Totally new!
 

Hey all,

I'm from England and as you may or may not know we do not have sororities over here! However, I spent my summer in the US and heard a little about Greek life. I really, really want to start up the first sorority in England. To find out more information someone recently recommended me to this forum to find out more but to be honest, I'm totally overwhelmed! I have no idea what anything means, what the abbreviations stand for that you use, what types of sororities there are, really what you guys do. I've been trying to search on here, but I've just been getting more and more confused! If anyone could direct me to the right pages, give me an overview of Greek life, help me out in advice for setting up the first sorority here in the UK I would appreciate it SO much. I really have no idea what I'm doing!! I just need some advice from all you guys :)

Thanks,

Sarah

You might want to try the books Bound By a Mighty Vow and In Search of Sisterhood for a historical context of sisterhood in American college sororities.

Wonderful, thank you :)

Hi Sarah, the problem with starting a new GLO there is the distance.

Impossible. Maybe a Alumni group would be the only way to go!

But, welcome to the GLO grouping!:)

I think Delta Zeta has a chapter somewhere in the UK...Turtles,do you know?

Ooo interesting, can you explain a little more? Why wouldn't I be able to create a sorority?

If she wants to create a new/first sorority of its kind in her country, how/why is it impossible? And how would an Alumnae group be appropriate?

To the original poster, good luck with your endeavor!

Oh I didn't know this, I will definitely look it up :)

Thanks very much, boy do I need the luck! My Student Union (who I have to go through to get this ok-ed) currently are being super weird, they just don't get the concept of sororities, and I don't think my explanation is doing them any justice :( I'm trying my hardest!

I've just been trying to look it up and so far I have had no luck. All I've found are the Delta Zeta at the University of Kentucky (UK!) haha. Not the right UK...

Good Luck!
 

Bound by a Mighty Vow is an EXCELLENT Book! I also highly recommend it!

I know that ZTA has a alumnae chapter in the UK. I know that is not much help though! Good luck in the journey!

No offence, how is that spamming? Not trying to start an argument!

Thanks for the input, I'm just about to look up what an alumnae chapter is... hehe I really need to get more knowledge about things before I start this up!

To be honest, this doesn't surprise me in the least bit. I studied abroad in London, and no one had any idea what fraternities and sororities are.
I would gather as much information about the topic as possible, and through trying to understand these organizations yourself, teach others about them as well. It often takes a group of people (women, for sororities, but there are co-ed fraternities) to create recognition about a cause.
Good luck! if you have other questions that we can answer, please let us know :)
I think this is a great endeavor, a lot of hard work sure, especially from another country, but if you committed, it'll be ok. :)

Thank you I really appreciate it :)

I was wondering, any ideas on how I would go abouts getting the name for my sorority? Do I just choose one which is already established? Do I have to get their consent? I'm a little confused (I know I sound absolutely ridiculous and really stupid)

What the deuce?

Go Cats!

Sorry, what?

You can't take a name from any other organization, for national/international orgs, they are trademarked (/copyrighted ?) names. There are many local and regional orgs as well, and that's kind of in bad taste to use the same ones. You can't use an established org's letters without consent from nationals (which is like the headquarters..).
I'll let the more seasoned professionals of GC take over if they wish though, because I don't know much about how national org's run things.

I definitely wouldn't do this though.:p



He's referring to the mascot of University of Kentucky. Seen Here

Hmm. I may have been mistaken. Gamma Phi Beta and Delta Zeta both have alumna chapters in the UK...

Hi SarahMac!

I believe I can offer useful advice to you.

I attended the University of Bristol for my postgrad. I once had corresponded with a girl from Cardiff who wanted to start a sorority at the uni there....but I think she ended up transferring to an American uni anyway. I also knew a young man who attempted to start a law fraternity at Nottingham Trent.

In my experience, the students' union may be wary of approving the start of a sorority for two reasons:

1) They may think of all of the crazy American movies depicting fraternities and sororities as organizations which party hard and haze members. Of course, the athletes' union at Bristol did some ridiculously awful things to the athletes and then published all of the photos in the paper so that can't be a real argument...

