letters and just not call it a sorority because your school won't like it :confused:

Ginger, I think you're right on the money with the "sounds like you want to start a sorority with greek letters and just not call it a sorority because your school won't like it ."

This is fine. Call it a social club, call it whatever, do whatever you have to to placate the university and shut them up. Some universities are demented about this type of thing. I've looked at your schools site, and I'd have to say that it should be relitively easy to start a local at this school, no other sororities, no Panhel to deal with, and no Office of Greek Bullshit.

You just got to steer clear of any crap the university might give you.


---

About your choice of letters:

Firstly, I think you should wait until you actually have around 5 girls before you even consider picking the letters, or symbolism behind them... they are just as much founders as you are, and this is a group decision, it's not YOUR sorority, it's "our sorority." If you cannot accept this, do not start this project.

One time, we were deciding on local letters... and Jon wanted to use something like Gamma Tau Chi... and I asked him what we would be telling people during ritual... "that the founding president simply liked the letter gamma and tau chi came from animal house?"

I think you need to think futher into your letters then this, as a group. I personally would have a problem with a four letter designation since it relates you to those sorority life whackos.

-T

Beta, I may have miss interpreted what you said? Are you suggesting local sororities are any less of a "social sorority" then those in the North American Panhellenic Council?

I've already got the A-OK to create a social women's club. As far as how we handle recruitment, etc. that will be left to determine by members.

As far as our name, whether our school allows us to use a Greek name with no affiliation, that will be determined by them.. I have no say in it.

go for it...
 

cristina, sounds like you have a plan. be ready to work hard and be patient.
it can happen, but nothing is easy. follow the dream.
lol
:p

Re: go for it...
 

I am going for it. My friend and I are putting what we need to create an organization at our school. The advisor who is working with me on this, she advised another woman's group at her last job and loved it.

To everyone-
Before you start knocking me down with Sigma this, Sigma don't use that... give me a chance. Don't look down upon me because I'm learning about how to create an organization, and do not percieve me as being stupid. I am a very intelligent woman, and I do not appreiciate someone trying to knock down my wall just as soon as I'm starting to build it.

Please.

I'm not trying to create "drama". I simply came here for help. And if you don't have anything nice to say, keep it to yourself.

Firstly, you might want to consider getting a copy of "Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised" (make sure to get 'newly revised' as there are many books by similar titles and they are not the same book) as it tells you how to write a Constitution, start a club, run meetings, and is also considered to be the official "Rules of Order" for almost every club in existence. Almost every one of our organizations runs by this rule set, at least loosely. Panhels and IFCs across the national run by them. In short: You need to get this book. I never attend an IFC meeting without one.

It is good that you choose to be diplomatic and choose your words carefully (ie: club instead of sorority) when going before the administration.

You didn't lie to them, as a sorority is in fact a social club. In fact, you even asked them about membership discrimination by sex. The only organizations with legal grounds to do this in existence today (TITLE IX) are social sororities/fraternities, and like the boy scouts/girl scouts--THATS ALL. Normal clubs cannot restrict membership at all, or discriminate by sex. So, you need to make a decision whether or not you are going to start a secret society--a sorority, or "normal" social club as the foundation is different and you can't change your mind later.

This worries me, because I am concerned that you may be giving the university way too much power. I have seen this situation before. The further you allow the university into the development of your organization, the more they will try to control it.

You can't fear the university, either. There will be times that your wishes do not align with theirs, or that they do things which you do not feel is right and you will have to stick up for your sisters. But do so wisely, and diplomatically. In my experience, they do things which are down right wrong, and expect your group to help them accomplish it (either through IFC vote, or some other means). Gamma Phi has told the VP of the university many times, "No, we will not vote in that manner, just because you want us to" and they've existed for 100+ years as a local.

They especially like to control organizations through advisors. In these organizations which are puppet-ed by the university, there is of course a president, and executive officers, but they play second fiddle to the "Advisor" who strong arms everything the group does.

Our university attempted this tactic with our group. The advisor was the one truly running the show, he told the president what to do, and the president did it. Instead of doing what WE wanted to do, we were doing what would "make the university look good." They tried to mold us into a little catholic boys club. Eventually that president was expelled, and the advisor along with him. In fixing this problem we paid a heavy price. Almost a half-year of my life was spent trying to expel these two individuals from the fraternity--along with about 5-6 of my brothers.

Now this "advisor" that you have, is this a university official? Is this person Greek? More importantly, is this person Anti-Greek? Do you trust this person enough that they are with you and the group's wishes to the very end? Can you consider this person a "sister?" If not, I suggest finding a new advisor, as I assure you, you are headed down the same road we went down.

See our history at the link below for more information. It encompasses the full 4 years, from start to chaptering... There were earth shattering problems that happened and hopefully we can prevent these problems from happening to your group...

Our censored, non-secret, history on page 8 of this document:

http://www-home.duq.edu/~destro969/petition.pdf


You also bring up recruitment. If you are forming a sorority, and not a social club, then you have to pretty much have unanimous/near unanimous vote to 'bid' them in.

If one person cannot consider a prospective member a brother, for whatever the reason, then the organization as a whole cannot consider him a brother. We have had numerous debates about this subject in our group. If you let in people who hate other people, you don't have brotherhood/sisterhood, you have a bitching and whining club, the entire organization will struggle and, in the case of young greek organizations, sometimes collapse entirely.

This vote in itself is not enough, for the long term, this is why pledging is implimented later on, when the organization shows need for it.

-Tony

Re: Re: go for it...
 

Please yourself.
This is a very hypocritical statement, as you have been incredibly rude to a number of GCers who have tried to help you. Among your 4 or so different threds about the subject (those who haven't read the other threads- i encourage you to), you have repeatedly asked the same questions and talked in circiles. You have been rude to many GCers.

If you go to someone for help, why should/would they help you if you're just continually rude and disrespectful of them. Everyone hear has given you a ton of help, and you've given no thanks or appreciation to anyone.

In any event, you have stated several times that you're not starting a sorority, you're starting a "social club." You have made it clear that you're NOT going to be a sorority- not that there's much difference. But then why are you here on a greek message board, asking questions, and then not listening to the answers?