Pan-Hellenic
 

Help me figure something out... please. I have noticed a lot lately that GLOs are using the hyphenated version of the word Pan-Hellenic. In all my style books, this version is used to indicate the governing body of historically black sororities... am I wrong on this? Is it no longer PC to refer to non-historically black sororities as Panhellenic? Or is the hyphenated version being used to title all non-NPC goverening bodies?

Example:
Georgetown (my school) had been using Pan-Hellenic when referring to our NPC groups. I think that the reason for this is that Microsoft Word doesn't have the non hyphenated version in the spell check. And the new greek life director wasn't greek (at least that is what I was told).

Another Example:
This is from the website of Kappa Beta Gamma "Currently, Kappa Beta Gamma is actively looking to increase its numbers to become Pan-Hellenic affiliated. The sorority is recruiting both inactive and new chapters to expand our sorority's ideals and provide more leadership opportunities for women" From what I can tell this is not a historically black sorority.

So please educate me in the use of these words. Is there still a difference in which group you are meaning by the form of the word used?

This is one of my pet peeves, but since I'm not on a council, it's not really my business.

The way I see it...

National Pan-Hellenic Council = The 9 HBGLOs Sororities and Fraternities

National Panhellenic Conference = The 26 General Social Sororities

BUT, if it's used outside of these official names, there's not much to do...

You could have a "Panhellenic Council"/"InterGreek Council" that includes all Greeks on a campus. But, people, when referring to either of the above Councils PLEASE use the correct terminology. It can be very confusing.

Edited to remove "HWGLO"

Au contraire. Stupid and careless spelling/usage errors are everyone's business.

Georgetown and KBG both need corrected.

Waiting for someone to jump onto the NPC's being "white" sororities.... (I don't care, but I know someone will).

:) Historically...

Which has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation.

It's been discussed here on GC plenty that this is NOT really all that appropriate or currently accurate. The preferences of those in those GLOs have been clearly expressed, yet so many posters fail to respect that. I don't understand why, seems pretty ignorant and rude.:confused:

ETA- I'm sorry if this comes across snippy. But it has been made clear that this isn't a proper way to address the groups.

Yes, and my sorority is also historically Protestant, but I would never refer to it as such.

Maybe it is because there are so many New People Coming on GC and do not have all of the information or how to navigate The Site as Some do?

Dont You Get it?

GeekyPenguin, You are totally True. The many reasons that Groups were started have evolved over the Years into something totally something else.:)

Isnt that the whole purpose of Greeks? Evolve and grow.

And maybe if you read the thread you'd realize that NONE of the posters in this thread are new.

At least TRY to read a thread before you comment on it.

I would never, ever refer to Alpha Gamma Delta as historically white.

Founded in 1904, we initiated our first 'minority' in 1953 when Diana Lam became a member. That's only 49 years of being 'all-White'. Barbara Delaney was the first Afr-Am woman to be initiated into the NPC when she became a Sigma Kappa in 1957 (or was it 1956)?

I know this has nothing to do with the original topic, but I can't believe people still use the term HISTORICALLY WHITE GLO. Jeezus Friggin' Christ.

pan hellenic means all greeks. It goes back to Greece in the olympic games when all greeks will compete against each other. I am not white, but sorority's were founded by whites.

Ugh. A pet peeve.

Sorority's does not = sororities.

yep, it's a possessive.

It's also inaccurate, especially when you just use the general "sorority". There are tons of sororities, and not all of them were founded by whites.

As has been addressed in the past, this is not a way in which we refer to ourselves and not a way in which any groups accepts being called. It is offensive and disrespectful to continue to refer to a group in a manner in which it's members have repeatedly said is not okay. I would extend anyone else the same courtesy.

People this was not the point of my question... focus, please. I am well aware of why the two words exist. I am just wanting to know if it is okay to refer to NPC groups as Pan-Hellenics not panhellenics.

I have corrected my school. But because of the prolific use of the "pan-hellenic" usage, I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed the boat or the updated stylebook.

