Multicultural GLOs
 

Hi guys,

I'm interested in multicultural GLOs, but there's not much about them here on GC. Why is that?

When I first came to college, I was interested in a couple of the Divine 9, but I think a multicultural org would be a better fit for me and I'm now an official interest for one.

Who here is involved in a multicultural org?

A lot of GC is talking about rushing and pledging and chapter operations. MCGLOs typically keep this information a bit more under their hats than, say, NPC sororities.

If you dig a little, you can find some pretty interesting conversations we've had over the years. There are members of multicultural GLOs around. They might come out if you post any questions you may have.

For clarification, when you say multicultural, do you mean historically multicultural GLOs or are you using the term as a catchall?

I mean GLOs that are part of the NMGC or any other council of multicultural orgs if there is one. (NMGC is the only one I know).

Read the "Up and Coming National GLOs" forum

Thanks for the clarification. There are a handful of very small councils that may or may not be still operational. Currently, the NMGC is the only widely recognized umbrella council for historically multicultural GLOs. There are currently eleven NMGC organizations, but there are many more historically multicultural GLOs that a) do not qualify to become members of the NMGC, b) do not want to become members of the NMGC, or c) do not know about the NMGC.

I know you didn't ask for all that, but GC offers the opportunity to share knowledge with the general public, so hopefully your thread will be helpful to someone else in your same situation.

Thanks for all the info. I didn't ask for it, but I found it quite interesting and helpful.

Why do many orgs not qualify for or want to be members of the NMGC? (I'm just curious).

I am familiar with NMGC and some of their orgs. I'm particularly interested in one, and am an interest for it.

That's a very good question and one I could only speculate on. Two issues, in particular, that I think may be challenging for some larger, more established multicultural GLOs is 1) the NMGC member orgs are heavily concentrated in the Northeast, and 2) the composition of member orgs is a little inconsistent in terms of size, reach, and demographics.

On another note, I think many smaller multicultural GLOs have not reached a point in their history where membership in an umbrella council is necessary for progress. So, the cost of membership (time and money) isn't worth it.

ETA: I just realized that I didn't answer your question in full. There are lots of reasons organizations don't qualify for membership in the NMGC and all the reasons have to do with minimum requirements such as insurance, being national by the NMGC's definition, being historically and programmatically multicultural, having enough chapters, etc.

From my perspective, and I'm speaking as an individual here, I think there is a bit of tension right now in terms of the definition of multiculturalism. The concept of "multicultural GLOs" has been watered down by schools nationwide that lump all their cultural GLOs under a "multicultural" umbrella. It's so bad that there are even schools who think all of their cultural organizations fall under the NMGC! It's an uphill battle, which the NMGC is ready to take on...diplomatically of course.

Hmm. Interesting. I always thought that it was interesting that the NMGC is so small.

(Excuse me if I shouldn't say this -- just tell me and I'll edit it out): When I was in high school, I really wanted to pledge AKA or DST, but after doing some more research and thinking about it some more, I decided I wanted something broader.

There are well over 60 sororities, alone, that promote themselves as historically multicultural. But, the majority of them are very small and have few resources. I understand the draw of wanting to start a new organization, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me if you haven't exhausted other resources. There are enough existing multicultural sororities/fraternities that it seems a person should be able to find a connection with one of them.

Of course, if that doesn't happen then, by all means, start a new GLO. But, for heaven's sake, do so with extensive preparation and a strong group of founders. (That was not directed at you, HopefulInterest.)

Yeah, I know there are a lot of GLOs that promote themselves as being multicultural. I just think it's interesting that the NMGC is so small.