Starting a New Fraternity or Sorority Chapter
 

Hello all, I love reading through our GreekChat Forum, and I have read through it for years. Sometimes I find the information throughout so useful.


I started this thread because I am a Past National President of an NIC Fraternity. I served in that position for 7 years, and I have also been a college professor at several campuses. So I understand Greek Life both from the campus's and national organization's perspectives.

I wanted to be a help to any of our Non-Greek friends out there who are interested in getting more information on starting a chapter of a fraternity or sorority. I have the experience with many campuses, and felt maybe there should be some place on here where questions could be answered for Non-Greeks who want to be Greek as well. I also have no problem discussing the most basic stuff you need to discuss, and I am sure my fellow Greeks on GreekChat will help as well.


After all, the more Non-Greeks who become Fraternity and Sorority Members, the better of a public relations statement we are making for the entire Greek System.

I hear ya Knight, there is already "resources" but sometimes the questions are a lot deeper then just links can answer! "Before you Found a New sorority" is also geared at women and I'm talking about both men and women.

If you've read through GreekChat for years, then you know:

1. This kind of question gets asked and answered all the time here;
2. The answers to tese questions will vary widely from GLO to GLO, even within councils (except the NPC); and
3. There is so much about a question like this that is campus-specific (not least of which is whether there is sufficient interest or will be sufficient support) that there's only so much we can do beyond pointing people in the directions of national (or council) guidelines.

MysticCat,

I know it gets asked and answered...last time a non-Greek posted a question/thread of their own was 2007. So I figured why not allow the questions to be asked? I know that Greeks sometimes view expansion as "dangerous" to the survival of other groups on campus as well, and that's why it get's met with so much resistance "Don't fall into founderitis" to quote another thread.

To answer your point 2, expansion doesn't "vary widely" there are standard norms that exist within each type of GLO (depending on umbrella group), and on your point 3 the question is campus specific, but campuses don't always just "invent" policies. Many, many times they copy the campuses near or around them OR the campuses that they want fashion their Greek system like.

Believe me there is a lot out there that can be answered and lot of things to discuss in the way of outreach to non-Greeks.

If you don't like the thread, you can always not follow it.

Thank you for your input.

Best,
TauDelt

That's not true at all.

I think giving input is great. Most of us do that anyway. Just realize that 1) this type of thread isn't new and 2) there isn't a solution that works for every GLO. If you are a past president of a NIC fraternity, then give advice in one of the NIC threads that pops up.

Actually, off the top of my head I can think of at least one within the last few weeks.

And yes, policies can vary widely even within umbrella groups. For example, some groups expand aggressively while others do so very conservatively.

BTW, the old "if you don't like the thread, you can just not follow it" response gets old fast. If you don't want responses, don't start a thread.

Thanks for the Advice Knight, I am going by 'similar threads' located at the bottom of the page...look at the years.

No, there's not a solution for every GLO. I realize that. At the same time, there are alternatives that may work for someone starting a new organization. There's also a lot of factors that have to be dealt with by individuals who are starting new groups: the frustration of the Greek System already present; the difficulty in recruiting when you've never done it before; the different lingo that we Greeks use; the way that campus admins respond to new GLOs. Even the differences between an NPHC, NIC, NAPIA or other organization. I'm not saying I have every answer, but I am saying we should host an environment that allows those questions to be answered without the usual "don't start a new org, join mine" mentality.

Thanks for your posts today.

Best,
TauDelt

Mystic,

Yes some orgs expand rapidly and aggressively and some expand slowly, I agree with you, but the process is what I was talking about. I wasn't trying to pick a fight, I'm sorry if my comment was something you didn't like. It wasn't my attempt.

Thanks,
TauDelt

It's great to know we have a resource with this level of background information, and it may seem like some of the posters here are pretty jaded, but if you follow this site from, say, August to October (when most rushes happen), you'll find all kinds of threads about expansion, colonies and the dreaded I want to start my own sorority/fraternity. There are several pat answers that should work in virtually every case. If there is an established Greek system on your campus, you need to start with them. If there is not an established Greek system on your campus, you should probably start researching the organizations that you think you'd like to start, and contact them. THIS would be where you might be able to help. A guy wants to start a chapter of a fraternity and there are none on his campus. He can talk to you and get advice about how to move forward.

But even with your level of expertise, I would counsel against any girl who wants to start an NPC sorority chapter from going to you. My fear is all you would accomplish is getting her hopes up, when NPC colonization is a very fixed process. Now, maybe you could help her if she goes to a school with no NPC sororities, but if a girl from, god forbid, Arkansas contacts you, all you would be able to accomplish is opening up a huge kettle of fish. Yes, it needs to expand, yes every NPC sorority is aware of this, and yes, they (likely) have all been approached by Arkansas. So what could you possibly tell her, other than buy a house that can sleep 100, and then go shopping for an NPC chapter to put in it?

On the other hand, if you have gossip to share about colonies and expansions, I'd love to hear it! We have a great thread for that already in place.

Hate to break it to you, but it just pulls a few from the hundreds of threads about people wanting to start their own sorority or fraternity. We can see the years. we also see what has been posted recently, because those threads are hard to miss.

DubaiSis and AnotherKD...thanks for the responses. Dubai, I think you are partly right...I think that different situations call for different things. For example, if a girl who wanted to found an NPC organization on campus but couldn't because of the campus policies, greenbook policies, etc. There are alternatives out there. There are about 5 or 6 sororities that aren't NPC, but have all the features of an NPC organization. They are older orgs as well, BUT for one reason or another NPC has never opened the tradegroup to them. They are valid alternatives to NPC groups. This is JUST an example of how someone who has national experience knows the options that are out there.

As far as the fact that there are other people who "have this thread" that's fine, I will be a copy-cat, it doesn't bother me...at the bottom of MY page it says similar threads were posted in 2008, 2007, 2004, etc.

There should be a thread, heck maybe even a FORUM dedicated to people who want to be Greek and need the information to get there.

Not trying to be back and forth here...

That just because it's matching words in the thread title. Nothing more. Lots of similar threads with less similar titles don't show up in the handful of threads that are marked as "similar."

TauDelt1910,

Do you think fraternity life is at a peak or in a valley right now?

I hear ya MysticCat, perhaps that means this one will be more easily found!

Senusret, according to the statistics I've seen, Greek Life has been slowly increasing over the last several years. However, at many particular campuses, it is a system in decline. The struggle of fraternities for fraternities during the 1970's, which was the last drastic period of decline, was to stay relevant to students. I think for good or for bad fraternities continue to face that hurdle. The hurdle that comes along with that today is that fraternities need to stay "relevant" to their host campuses. So to boil it down, I don't think they are in a valley, but I definitely think we have more work to do to ensure that our organizations are aligned with our values in order to reach that peak.