I would love if we could come together and have one governing body but fact is fact... there are 26 NPC groups (no there isn't an H or a W in NPC). I don't know enough about the workings of NPHC to know if we could ever join as one. It would be like Kentucky merging with Indiana... both have a lot in common but both have very different governing bodies... different laws and infastructure.

Please FOCUS... this is not a BLACK OR WHITE issue. THIS IS A STYLEBOOK QUESTION! GOT IT!

It is like the word ain't. I grew up with being told by teachers that "ain't" isn't in the dictionary and now we have teachers using the word.

So please let us get back to topic. Can pan-hellenic and panhellenic be used interchangable or is this a major faux pas?

Thank you... sorry to sound testy but you all lost focus.

Yes, it is a major faux pas to call NPC Pan-Hellenic and NPHC Panhellenic. Is that focused enough?

Yes thank you.

So if a GLO is looking to join either NPC or NPHC and they use the term pan-hellenic... one would assume that they are looking to join NPHC... correct?

How would one go about joining NPHC? Is there more than just the D-9 in NPHC (I need to do my homework)? Is NPHC open to expanding to the D-10?

Definitely need to do your homework :) There are a lot of good threads discussing some of this stuff that can give you a lot of info. I'm sorry that I can't point you to them more specifically. Perhaps one of the NPHCers can remember a few in particular that may be helpful to you.

The original poster may be upset, but it's in this thread so I am going to ask it here.....

So how do these (and I recognize that each group is different so if you are only comfortable speaking about your own org, please do so) groups refer to themselves? And if I remember correctly (and it's possible that I can't) I did run across a thread months ago where some members of orgs that may have been addressed in this thread as HWGLO did not seem to have qualms with the usage.

I feel you on being upset with what you feel is improper designation of your org(s), and even if someone is not new to greek chat, does not always mean that they have read every single last thread of the thousands that are out there, and it is a little impractical to search for threads everytime you consider typing A word in a post (just a thought).

NPC sororities. I don't see what is so difficult about that??? It's how we refer to ourselves as a group. I don't see the need for something else.

And I could understand new people to the board not knowing, but there were no new people involved in this conversation. The poster using the terminology in question has been around a long time and WAS A PART of at least some of those discussions.

Tom's the one who tried to frame it so that I was going after a newbie, but indeed, I was not.

ETA: I do not recall any thread where people were okay with their groups being called WGLOs or HWGLOs. Nearly all of us are vehemently against it.

Ch2tf,

You make an excellent point. There are so many threads, with numberous posts within each thread. It is impossible for anyone with a life to read every post in every thread. And, the search function isn't always convenient.

It's a shame that, because of the overly critical nature of one of the mods, people are reluctant to post. What's the point of having a message board if everyone who posts is going to get reamed for sharing their opinion or asking a legitimate question?

those who are in NPC sororities just refer to themselves as that.

Q: Are you in a sorority?
A. Yes, I'm in Gamma Phi Beta International Sorority, Inc. We are a member of the NPC.

Not that i say it that way, but that's how we are classified. If someone wants to know more about what we are about, i tell them.

i can only speak for myself, but i have never felt the need to classify it as anything else. I don't think there is anything wrong with groups who have a cultural tie in thier name because it is an important part of who they are. it's just not a part of who we are.

and i'm going to steer clear of the posting that we said NPC's were founded for whites. that's a pet peeve of mine and i don't want to get into it right now. :)

It is not a prescriptive title - meaning it is not limiting. It is a descriptive title - one that naturally flows based on teachings of my older generation.

I'll not use it again here. Please tell me how to describe NPC sororities in the future as I was attempting to present a simple definition to go along with "National Panhellenic Conference."

National Pan-Hellenic Council = HBGLOs (descriptive, not prescriptive)

National Panhellenic Conference = (needs a descriptive title to distinguish since that was kinda the point of the thread)

I know this is kind of side-tracking, but my understanding is that there are also some kinds of HBGLOs which are not NPHC-affiliated - do they affiliate with any sort of council?

