Choosing a new group to colonize
 

I was just wondering, what do current sorority women look for when selecting a new group to come to their campus? If a presenting group appears to be very strong and well prepared, couldn't that also be seen as a threat to the success of the current sororities? What are the benefits of choosing the "best" group to colonize? While I have attended extension presentations before, the purpose was to select a group that my local would affiliate with, rather than a group that would be separate from us. Thanks for any input. :)

I've heard this before, and in my experience at least, I think it's bullpuckey.

The last sorority that colonized on my campus, two groups came and presented. ABC had most of their chapters at schools similar to ours - JKL was appreciably larger and most of their chapters were at larger schools or private colleges. The first group was the one chosen. I don't think this was because anyone was "afraid" of JKL, but because JKL was probably talking about things we simply didn't have or do on our campus. I'm also pretty sure the interest group showed a preference for ABC. These weren't spring chickens - the interest group had started from a VERY organized little sister org, many of the members who had been around Greek life for years. They didn't want to be asked to do things they knew were not possible on our campus.

I just attended an expansion presentation.

The reason that a sorority is expanding at this campus is because the recruitment numbers just keep going up and up. The campus Panhel wants the new chapter to be successful because they need to have some of the pressure taken off of them in dealing with huge numbers of PNM. They chose the sorority that they thought would be a good match for the campus culture and which seemed to have a lot of national and local support.

They aren't threatened by the strength of a new chapter because they know that every chapter on campus is successful and has its own history and (good) reputation. If the current chapters weren't successful, they wouldn't be considering expansion. The "new kid on the row" won't damage that and will need time to establish themselves, no matter how strong the presentation was or the nationals are.

There is absolutely no reason for the current chapters to be threatened.

If you are going to be threatened by a new group you are not going to vote to expand.

When we did an expansion recently what the alumni and what the girls were interested in were 2 different things in my opinion. My co advisor and myself wanted a group that had significant alumni support locally. We also felt like the group needed to have a very good understanding of the campus culture specifically related to Greek life. Finally, we wanted groups that we thought would be successful on our campus- THAT was key. They would be able to make quota and be competitive. I'm a firm believer that the Greek System is only as good as the weakest link. You don't want struggling Chapters that have to COB all year long. You want all your groups to make quota and be around the same size. I never thought about any of the Chapters coming on as being a threat. It never entered my mind. The stronger the better.

Here's a question kind of related to my post, though. Did the NPC you chose promise to affiliate all the interest group members? If they did promise this, did they actually do it? Are the original members of the IG still involved or have they dropped out? Are the girls in the colony/chapter having a good relationship with the national group chosen?

I ask this because there have been examples of groups doing a "bait & switch" just to get onto a campus. To which I say boooooo.

There are no interest groups at this campus.

She referred to "what the girls were interested in." I took "the girls" to = the interest group. I assume she means the collegiate chapter members then?

Yeah, she means the other panhellenic council members. She's at Arizona State University where they were just picking to new groups to stack colonize. No interest groups. I honestly don't think those women have any fear that a group will come on and challenge them in any way, shape or form. LOL.

But if expansion has already passed even if your group was opposed to it, then you still have to vote for one of the presentation groups to come to campus (well, I guess you could abstain).

In the example I cited in the other thread, there were 6 groups already on campus. The vote for to expand passed either 5-1 or 4-2 (sorry, I don't remember. I remember one group was back and forth the whole time, and I dont' honestly remember where they ultimately came down). But, when it came time to select the group to come to campus, the "stalemate" came when the top RRS chapter joined with the bottom two in selecting what was, in their minds, the weakest presentation, or the least threat. So, even though the top RRS chapter was in favor of expansion, they still voted for a chapter with whom they thought they could easily compete.

Bump for spammers.

This is actually an interesting thread. I've definitely seem some expansion decisions that confused me, and perhaps this is why.

I have actually had Panhellenic Council members tell me that the council purposely voted to take sororities that wouldn't be a big threat to them in recruitment. Would you believe that one said, "What we needed was a place for the girls we didn't want to take, not a group who would come after the ones we wanted"?

Wow, nice