An Upper Division Sorority?
 

We've had a number of discussions here - all interesting - about the differences between Men's and Women's rush. Much of it boils down to the differences between how men and women view the context and goals of their Greek organizations.

Here's my question: Would NPC (or, if NPC was indifferent, your campus PanHel) permit or encourage the creation of a sorority on your campus that would accept juniors and seniors only?

When I was in college I knew a number of women who transfered in as juniors. They would have made absolutely splendid sorority members and contributed much to their chapters, but they were discouraged from joining by the circumstances and structure of rush. Like most big state schools we have a large number of juniors transfer in from the community colleges.

As juniors, these women tended to be ambitious, mature, polished and poised. They WANTED to join sororities. Unfortunately, it was well known that the sororities they wanted to join would only take freshmen women (the quota/total system). They could have contributed much to the struggling chapters, but they had only two years and did not want to spend their energies in what appeared to be long-term, difficult projects.

There were two consequences: 1) the sorority system lost great numbers of women who would make fantastic undergrad members and alumni, and 2) the weaker sororities continued to spiral downward, unable to draw these women into the rush process.

If PanHel set up a sorority chapter deliberately focused on junior women (chapter made up of juniors and seniors, though not necessarily limited to that), and if it became, as it would, a prominent and attractive 'draw' to the system, then the entire system would benefit, especially those chapters that struggle for members. More women coming through rush equal more women joining the system. More juniors coming through equal more women joining the chapters they can help immediately. Obviously, not everyone wants to join the same sorority, and an influx of juniors would add inevitably to the ranks of the chapters in greatest need of new members. The challenge is to offer strong encouragement to juniors to come through rush in the first place. A 'top tier' sorority where a junior can join would, I think, be a profoundly effective first step.

the exiting greek advisor a few semesters ago gave approval for a local sorority to start specifically created for older women. not just juniors and seniors tho... it included women that maybe returned to college after taking a break, being married, having children, etc. Their claim to fame was a sorority for girls that "didn't fit the mold."

yeah... i don't think it ever got off of the ground. I did see rush info posted but I haven't seen them since.

This really only applies to huge schools with huge systems....a junior never had a problem getting a bid at my campus. But pardon me if I don't shed tears for the juniors who wanted to be Greek soooooo bad but turned up their noses at the smaller chapters. :rolleyes: As someone said on here, if a lot of people join a small chapter, it won't BE small anymore!! Hello!!!

>>>pardon me if I don't shed tears for the juniors who wanted to be Greek soooooo bad but turned up their noses at the smaller chapters.<<<

Very well said, as usual, 33Girl.

I like the concept that of "free bids" for juniors & seniors that some GC'ers said they have at their school. If I'm understanding correctly, you can take a certain number of upperclassmen that do not count toward your total. Very cool idea!

I think that more NPC sororities need to accept graduate students into their houses. Phi Sigma Sigma is the only one that I know of that does this. More NPCs need to follow the lead of this very progressive mindset!! :)

Most large schools in my area that have this issue have a separate junior quota and on some campuses seniors are free. This encourages chapters to pledge these women without disrupting their class balance.

I don't think anyone is talking about the juniors who "snub their noses at the smaller groups." There are campuses where there is no opportunity to COB and most chapters pledge quota and are over total. If they have a few quota opportunities whether or not they can pledge a junior really depends on their class balance and what has been happening with their chapter. Personally, I think that a separate junior quota is a great way to work this situation.

>>>I don't think anyone is talking about the juniors who "snub their noses at the smaller groups." <<<

Maybe it was a very plainspoken statement, but on most campuses there are one or two houses that are struggling and do not make quota during formal recruitment. I think the point that 33Girl was making is that there are almost always choices if someone just wants to be greek without having to start a new group. Of course, if all of the sororities on campus are able to get quota and take mostly freshmen, then "free Juniors and Seniors" would be a great help.

Re: An Upper Division Sorority?
 

lauradav,

this was what I referred to:

I read that as "I only want to join the big popular sorority where everything will be rosy, because I really don't want to bust my butt too much." A group of older (20 years old! :rolleyes: ) women with experience of college life and knowledge of the campus could do a great deal to turn a struggling chapter around, and gain personal satisfaction as well. I wish that more sororities would do as DG is doing (see other thread) and reach out to these women with a concerted effort rather than give up on the chapter.

A separate junior-senior quota would have to be the answer in the Deep South. Unfortunately, I think it'd be unlikely to get upperclassmen to join a "struggling" chapter--that's just the nature of the beast and I have no CLUE as how to encourage them to do that. Also, you couldn't have a separate sophomore quota because some sororities might encourage people who didn't get a bid from them to wait and rush the next year. Junior/senior might work, though...

By the way--it was said that Bama instituted a separate junior/senior quota last fall. Anyone know how that worked out?

There's no problem on our campus with upperclassmen joining now. This semester we have three juniors that joined. They're all really involved with other organizations on campus and I know that they'll help us out with whatever they can. Our campus and Greek system is small (as I have said in other posts), but letting upperclassmen in at any time is just the boost and organization needs.

Ok, I think we need to distinguish bewteen "small" and "struggling".

Sorry, but I wouldn't want to join a chapter that has risk management and programming issues. I would, however, consider a chapter with a smaller roster if it was one I loved.

Frankly, in some places, upper-division just do not get a chance. Period. That's not fair. I agree with the people who suggest having a separate junior/senior quota or "free" juniors/seniors.

I am not convinced that an upper-division sorority would work. There would be fewer women participating and higher turnover. I am certain that NPC would not have such an organization as was brought up in the original post.

Finally, I really like the idea of allowing grad students to participate. Phi Sigma Sigma is on track with this one. I thought I heard that Delta Gamma allows grad students as well but I'm not sure.

Come on, everyone, give upper-division ladies a chance! :)

.....Kelly :)

Kelly - usually, on a big campus, "small" automatically = "struggling". Programming issues at these kinds of campuses often get resolved once there are more members and more $$$ to keep things running.

Truthfully, I've never seen a correlation between risk management issues and chapter size, unless it's after the issues have been resolved and troublemakers weeded out.

Delta Gamma does this too, but I'm not sure how widely the practice is carried out.

On small campuses such as mine upperclassman have no problem getting bids. In fact 1 of my chapter's most active alumnas pledged her 5th and final year in college and was only in the house for 1 semester.

Carnation,
Alabama did institute a new quota this past fall, but it is called a "sophomore" quota. So anyone who is not a freshman did not count against the regular quota. Unfortunately, several of the older houses declined to use the sophomore quota. This did help out some of the smaller chapters, though. PM me if you have any other questions about it. I still work with my chapter, so if I don't know the answer, I'm sure their rush chair would know.