And does anyone have a link to a thread where I can best find out why HWGLO is offensive for NPC sororities? I'm having a hard time sorting through the search results, and I'm curious - the term seems accurate enough to me (?).

...

Gotcha, and if it ever comes up in a conversation I am having, online or otherwise, I will be sure to use NPC sororities, since according to you that is what the majority of said members prefer.

I do have another question however, and I am not being a devil's advocate either, but how do you describe NPC sororities to someone that is unfamiliar with the greek system? For example, before I entered college SEVERAL years ago, I was vaguely familiar with the existence of greek organizations. I have a few cousins who were in "black" (and I use this term because that is how I thought of it at the time) sororities and I had heard of/seen members of "white" (again I use this term because that is how I thought of it at that time) sororities. I DO know that organizations in the various councils NPHC/NPC/IFC etc. have members of all racial/ethnic backgrounds and do not limit membership based on race/ethnicity. But it seems it goes without saying that the NPHC orgs are HISTORICALLY Black Greek Letter Organizations (and if I am wrong and NPHC orgs feel the usage is inappropriate or outdated, I hope someone reads this message and speaks to it)...in the words of PJ descriptive not prescriptive.

To make a long story short, what is a descriptive word/phrase/acronym, besides NPC because that really isn't saying anything besides what conference the organizations belong to, that is appropriate to use to describe NPC orgs, IF ANY?

While my sorority is inclusive and accepting of all races and ethnicities, I personally embrace the title of Historically Black...Maybe its a throwback to the reasons behind the founding of my organization.

I'm not necessarily sure why there needs to be more "description" or something that'll fit nicely into an acronym.

For HBGLO's - the "black" part of that is more intricately tied to the purpose of the groups and what they do- since those groups do a lot to help the African American community.

Being "white" really has nothing to do with being an NPC group, do you understand what i'm saying? We don't serve the "white" community. We have never specifically done anything to further "white" causes. NPC groups have been integrated for along time, and being "white" has never been part of our cause.

Perhaps someone can put things into better words... my writing is a little off today.

(and apologies to the OP for the hijack again, but it happens. If it's truly bothersome, then just ask a Greek Life mod to split it).

Yes. In your case when people use "historically black" it's something to be proud of. When something is called "historically white" it's quite the opposite - it implies discrimination occurred.

That's what my thinking on the matter was...that HBGLO refers to the facts of the founding of said organizations.

Thanks!

Evidently you're blind then, because Shelia is one of the less critical mods. (And I'm not stating that to offend other mods, just to be clear...)

Can we have PLEASE have a thread without bashing and name calling (that includes providing links to photos). If someone posts something you disagree with, then state it in an appropriate posst. The vast majority of people on this board have at one time or another attended college, so can we please act like it. Name calling only ends up with a thread full of back and forths, and sidetracking from the original post (or in this case sub-post)

Here at San Diego State, our Greek Life office uses the following terms:

IFC - Interfraternity Council - "General Social Fraternities"

NPC - Panhellenic Council - "General Social Sororities"

USFC - United Sorority and Fraternity Council - "Culturally Based Sororities and Fraternities"

NPHC - National Pan-Hellenic Council - "Historically African-American Fraternities and Sororities"

This is the terminology I use when describing the options to students who are interested in Greek Life.

Perhaps this will help answer some of the questions posed here?


.....Kelly :)

Those are fair descriptions! Thank you :)

And now we welcome you to GC. It doesn't happen. Get over it.

Your level of maturity is overwhelming! And thanks for the welcome, but I've been here for a while, I just don't post too often.

If you've been here for awhile, then you should know, however many times someone tries to say "stop name calling" and "stay on topic" it just doesn't happen. It has nothing to do with my maturity, I'm stating a fact. It is a fact that many threads on GC do not stick to topic and end up in name calling. It has been addressed before, nothing is going to change. GET OVER IT.

That is all.

...

I have a question about pronouncing. I can tell the difference when NPC and NPHC are typed out or in acryoms, but what about the actual way you say the words.
Everyone around my campus pronounced the two councils eqactly the same way... which can be confusing.