Membership by Invitation Only?
 

Does your organization say that "membership is by invitation only"?

If so, what does this mean for you?

We say our Bid Day is "Invite Only."

Only because we COB in the fall and spring and don't do formal recruitment... so there really isn't another option.

Though I'm not sure this is what you were referring to.

I just thought about the topic and realized that it wouldn't apply to NIC/PHC organizations because of how those organizations do recruitment. So nevermind, the moderators can delete the thread. :)

You haven't read the Alumni Initiation forums lately! :eek: :p LOL

I think it does for them so there may be some input there. :)

Re: Membership by Invitation Only?
 

Our membership is by invitation only via a bid. What this means to me is that our members are chosen based on specific criteria and that we don't have an open door policy like say the wilderness club. A woman can't just sign up at an information meeting and BAM! They're an AOII before the ink is dry. It is special because there is a mutual selection between the member and the fraternity.

Re: Membership by Invitation Only?
 

What this means (to me) is that you do not join (like the Girl Scouts or Girl Guides, where you sign up and you are a member, or where you are register for swimming lessons or Spanish lesson and you are "in" the class), you are invited to join. It goes both ways.

NIC
 

Generally speaking, a bid is a written invitation to pledge (join) a fraternity. Bids are only tendered to those gentlemen the fraternity feel would be a good fit for the brotherhood.

And as aopirose said, it is a mutual selection between the member and the fraternity.

that's what I take it to mean too

Why would this not apply to the NPHC groups? Sure, in some (all? not familiar with all of the Divine Nine) groups you have to fill out an application, maybe do an interview, but at the end you are "invited" to participate in the intake process that leads to full membership. I consider that membership by invitation only. You can't just go through the intake process and initiation...you have to be invited to do so.

NIC and NPC get members in the same way....anyone can attend an open recruitment event (just like the NPHC informationals or whatever they might be called on your campus), but in order to go forward with the membership process you have to have a bid inviting you to membership.

(forgive me if I have this all wrong...I'm speaking on what I do know...which is not everything)

PsychTau

ETA: She didn't say that it didn't apply to NPHC groups, she said the opposite. :)

Some NPHC groups, especially on the alumni/ae level, do not have information sessions or open rush events. You have to be known by the members and extended some sort of invitation to join. This varies by organization and chapter.

In my organization, my specific chapter did not have information sessions. Another alumni chapter in the same city does. In essence, we all still had to be invited to membership, but I think in the sense that Epitome1920 may have meant it was maybe the lack of a recruitment/rush period of any sort -- just the chapter knowing who they want.

This is true for NIC (often called IFC on campus) chapters as well.

On many - if not most - campuses, a PNM may not be required to attend any rush events to be extended a bid (invited to join). This would most likely happen if the man is already *known* to the chapter and they (the chapter) feel he is worthy of a bid (invitation).

For example. At The University of Kentucky, IFC chapter open houses start on a Monday and end on the following Friday. Bids may not be extended until 9 a.m. Thursday with the first day to accept being Friday at 9 a.m. So in theory, a pledge (PNM) would not have to attend any events and could receive a bid on Thursday and accept it the next day. Again, the most likely scenario would be if the gentleman was well known to the chapter.

I would venture to guess that the same might be said for NPC chapters with respect to COB/COR. My understanding is that if a chapter did not make quota during formal recruitment, or is not at total, then they may extend a bid (invitation) to any worthy woman - up to quota and or total - as applicable. And I believe that they may extend a bid to a woman who did not participate in formal recruitment as well.

So really, there is no difference in the concept of a bid (invitation) being extended for membership - i.e "membership is by invitation only". *How* the invitation (bid) is extended may differ with respect to organizations, campuses, as well as chapters.

Well, for example, Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma and Lambda Pi Eta and Order of Omega, etc., the offer of membership is only sent to those meeting requirements. The invitee is then given the choice to either accept or decline membership in those organizations...the "mutual" selection process is kinda weird..you have what they want, but you have to want to have those standards.

Thanks for all the explainations, examples

I sat in on a "Go Greek" session @ Southern Methodist University today and the language used made me ask this question.

For example, can membership be by invitation only if an organization hosts events were applications for membership are given to whoever shows up?

The phrase "mutual selection" kept coming up and it was only used for IFC/PHC greeks. Is that a new thing?

Sorry, Epitome! I saw where you said "PHC" and to me that means Divine Nine groups. "PC" to me means National Panhellenic Conference groups. My bad.

BUT...unless I'm still misinterpreting this...we are all (NIC/NPC/NPHC) "membership by invitation only". You can't become a member unless you're invited to be a member. Whatever happens before that (recruitment event or not) doesn't constitute a membership invitation. Just some conversation and refreshments :D!

Mutual selection is not a new thing for NIC/NPC groups...in one sense NPHC groups use it to. Avoiding the whole formal recruitment/preference card discussion for a minute, "mutual selection" (by definition of the words) means that you want the same group that wants you. Example: I want to be AKA, and AKA wants me to be a member. They give me a membership invite, and I accept it. Mutual selection. It would not be mutual selection if I wanted AKA but they didn't want me...I wouldn't get a membership invite. Or if I DIDN'T want AKA but they wanted me...I wouldn't accept the invite (or they'd know not to give me one). If someone receives more than one bid (which happens in NIC and NPC chapters), they choose which invite to accept...it's still mutual selection by Webster's definition.

Where it gets confusing is when you start talking about formal recruitment rules...while it still holds the basic meaning I stated above, it's also become a "lingo" or "jargon" phrase. I'm too tired to explain ranking your pref choices and stuff like that, so someone else can do that. But it still boils down to accepting the bid you're given...you want them, they want you.

I don't know if this answered your question or not (I'm not sure if I remembe what your question is anymore!!!) As much as I love being a sorority member (and advisor), we make things too dang hard sometimes!!!!

PsychTau

PS: Senusret, you're right. Alum groups do it quite differently than undergrads. I wasn't even thinking about alums when I originally answered. Heck...I'm not even sure I'm thinking at all anymore...so I'll just hush!!! :)

I think that you did a good job of explaining things. Also, when it comes to stuff like AI, we don't hold information sessions either. We invite women to join that we know and know us but most importantly is that they are ready and willing to uphold our ideals and purpose. I call them "Sisters without Badges".