Should Local affiliate with National?
 

edited because I think I misinterpreted the situation
Hey Guys!
I have been going to GC all summer long and you guys are wonderful. Being a new sorority on campus, you have helped me get great ideas for next year. Thank you!!!

But now in my very first post, I desperately need your advice! I'll begin with some background. My sisters and I decided we wanted to start a specific interest sorority 2 years ago. We went through many struggles trying to get a national chapter on campus that has the same interests but received a cold response from both the Nationals and our Panhellenic (2 sororities can't make quota). We ended up going local and affiliated with another sorority at a different campus who had been through the same issues. We just got initiated recently and are very happy to finally have a stable foundation and I foresee our girls and GLO to grow and grow.

So here is what happened. Now remember that because we went local we no longer had a desire to go national anymore. Today we received an email from the Panhellenic advisor that they are now considering bringing that national on to campus and if we are still interested in affiliating with them. Panhellenic is still not up to quota and this national will have less expectations regarding member numbers etc..

So should we go national or stay local.

I know many of you have been in a similar situation and I would really appreciate your input. We plan on talking to Panhellenic, our current local sister chapter, and the nationals of this sorority but I want YOUR perspective! I tried to do a search but maybe you could point me in the right direction?

Please Help :)
sororvpgirl

This part of your post concerns me. It sounds as though your university's Panhel wants to expand despite the fact that interest in the Greek system is declining. Bringing a new national into this situation is a bad idea - it will struggle for members from the beginning and may never really get off the ground. Or perhaps the new sorority will take members away from one of the current sororities, thus sending that chapter into a tailspin. Either way, it doesn't sound like your campus is ready to expand yet.

If this makes no sense, I apologize, I haven't had any caffeine yet. :)

My sorority faced a similar situation, only it was we, not Panhel, who sought out the national affiliation.

I've posted our history elsewhere, so I'll give you the short version. A group of women approached Panhel with the intention of becoming a colony of AEPhi. Panhel said no, but suggested they form a local instead, so they did. 2 years later, Panhel came to us and said "if you still want to go national, you have our blessing." So we contacted AEPhi again and a match was made. My local's ideals were almost identical to AEPhi's, which I think is why things went so smoothly. We were also able to carry over a few of our local traditions.

When AEPhi colonizes a local, we take all members of the local, and only members of the local (this is what happened in my sorority's case). Not all sororities operate that way - if you've read wishinhopin's thread in the rush forum (if you haven't, read it!) you know that Alpha Xi Delta interviews members of the local along with anyone else who's interested, and they choose the new members. But if your ideals are closely aligned with the national in question, they are likely to invite you all to join.

You lose nothing by going through the process of having nationals present to you, particularly if Panhel is committed to bringing in a new national. On the other hand, as RockChalk pointed out, if there are sororities on your campus that are hurting, why do they want to expand??

Because a new group on campus draws otherwise uninterested women into recruitment, thereby increasing the chances of the older groups' drawing more new members.

First off, I have a question for Barbara: Does the college Panhel's vote for a new group have to be unanimous? I would think that the 2 who aren't at quota would put the kibosh on a new group right away...

sororpvgirl, you said you started a "specific interest" sorority - are you saying it is multicultural, social/professional or what? The expansion methods of those groups are a whole different animal than the 26 NPC groups.

True, but wouldn't a new national potentially draw PNM's to itself and away from the sororities that are in trouble? That was our campus Panhel's argument when they initially denied my local's request to become an AEPhi chapter, and that was my argument when Panhel wanted to expand again one year after we went national, while AEPhi was still way under total. (I'm convinced that had we expanded, particularly if the new sorority had similar ideals to AEPhi's, my chapter wouldn't be there today.)

Hypothetical situation: Susie PNM attends a school where there are three sororities. Sororities A and B are doing fine, at total, consistently get quota, etc. Sorority C is a great group, but they're small and never make quota. Susie goes through recruitment, decides she likes C, and ends up with a bid from them.

Now let's say there are four sororities: A, B, and C from above, and D, a new colony that was recently established and is participating in formal recruitment for the first time. Susie prefs at C and D, loves them both, and after thinking long and hard, decides to list D first on her pref card, and ends up matching with D instead of C. One fewer new member for C.

Yes, the vote must be unanimous.

However, Sally, Betty and Jane never would have even considered going through recruitment unless Chapter D was on campus. When they go through events, they realize that all the groups are great and each end up pledging A, B, and C respectively, something they never would have done unless the 'draw' of chapter D was present.

