Expanding
 

Hi everyone!! I am a member of AOZ a co-ed fraternity, and we need to take the next step in expanding. We are a local fraternity coming out of buffalo. I really want to get a Beta chapter going, but no one has done it, so I guess I'm researching on how ppl in the past have done it. We've been around for 15 years, we are the longest standing co-ed fraternity. I feel that this is a great thing we got going, and ppl can really gain from our group if we expand. I'm really determined to make this happen. Anyone got any advice? :)

Hi there.....just some general questions and some general advice.

Questions:

Does your fraternity have a website? (If it does, the remaining questions will be answered on my own. If not....)
What is the mission of your fraternity?
Is it multicultural (by design)?
Is it service oriented (like APO or Gamma Sigma Sigma)?
Or is it more like a general fraternity which happens to be coed?
Does it have a house?

Advice:
Read books like In Search of Sisterhood, African American Sororities and Fraternities: The Legacy and the Vision, and perhaps even Bound By a Mighty Vow. While they don't speak on the expansion of coed fraternities in particular, I think they would be good to know how to law a solid foundation for any organization.

Good luck!

On your campus?? In the city?? On your block?? You're definitely not the longest standing Nationally, by FAR.

we are not a muticultural fraternity, but we are very diverse. what I ment by longest standing co-ed frat, is that we are the longest standing co-ed frat that is a social fraternity. as far as I know most other co-eds are community service based, or multicultural. but any info on co-ed would be great! we dont have a house unfortunately. our mission is to provide men and women with a place to nurture their own virtues, especially those of charity scholarship and unity, in a social aspect.

There have been social co-eds at Dartmouth for around 30 years.

Delta Psi, more commonly known as "Saint Anthony Hall" or simply "The Hall," was founded at Columbia in 1847 and went co-ed in the 1960s. It is a member of the North American Interfraternity Conference.

Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity, founded at Hamilton College in 1832, dealt with whether or not to go co-ed for quite a few years from the early 70s on, with some chapters initiating women and others resisting the idea. In 1992, when it became clear that the co-ed chapters and the all-male chapters simply were not going to be able to co-exist, four co-ed chapters, by mutual consent of all concerned, withdrew from the fraternity and formed the Alpha Delta Phi Society, retaining much of the tradition of the fraternity.

lots of thanks
 

thanks for all the info, i really appreciate it.:)

The ADPhi Society is limited to New England and NYC, at least if they want to use the AD name. BTW, it was five chapters, but Bowdoin closed, and the chapter they founded at Middlebury had closed as well.

My advice to you on expansion (and this is in addition to Senusret's response below):

- Once you have looked at potential campuses that you are interested in expanding to, talk to the Greek Life/Student Orgs office. Just because you are interested in expanding to that campus, there may be a variety of reasons why the campus is not ready to expand.
- Talk to members of various orgs at the campus(es) you want to expand to- though you may see a need for an organization like yours on that campus, it may not be the first org to be there and there may not be an actual need (or desire) for the org to be on the campus at that time
- Once you do begin the expansion process, look into working with a council of similar orgs on that campus, or if you can't find a council with similar orgs, again, talk to the Greek Life/Student Orgs staff about finding other orgs to help support you during and after the expansion.
- Be sure that all of your members are interested in expanding and are all willing to help with the process. I've seen a few chapters on my campus where one or two people were interested in expanding, but the rest of the chapter wasn't interested at all, and the new colonies ended up failing.

Good luck

I've been at UB for a while now, and I've never heard of your organization. Are you at Buff State, Canisius, or one of the other schools in the area? Is your group social like Delta Omega Psi (another local co-ed org in Buffalo), or service like Alpha Phi Omega, or cultural like my organization, Theta Delta Sigma Society (Which was founded at UB 5 years ago.)?

As for expanding, try to get the word out about your organization and what it does first, so you can form interest groups at other schools so you'll be able to add chapters with greater ease than with just going to different places and trying to add chapters. It may seem difficult, but it can be done. For example, in the five years Theta has been in existence, we have expanded to three chapters in New York and Connecticut. So good luck with your expansion.

buff state
 

yeah we're at buff state. I talked to someone from DZO and they said UB doesnt allow co-eds at UB unless service or professional. i guess its not allowed because of a hazing policy they have there- or we would try expand there. but yes we are a social greek fraternity. :)

Don't listen to your friend. Both Theta Delta Sigma Society, Inc. and Delta Omega Psi Co-ed Fraternity are both recognized as interest groups by the Greek Life office at UB. Having interest group status presents challenges in that an "interest group" doesn't have the same privileges as a fully recognized fraternity or sorority, such as "interest groups" have to wait until the fourth week of classes each semester in order to hold rush, as opposed to fully recognized organizations who are allowed to hold rush right away. But I think that is the only restriction that interest groups have compared to the fully recognized organizations.