SAI is social?
 

I was inducted just last year and we definately learned that SAI is a professional fraternity. However, girls on the SAI board on Livejournal are saying that we're social because of some boy who wanted to join, blah, blah, blah, same story as PMA. Does anyone know if this is true? Are we a social fraternity?
-Gwen
Gamma Eta

Well, I wouldn't presume to tell any SAIs the status of their own group.

I can tell you, though, that our Centennial History says this about our own efforts to avoid being co-ed in light of Title IX (which forbids colleges that receive federal funds from housing single-sex orgs, but which includes an exemption for "social" fraternities and sororities):

Two of the three major fraternities for women, Mu Phi Epsilon and Delta Omicron, responded to [Federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare] pressure by becoming coed nationally. Sigma Alpha Iota did not; instead, they filed an appeal with HEW, claiming that Sigma Alpha Iota existed:

"... to foster interest in music and to promote social contact among persons sharing a general interest in that art form rather than to prepare persons for professional endeavors relating to music."

On the basis of this statement, HEW granted Sigma Alpha Iota an exemption from the requirements of Title IX.

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia: A Centennial History, T. Jervis Underwood, p. 6.17 (2000). Our histories always give the impression that we got our idea for seeking an HEW exemption from you guys.

Of course, histories otherwise may be different -- we have generally seen our claiming "social" rather than "professional" status as a return to our roots and the values on which we were founded, having been founded as a social rather than a professional fraternity. Needless to say, I don't know SAI's history like I know Sinfonia's. ;)

We are indeed a social organization. Our official name is "Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity" - no "women" or "professional" in the title. MysticCat is right in that we were able to prove our social status and were thus exempt from including men in our membership. I like to think of us as a social group with professional aims!

I'm completely humiliated that I didn't even know our own classification. :( I hope ya'll can forgive my ignorance on this. ;) Some girls in my chapter are still reluctant to believe it!

I'd say a vast majority of SAIs don't realize it - don't feel bad!

Honestly, I didn't until pretty recently...and I am the President of my chapter. LOL

Although I think we'll all agree that, regardless of status, we function (IMO) as a mix of social and professional.

how then is SAI a member of a Greek Professional organization if we are social?

From the PFA web site:

"To be eligible for [PFA] membership, a fraternity must be national or international in character and shall charter its institutional chapters only at appropriately accredited colleges, universities, or professional schools. The fraternity shall be identified by, or related to a field of study or common interest. Member fraternities may also initiate members of other fraternities. "

After reading the responses, I decided to send a reply. SAI is a profesional women's fraternity, not because of our title or name but because of our classification. SAI belongs to PFA, Professional Fraternities Association, not individual chapters. There are 5 traditional classifications; Professional, Secret, Social, Service, and Honorary. From what I understand one person may only be in one of each, and nor more than that. But I have no proof of that. I wish I could give a better answer, (all my SAI stuff is at my apartment) but I know for a fact that we are professional, you know the best person to ask if not your PO would be Ruth, I swear the woman knows everything!;) Hope it helps:)

Actually....

SAI cannot be classified as professional. We were up until Title 9 came along. Because of it, any fraternity classified as professional or service had two options: go coed, or change status. Two music fraternites (Mu Phi Epsilon and Delta Omicron) DID become coed--and are still classified and referred to as a professional fraternity/sorority. From my understanding, Phi Mu Alpha admitted women for a short period in the 70's when they switched to professional for a while. SAI, however, changed status from professional to keep our single-sex status.

Although like I mentioned before, I think honestly, we function as a mix of social and professional.

But, it is incorrect that we are technically professional--we are not. I promise. I did a lot of research because I noticed how no official publication from SAI refers to itself as SAI professional music fraternity for women, but simply as a music fraternity for women. This is why. :)

Like MysticCat quoted earlier, to become exempt, SAI stated that our purpose was "... to foster interest in music and to promote social contact among persons sharing a general interest in that art form rather than to prepare persons for professional endeavors relating to music." If you think about this, it is exactly right. SAI is more about enjoying music, promoting it, sharing our gift of music with others, etc than it is for preparing us to become professional musicians. Yes, I know there are scholarships and such for people with those aims, but if you look at your chapter activities, you'll see that this is true. Which, to be honest, I think is the best way for us to be, this way we can include a wider diversity of women in our sisterhood.

Side note: yes, Ruth DOES know everything! She's awesome! And also, good to see you posting again! :)

Love and roses,
sairose

Hi Sandy - nice to see you. Post more than just once a year, ok? :)

I just wanted to add a sidenote that even the IRS classifies us as social, not professional. I don't think our classification is made clear during pledge training (at least, it wasn't to me) so no wonder it can get confusing at times!

Oh, yeah, it's confusing. I seriously didn't know until this past year that we are social! In pledge training, we were told we were professional. Even our advisor insists that we are.

Do you agree though, that we kinda function as a little of both social and professional? Cause I think so.

So here's my NEXT question. Since we are social...how can sisters also be in an NPC/NPHC sorority? They're social too. Is it because we belong to a different umbrella group, and since we're not NPC or whatever? Just curious.

The only groups that NPC members are banned from joining are other NPC groups. They may join any other social group, including country clubs, mountain-biking groups, and SAI. The same is true for the NPHC. I'm not 100% clear as to whether or not NPHC will allow its members to join NPC, so I won't state that one way or another. :)