That's true. You have to look at the school's particular situation, and balance the positives of D attracting otherwise uninterested women to recruitment vs. the negatives of D drawing PNM's away from the chapters that are in trouble. If there's a chapter that's so low in numbers that it's in danger of going under, a new sorority may attract so many PNM's away from it that it does go under, whereas it wouldn't have if the expansion hadn't taken place.

Of course, as you say, the draw of chapter D may pull some women in who then get bids from chapter C... but, since these women were initially attracted by D, some of them may just decline their bids and try to get into D next year, whereas if D hadn't been there, they'd accept their bids to C.

I guess you (meaning Panhel) have to try to figure out which scenario is most likely, and then decide based on what's best for all the sororities. There are so many variables... :)

I would continue to talk with Panhel advisor, because it never hurts to just talk! Remember you can always vote not to go with the National.

Things to consider: You need to determine what are your group's future goals. If the National would be competition because of similar interests, then can 2 similar groups could survive on the campus? When would the National be brought on campus? If it is still just in the talking stage, then they may not come till 2004 if ever. Also, please don't hold the cold response from the National against them. According to NPC rules, they really need to get permission from the Panhel before talking to a group.

Another thought... Is your affiliation with the sorority at the different campus, mean that you are now part of a new regional/national sorority? If the regional/national sorority has a national board, perhaps you could get the National to take both groups at the same time. I do not know if this is possible, but you could always ask. Good luck!

hmmm.
 

Well, maybe theoretically, but I don't know how truly that works in real life. Our chapter attracted some girls (like my little) who might never have pledged a sorority otherwise, but either they went thru informal and didn't go anywhere else, or if they had had to go thru formal and by some chance got matched with another group, they probably would have declined the bid. If it takes a "draw" to get you to go through rush, that is probably the only place you want to be.

The novelty of a new group might pull previously uninterested women in at first, but that only works for a year or so. Long term I doubt that "D" would really help "C" by pulling in more rushees.

You also want to consider why the struggling chapters are struggling. Some groups are small just because of a string of bad events or a problem pledge class but are filled with strong, dedicated women who will be able to bring the chapter back. A group like that may lose a few girls to the new chapter, but not many. On the other hand, some groups are small because they take the girls who can't get in elsewhere and have bad attitudes. A group like that will fold whether a new group comes in or not. The new chapter will just hasten the process. So I wouldn't worry about the other small groups - just about your chapter.

However, while I can understand your campus wanting to bring another group in, I do think it's pretty poor form for them to invite the group you were initially interested in. It's better to bring in a group with ideals and a style different than the groups currently on campus, in order to appeal to the greatest number of girls.

Been there done that and got the t-shirt!

I pledged a local and was a member throughout college. The local was 5 years old when the college decided to tell us we needed to have 1 million dollar insurance policy to be recognized. Add this to our declining rush numbers (we rushed in formal recruitment and were full voting memers of Panhel) The sisters needed to act or we would loose the chapter.

By my name you can tell we ended up going national. It wasn't without a tough decision (not everyone is the local decided to join -although everyone was invited to) It hasn't been a ad thing though. The chapter still sends newsletters and updates to those who remained Phi Alpha Sigmas (the name of the local) and those who went Alpha Phi, many of are still volunteers on the local and national level.

I would be more than happy to dicuss the whole colonization selection process and what happened in detail with you...private message me (PM) with your email.

I guess the question is if you are considering affiliating with a national than you want to make sure your group has a choice in the process and that Panhel doesn't make the choice for you. Some groups will take the whole colony, some won't.

It is a big choice, for me and my sisters it worked out best to "go national" I want to make sure you know both the ups and downs of making that decision since we sure didn't have a clue what we were getting into!

Re: Should Local affiliate with National?
 

What do the rest of your sisters say? Ultimatley this is going to be the big kicker. You're bound to have people who strongly believe in both sides, and I'm sure there will be many heated discussions to sway the middle ground sisters. There are definetly positives to both sides. When my mom was in college during the 70's, the local she was in was contacted by Alpha Phi to colonize. On her campus at the time there were two other nationals and then her local, all doing well with numbers. She said they had several meetings on the issue and heavily weighed both sides. The final vote was close, and they decided not to go national. Mom said she voted to stay local because she really didn't see the benefits of going national (but since becoming a Sigma Kappa gave her a few reasons why ;) ). She thinks eventually they ended up going national about 10 years after she graduated, but she's not sure if it was Alpha Phi. I really don't want to sway you one way or another because this is a totally personal decision that is up to your sorority, your campus, and the national you are considering. This is a huge decision for you girls, good luck!

I would only do it if ALL of the women in your house feel that it would be a good strategic move for your sorority.