One Person - Two Sororities
 

Has anyone ever heard of someone being initiated into a particular sorority at one school and then transferring to another school where her sorority doesn't exist and going through rush again to pledge a different sorority? If this is forbidden, can someone get away with doing this if no one at the new school knows that she was in another sorority at her previous school? Just curious.

If she is an initiated member of a GLO (and still in good standing, I'm assuming), she will always be an XYZ. (and if her chapter knows she's transferring I'm assuming they'll grant her alumna status)

Can she perpetrate and live a lie at her new school? If she really, really wants to, I suppose.

I personally have never heard of anyone ever doing this and don't currently know of anyone that would. I know that the National Panhellenic Conference states that one is ineligible to do this if they have already been initiated into another sorority at another school. But are there any checkpoints in place that once her name is submitted that her name would appear somewhere and therefore be redflagged? I agree with the comment about who would want to live their life in such a lie--but was just curious as to whether it could be done or if there are measures in place to prevent that from happening.

The nationals don't cross-check membership lists or anything, but as we find here on GC every day, it's a pretty small world and you never know who might end up talking to whom and what might happen to come to light some day. And NPC rules are usually reviewed before recruitment so that PNMs know about what accepting a bid means, how long it's binding for, etc. So it's assumed (and no, probably not in any way actually followed up on, so it's an honor-code kind of thing) that anyone going through recruitment is on the up-and-up and knows whether they're eligible or not. Clearly someone who is already an XYZ is not.

^^^ Sheesh, see, total nightmare. Why on earth would anyone set themselves up for even the possibility of that big of a fall? My heart almost goes out to that girl save for the fact that she clearly needs to work on her decision-making skills and maybe she needed this big a catastrophe to happen to make her recognize it. Your signature line is SO appropriate in this case, Violet! ;)

Many national sororities have passed policies that say in effect if you pledge or join another NPC group and are caught, it voids your membership in ours. This is in addition to the NPC Unanimous Agreement.

We had a transfer PNM sign up for recruitment, only to find out later that she was a member of an glo that was on our campus. We were notified by her nationals because they had sent in some paperwork to the chapter's president during recruitment. When the transfer was questioned on why she had signed up, already being a member of a glo, she stated that she didn't like their reputation on our campus and wanted to be something else. Needless to say she was booted from recruitment and when she attempted to affiliate with her GLO on our campus, they basically would not allow her to.

I had a friend (who I met several years later) that tried this. She told School B that she pledged but never initiated. All it took was one call to HQ and she was pulled from recruitment.

I understand transferring and wanting to get involved, but trying this really disrespects all of your panhellenic sisters.

Whenever there is a post like this, I wonder why someone is asking the question. Mere curiosity I can see, but a follow up with a disclaimer usually raises red flags in my book.

Not accusing anyone here, but may I (politely) ask why you are interested? (if it's none of my business, you can say so!)

SURE ENOUGH!! As soon as I decided to ask this question out of curiosity ---I knew it, I knew it that someone was going to question my sincerity which is why i threw in the disclaimer. If you must know--this is why I asked the question--I was out to lunch with a group of my friends whose daughters all went to different schools this fall as freshman and pledged different sororities. All of us are so pleased with the choices that our daughters made especially me. My daughter is thrilled with her sorority and her school and will be there for all four years. As we shared our daughter's rush stories with each other--someone brought up the question about dual memberships. Ergo--my curiosity. Nothing more Nothing more. I appreciate you asking me politely.

Wow. That's so crazy that someone who has already invested so much into her GLO would do that! And by serving on exec, she definitely knew she wasn't supposed to do that!

I'm surprised that a fine is not imposed by the sororities in addition to termination.

Can we say 'idiot'? Now I do not condone trying to join two NPC sororities. Still, if you are going to put that much effort into trying to cut off XYZ, don't broadcast all over myspace that you are now a ABC. Do you really think that your old sisters won't find out? :rolleyes:

Yeah girls I know from ABC say that when it all went down, she said she knew that it was against rules, but she missed the sorority experience so badly that she didn't care and just kept her XYZ affiliation secret and figured they'd never find out.

If she doesn't give enough of a crap to stay loyal to the sorority she pledged, it's doubtful she would respond to any fines.

The only thing I could think of is if sorority #2 found out and brought her up on fraud charges, and that's REALLY pushing it.

I think it would be harder for someone to get away with now - the world is a much smaller place due to the Internet. (Facebook, MySpace, GreekChat, etc.)

One of my pledge sisters transferred schools shortly after initiation. She said that she was thinking about rushing again at her new school. I don't know whether or not she did - we lost touch shortly after that. (She transferred out of state.) If I hadn't been a new initiate, I probably would have done something about it, but I didn't realize what my options were.

Wow, I feel sorry for her little. This type of thing would be almost impossible to pull off in the day of Facebook, etc. I can't even imagine doing that back in the day (stone age) when I was initiated. It really is a small word out there.
ZTA72

The only way I could "possibly" see this happening is if the girl is newly initiated, not at the school long and doesn't transfer right away. I say this because it was basically me. Let me explain.

I initiated in the spring of 98. I don't recall it being made clear to me the NPC RULES. Now ADPi stuff I knew. Anyways. I left the school once the semester was over (couldn't afford to stay). I then went to community college for about two years before I could transfer and during that time did NOTHING with ADPi. Not knowing the NPC rules I contemplated going through rush. Obviously, I didn't, but it wasn't until years later that I learned and understood the rules.

