Just starting a local
 

I'm the President of the Muses organization at U of E. We have spent the past 4 years as a "women's philanthropic organization". We've been working very cooperatively with Panhellenic Council at our school (we have four national sororities, 6 national fraternities, and no locals). We petitioned three times in a row to bring another National sorority to campus, but were turned down each time. Now the University has decided to recognize us if we become a local sorority, so we're going for it. Naturally, the nationals are worried about their numbers, but most of them are at 70 and we only have 19 members. We've already held a campus wide philanthropy two years in a row (The Price is Right to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children), and were honored as the organization of the year last year. So we have already established ourselves as a solid organization with high standards for our members. But now we have to somehow make the transition into being a local sorority. Constitutional changes need to be made, the writing of ritual and initiation ceremonies and many other decisions. We have already chose our letters, Delta Omega Zeta, and are keeping the same colors we had as the Muses. Are there any suggestions on how to maintain sisterhood and unity while making the huge changes? We already had a bit of an argument about whether we should change our colors or keep them the same. I don't want every decision to be made with an argument. Thanks!

sounds like you are well on the road....
best of it all...

Are you going to do rush with the NPC groups, or on your own?

That will be a big factor.

Just build on what you have already accomplished. Don't feel like you have to make up an overly elaborate ritual if that is not "you." It should celebrate the best things about your group.

Re: Just starting a local
 

As a founder of an organization I understand the arguing. I would say that that is not the worst thing in the world. At least that way you know that everyone has had an opportunity to say what they think or feel.

One thing that worked well for us was have a meeting where people brainstormed ideas either for change or for staying the same. We then assigned someone the responsibility for pulling together all the ideas and presenting it in a later meeting in written form. We got to see pros and cons of each idea in a really formal way and discussed and then voted on each idea. If there were ideas that people liked equally, we found ways to blend it so that we had the best of both worlds. And sometimes it seemed really tedious because we felt like we were voting on really minute details, but in the end it has saved us major arguments and it made us work well together. I would say the more structure the better. Also, if you learn how to work through these things now, it will make it easier for you to do it in the future.

Good luck with your journey!

Wow, I just joined this site and was poking around and found this. In case anyone was looking for an update, Muses has successfully been turned into Delta Omega Zeta, and we're still going strong. =)

Good to know. Some time you should write out what your process was since we get SOOOOO many questions about starting a local. If there's one that is 9 years old it's had a couple "generations" of new members and apparently has outlived its founders.