help! stay in local or go to national
 

Ok so...I've been apart of a local sorority for 2 years now and when I was a new memeber it was a goal of the older girls to one day affiliate with a National Sorority. Now that we have actually somewhat started that process, we are associate members of panhellenic, our younger girls dont want to go through with it. They have only been active for a semester or 2 and to me that havent seen the hardships that go along with being local.
In the meantime i have become really god friends with girls form one of the national sororities on our campus and the thought has crossed my mind to drop my local and become apart of this national. Now maybe its just a phase but at the same time its driving me crazy. I love my girls and all but i feel that its not what i am anymore. Maybe i'm just in my own world right now but i really dont know what to do.

1. Give it time! Don't make a snap decision.

2. What is the likelihood that your sorority will go through with the nationalization? Do the current nationals support you in this? Or is it just partly your own members that are balking at the idea? Promote nationalization to the younger members. Explain why you want what you've worked so hard for!

3. What would be the time frame for nationalization? If you want to participate in a national group before you graduate, you have to keep that in mind.

This a tough decision... :( Best of luck!

On dropping your personal affilation with the local and going to a national... if you were a person that approched my fraternity and were a member of a local, we would not bid you.

Why? It's simply because you broke your life-long pledge of sisterhood to another group. You back-stabbed your sisters to join us, that goes to show how loyal and trustworthy you are.


There is one case we have agreed on which we would give a bid to someone who was in a local. A local which we are very close to, told us that in the situation which we did not have enough members to chapterize some of their members would become Phi Kaps... where upon they'd be members of TWO groups... and have MANY MANY brothers. This came from their presidents mouth, and needless to say we were honored by how much they wanted us on campus. But your situation is totally different.

As for your sorority going national:

There is a local fraternity XYZ on our campus that went national in 1957, the affiliation was structured very wisely.

They would register under their LOCAL letters as a campus organization yearly. They were already a member of the IFC through their LOCAL letters and thus would not lose their membership if they chose to drop the affiliation. They kept their LOCAL letters close and still wore them.

This was a safety net. If one day they wanted to drop the national or the if the national chose to yank their charter they could just pick up their local XYZ letters again. They would still be in IFC, and they would still be considered a campus organization even without the national! Seven years later, they dropped the affiliation with the national fraterntity and went back to their local letters with little resistance from anyone.

Normally a fraternity would have to disband if they lost their charter or disaffiliated. But, because they were smart about it they didnt and still exist on campus today, almost 50 years later.

If you want to go national, structure it so that you can drop the affiliation whenever your group pleases.

I wouldn't take such a strong view. It was your local's group to reform as a national organziation. If that's what you were all working towards then I think it diminishes the importance that some would place on the local group. It was not meant to be permenant if that's the case.

If ya'll seek to become national it's a huge, long process so be ready for that.

I am not sure what thread it is but "carnation" started it.

She is a Prof. at ABC College, in Ga. They had nothing but locals who had been there for some time. Beleive it or not, the School decided it would like to have Nationals instead. One of the first I would say in current history.

Well, first thought was that the locals would fight it, but in finding out what the Nationals could offer, according to carnation, they are all for it and getting very excited on campus in ghe Greek world and even the independents!

For me being a member of an International, this is very exciting.

This is in no way putting down Locals, as I started a local and it was a tuff road to hoe!

What ever the decesion, the best of luck.:)

Just to clarify-- this happened at Valparaiso only 5 years ago, during the 1997-1998 school year. 8 locals went national, with their original founding dates ranging from circa 1917-1919 (four orgs) to circa 1961. Seven are still functioning; the smallest was not able to make the transition and folded around 2000.

In the case of the original poster of this thread, there are nationals AND locals at her campus currently. It's not so much whether the local should go national or not ... it's IF the local doesn't, whether the poster should drop her local org and try to become a member of the national. (and who knows if she could do both at once, or if the national would take her in the first place...)

Personally, I don't know how campuses with NPC orgs and locals make it work. Those who do have my respect! I'd think it would be hard...

To "quit" a local and disown your sisters, then join a national chapter on campus is to break a life long oath you made to them. It's dishonorable to even consider the option.

I have to agree with archangel.

It would be one thing if you had just started pledging and dropped...or if you transferred to another school. But you are going to be on the same campus and have to see those people you were sisters with for two years, no longer being your sisters. Plus there will likely be people if you would join the NPC sorority who would be distrustful of you - after all, you dumped your local, what's to prevent you from dumping them?

All sororities grow and change, especially in their first years. If you look at the histories of the NPC's, there was often LOTS of debate on going national, expanding, changing the focus etc. I'm sure there are some ASA's who weren't happy we went NPC.

It is getting near the end of the year and you might just be feeling burnt out and not close enough to the younger girls yet....give it some time. If it's becoming an issue of half the sorority wants to stay local and half wants to go national, you all need to sit down and figure it out together.

i probably am burnt out...considering I hold 2 positions. Social chair and assistant pan-hell delegate. Thats beacuse we felt that our younger girls werent well educated on the issue and plus none of them wanted to do it.
Then someone tell me this, how do you try to tell people and actually get them to listen to you about the opportunity we have to become a national sorority. how do you get someone to listen to all the advantages. Thats our biggest problem right now. Some girls, one in particular wont even listen. Which leads to the closed minds.
Not to mention i just went to the western regional greek conferance and saw how amazing it was...for national orgs.
I know you all feel like i'm breaking an oath, and leaving my sisters but at the same time how can it work when we dont believe in the same things anymore?
I guess my biggest issue is the fact that some girls are very closed minded and they arent seeing this great opportunity that is right infront of us waiting for the doors to open

rayray I pmed you.

Rayray, everybody here who is telling you that you would be disloyal to leave your local doesn't know what oath you took and what it meant to you. YOU do.

I believe in the sanctity of wedding vows, but if your husband starts sleeping with other women, you should divorce his butt and marry somebody else. I don't think that makes you disloyal or uncommitted to your second husband.

I say Rayray took an oath when she joined a sisterhood. If that sisterhood no longer exists, because the organization has betrayed the principles she joined in order to support, well, what's left for her to be loyal to? She needs to make the decision that's right for her. If the NPC chapter she's looking at decides to offer her a bid, then that's an indication that they have faith in her commitment to their organization. If they show that faith, I'm certainly not going to question their judgment.

Take some time to think about it and go where your heart leads you, Rayray. Good luck!

Ivy

I agree that people shouldn't be so quick to judge someone because they want to leave one group and join another. backstabbing?? I just think that language is a little harsh for a situation in which we only know the surface details. I hope that everything works out for you and that you make the best choice for you. Just make sure to think it through... the grass isn't always greener on the other side;)

Depending on your local Panhellenic rules, you may not be able to switch even if you want to. Some local Panhellenic rules forbid member groups to give bids to members of the other groups - NPC forbids this at the national level, and this clause is usually designed to give locals the same protection. So give the constitution and bylaws a thorough read first!

Thanks for all your input, I will be talking to some of the girls form the national org later this week to get a feel of what they think. I have also talked to one of the other girls in my orgaization and suprisingly she feels the same way, which makes my decision even harder because she know is considering the same thing.
I know not all of you agree with my thoughts but i assure you all that i'm not just jumping to to make a quick decsion. Time and thought are fully apart of this situation. I will keep people informed, thanks again for taking the time to read my post and help me decide what is best for me and the girls in my local organization.

I've been watching this thread for a little while, and I just want to wish you luck. Let us know what you decide! :)