I'm not saying it's right and with the explosion of the internet, myspace, etc... it's hard for girls not to know, but I could see the ignorant doing this. Unless your told, you don't know any better.

> ...she decided to transfer to Kent because the journalism program was better here.

A journalism major? After that stunt? Who is going to hire her? Maybe the Weekly World News? :) But they just folded.

I'm not familiar with the sorority space, but in the fraternity (NIC) space, getting a release from a national is not difficult, under certain circumstances. These have to be "real reasons", not "I just don't like the chapter here".

But, as pointed out on GC a lot, getting a bid after a release is a different story.

She had the audacity to actually try? I hope she wasn't surprised by the result when they said no. :rolleyes:

There was a woman when I was in undergrad who I thought was in ABC sorority. Then an older sister pointed out to me that this girl was actually an XYZ that wasn't out our school. She had transferred and since her chapter wasn't there, she just affiliated herself with ABC.

So it was weird b/c ABC would let her wear shirts (never saw her in sewn shirts) and she would also wear her old XYZ shirts. Needless to say many new sisters were confused.

But this was a few years ago and our Panhellenic was run by a residence hall director and our greek life office was non-existent. I doubt it would be allowed now.

Is their a clause in the NPC rules that extends to locals? What if you were part of local at one University transfered schools went through rush got a bid from a national sorority, is this allowed? Or vice versa you were part of a national at one school and went through rush and a new member period for a local at a different school.

I have heard of "social affiliation" and I think it is allowed. It just means that the person attends social events (and pays fees to attend) with one Org even though they are initiated in another (which is not on the campus). The person DOES NOT attend ritual, new member selection, rush, etc. for the affilated org.

As for locals, NPC does allow a member of a local to join an NPC org. However, the local may have rules against it.

Yes

If the local group allowed it, then yes. The NPC just says you cannot join another NPC sorority.

I think she was surprised a little. She thought she was the best thing since sliced bread and thought she could do anything she wanted to. After she was rejected by her inititating GLO she started hanging out with these girls of another GLO all the time. If you didn't know any better, you would have thought she was a member there.

Thanks for the answer.

I think this used to be a lot more prevalent, however, the insurance regulations are so much stricter nowadays, I doubt it happens nearly as often. For the girls anyway, I don't know about the guys.

Thanks for the explanation!

I have an ex-sister who is still a friend who transferred shortly after initiating. She was very unhappy with my chapter and wanted nothing to do with them after she transferred schools. Now she went through recruitment with some friends at her new school with no intention on taking a bid or even expecting one. Strangely enough, she fell in love with one chapter and they extended her a bid. She badly wanted to take it and asked me for counsel.
I told her there probably wasn't any way they could find out but it is a small world and something could slip. She postponed her bid a semester, disaffiliated from my sorority (apparently a very easy process) and was prepared to take the bid but then changed her mind because nursing is such a demanding major. So I think it's possible as long as you're careful. It may be a small world but when your old chapter doesn't speak to her anymore, that's one big hurdle. She probably could have pulled it off but she would have been living a lie. However she's my friend so I told her I'd support her no matter what after telling her all of the above.

I'm pretty sure that even despite disaffiliation, you couldn't join another NPC chapter. I always thought it was about witnessing two groups' initiations and learning two groups' secrets...? Besides, like everyone else has said, it's a small world, made even smaller by the internet.

I have a sister from my chapter whose God-Child went to a school many states over and pledged our sorority. My friend was so excited, attended initiation, the whole nine yards. She rarely saw the family, after many years in different states. The next year the girl moved to a mid-west school where our chapter did not suit her "needs" and went through "rush" and pledged another group of which she became president. The God-mother was clueless to any of this. It was hidden from her by the girl and her mother. Somehow in a conversation the mother let it slip. You can imagine how devistated my friend was. I am not for sure what she finally did about. She may have reported it to our National organization. I didn't have the heart to ask her what she finally decided to do.

Quick question: If you are initiated by ABC national sorority and then your membership is terminated you couldn't re-rush and pledge another national sorority correct?
My reason for asking is that this thread got me wondering if my knowledge on this would be correct in case anyone is wondering :-).

Quick response: Correct, you cannot join another NPC group after already being initiated by another NPC group.

It's an interesting conversation topic. I had wondered if NPC had a database of all members that could be cross-checked with PNMs at every campus, but apparently not. I think irishpipes would be good for the job. :p

There's a girl that went to my school and was in a chapter here, and then transferred her sophomore year and joined a different sorority. My impression is that no one told her it was against the rules, because she seems to still be on good terms with her pledge sisters here.

As much as it comes up, I don't think collegiate members are well informed as far as NPC rules and trying to join other groups. I say this because there have been countless times when members of several different sororities have talked about transferring and rushing again, and they argue with me that they can join a different sorority.

I've also heard confusion about the one year rule. Somehow the "you cannot pledge another sorority on your campus for one year after you have received a bid but not been initiatied" gets translated into "if you wait a year you can join a different sorority" in some people's minds.

This may be right. Years ago sororities had long enough pledge periods that you could learn your own rules/culture/history/ethics and learn the panhellenic as well. Of course, that was when some schools could still just have panhel as an information resource; they didn't run things.

I know this is heresy but I see nothing wrong if someone were to transfer to another college that either did not have a chapter of her GLO or the local chapter at her new school would not accept her as a member if she resigned from her GLO and joined another. There is no harm to anyone. People change schools, jobs, religions, husbands and even countries all the time. Same school I understand but a different one I don't. Its an antiquated rule that should be changed.

No, it shouldn't.