Future NPC sororities?
 

I was wondering ... Will there ever be more than 26 NPC sororities?

There seems to be quite a few young, growing sororities out there that could join NPC in the future, such as Ceres, Phi Sigma Rho, Phi Beta Chi, and Theta Nu Xi.

So, the question is: When do you think NPC will increase to 27 sororities, and who do you think the next group will be?

Our Greek Advisor told my Recruitment Counseler class that the process to become NPC is long and very difficult and the likelyhood of another sorority receiving admittance is not very good. Apparently groups have applied before and well since there are still only 26....

First of all, you are assuming that the national groups you mentioned would want to join the NPC. Many groups would not want to participate in the recruitment process used by nationals and many (not all) cultural groups' recruitment and pledging practices are considered hazing by the NPC. A lot of groups don't want to change, even if their inclusion in the NPC would benefit both.

Secondly, a national group has be established in the national form for at least 13 years, must have at least 14 chapters and the youngest chapter has to be at least 2 years old. This means that the sorority would need to put a moratorium on expansion for at least 2 or more years before applying to the NPC. Many groups don't want to do that.


BTW - this topic has been discussed several times before. The search function is a wonderful thing.

Barbara, I'm just curious, why does the youngest chapter have to be at least two years old? I can understand wanting a substantial number of chapters that are well-established, so a group doesn't install ten chapters and then rush out and apply for NPC membership, but it seems like putting a mortatorium on growth would be such a hard thing for a young, expanding sorority.

I don't know for sure, but I'm going to guess it's to show that the group is stable and there is support in place for existing chapters.

You know, I've never questioned that. I'll pop a note off to my NPC delegate (whom I know fairly well) and ask.

You know ... I've always thought that the biggest objection for a new, young group joining NPC would be the requirement to adhere to the expansion policy. For example, Ceres currently can place a colony on any campus they want. But should they join NPC, they would be subject to the same "open for expansion, presentation, invitation to colonize" methodology as the rest of us. That would certainly, I think, hinder a young group, when the competition among the rest of us to colonize is already high.

You know, I asked the same question about both NPC and IFC to the head of our IFC at SDSU, and I was told that an organization that has a tag in front of it (Multicultural, Christian, Latino, Asian) can't be members. Course I did ask about AEPhi, AEPi and ZBT, which he said was different because they are "traditional". I guess MAYBE there's some truth to that, but I'm guessing that's the wrong answer.

I know that on our campus, Theta Nu Xi is part of Pan-Hellenic and they follow the rules set by Pan-Hell. We only have four NPC sororities on our campus.

Which is why I didn't believe him, though he did say something about that only applying to the NATIONAL NPC and IFC

I read a few threads that focused on how some national groups are not part of the social Greek life and have no desire to join NPC. However, I would like to see this thread focus on those national social sororities that are a part of campus Panhels and probably do have an intention one day of joining NPC!

I know of several universities that have special interest social sororites as FULL members on Panhel. For example, at Purdue:
Phi Sigma Rho – focus is engineeing and technology majors
Phi Beta Chi – focus is Christian
Delta Phi Mu – focus is Multi-cultural
None of them participate in formal recruitement, but they all do C.O.B. I also have a friend in Ceres who mentioned that they had a NPC representative speak at one of their meetings a few years ago.

I think it is only a matter of time before Ceres, Phi Sigma Rho, and Phi Beta Chi apply to NPC because all of them have around 10 chapters. Am I the only one who would be excited to see the NPC grow?

Actually...
 

Actually, if I recall correctly, Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity and Lambda Theta Phi are members of IFC and they both identify themselves as Latino Interest Fraternities.

If I am not mistaken, they haven't admitted another sorority into the NPC since 1951. That was 51 years ago. I don't know of any future NPC sororities, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any out there.

Edited to add: Local Sororities said substantially the same thing. Edited to change Italics also.

Is it possible that its a misinterpretation?

It would be more logical that the the youngest chapter that is making up the 14 required has to be 2 years old.

It wouldn't be logical to have a sorority with 40 chapters be unable to petition because one of those 40 chapters is less than 2 years old.

But the rule would head off a potential problem of a sorority just giving a charter to say four groups quickly to meet the NPC requirement.

But a quick and dirty way to judge the overall performance of a Greek Advisor is to go back to the date they arrived and ask the following questions:

1. Are the organizations significantly bigger than they were when she started? (A clear sign of Growing Greek Life)

2. Are there more organizations on campus? (Again a clear sign of more Greek interest)

3. Have the intergreek Councils improved in operation? (More functions and less concerned with regulation etc)

4. If the answer was yes to those questions is it because of programs the Greek Advisor started for that purpose or through their spiritual leadership (Personal influence)?

5. Do you officially hear about more interGreek intercampus conferences etc? Or is the Greek advisor setting up such conferences himself? (A sign that she is giving you more information about how other campuses perform and allowing you to network with those Greeks)

6. Has the Greek Advisor set up a series of leadership seminars that deal with "How To" issues that have left you with the ability to do things better? (a clear sign of some sophisticated leadership knowledge and an effective presentation. Oh and if you don't leave with a "tool" you can use for your problem it doesn't count)

7. Is your Greek Advisor more concerned with giving incentives than giving out punishment?

The answer to most of these should be yes, most importantly the first three.

Also . . .

Wouldn't NPC have to vote as a whole and unanimously agree to add another sorority?

I can see some organizations having a problem with that because it would mean sharing Formal Rush and expansion possibilities with yet another group.

If the future hypothetical group had chapters on campuses with a big Formal Rush they could get real competitive real fast. something I could see sororities with chapters on these campus seriously considering.

(editied to add)

So they can peititon to join if they met the qualifications but there is absolutely no guarentee they would be accepted.