2) From what I understand, the UK has some anti-discrimination laws which prevent a single gender student organization from forming. At least, Bristol Uni did. You may have to form a "Co-ed" group with the blokes being in the "fraternity half" of the soc and the girls being in the "sorority half". Or, you could form the sorority off-campus as a community organization and then the uni couldn't say anything. Though, you may have a hard time booking rooms and such in the union.

You may have to explain it to the students union as a women's social and philanthropic club. I noticed that some Brits tended to understand a little better when I said that it was a little bit like the Masons...though, they aren't exactly the same thing.

I've got a good amount of info for you; send me a private message and maybe I can explain more.

.....Kelly :)

Yeah, I think Kappa Kappa Gamma has an alumni association over there, too.

You may be interested in checking out the website of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), which comprises 26 national and international sororities. From there, you can get to the individual websites of the 26 groups.

Good luck!

SAE has a small problem somewhat along that line:mad:
"They" show up here every so often.

The other posters all seem to have given the OP (original poster)
some rather good words of advise.:)

Yay Sarah! I hope this works out for you...and the UK. :) Yes, there's a ton of information on this website and it can be overwhelming. Navane is a great resource.

Good Luck!!!


ETA: Doesn't Tri Sigma have a chapter in Germany? I think it would be amazing to bring an NPC to the UK. (some, I'm sure, would disagree with that though)

Wow thank you all for your opinions and help! :) I do really, really appreciate it. Navane, yes I totally agree with you. So far I've had issues with the stereotypes, it's extremely frustrating. It is also totally ridiculous as the rugby club, and in fact, ANY club haze every freshers and practically every week. If you don't call making people binge drink/get naked/do ridiculous stuff you know they wouldn't do otherwise for initiation/in a general week to week thing, hazing I don't know what the SU think hazing is...

Frustration.

I've also been having deals with the principle that in a sorority you get to pick who is in it. Apparently in our SU's constitution you have to let anyone and everyone join your society who wants to join, which you know, is a bit of a prob. However, I'm going to talk with them again and take some of the information I've gathered off here for them to read. I'm also taking some of the information I've found about how Greeks are AGAINST hazing. And maybe tell them to stop being so stereotypical and that they should feel bad about themselves. Haha I'm totally kidding, gotta keep in their good books!

I will PM (once I find out how to do that...) you navane as it would be great to hear more of your experiences with others who were on the same mission as me!

Go to her post and click on her name. A menu will drop down. Click on "send a private message to navane." :)

Before you go trying to explain American fraternities and sororities to anyone, you should do the necessary research first and get a clear understanding yourself so that when questions/concerns arise you are well prepared to deal with them. All of these organizations promote sisterhood/brotherhood and philanthropy so these are the positives that you want to express to others. Again, even though you are excited about the possibility of creating a new organization, you should slow down and do the research first. Good Luck!!!

While this is certainly helpful information, what's the likelihood of another NPC colonizing in Europe?

I know Tri Sigma had their chapter in Germany (the university has since closed, if I'm not mistaken), but distance is a really big factor. Just look at my school. Fraternity and sorority HQs are so very hesitant in even considering UH-M because of the distance (in addition to how many alums they have living here, of course).

I speak from experience. Hawai'i is part of the US, but sometimes it really feels like we're in a whole 'nother country. :rolleyes:

While it would be great to see an NPC collegiate chapter in the UK, the OP may be better off starting an organization from the ground up. Good luck.

Mildly helpful information:

Fraternities developed in the US as they developed in Germany (called student corporations). They're a little different there but about as close as you can get.

The most easily-identifiable system in the UK might be the "House System" (popular in boarding schools in reality and fiction: Harry Potter). In day schools, it is just a grouping of students and may come up for sports competitions.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the House System, but it may be a good place to start. The "houses" would simply be identified with Greek letters--a nod to the common scholarly endeavor of students in previous centuries. The group may or may not live together, but a social camaraderie is a major component. Most importantly, there is a recruitment/rush period that defines membership. Membership is for life. While the vast majority of national organizations in the US are gender-specific (and the huge number of statesmen who are Greek continues to keep this legal), there are co-ed organizations out there if that's the only option. Google "Phi Tau" at Dartmouth for an example.