British Fraternity
 

Hi there boys/girls, i've just joined up to this site a minute ago, so i'm not sure if this is in the right place...

I'm a university student in Bournemouth, England, i've just finished my first year, and me and my housemates have been talking for a few weeks about setting up seemingly the only fraternity/chapter in England.

So, can anyone give me tips on how to start a chapter of a fraternity in England, is there an all-encompassing fraternity governing body that i can contact about setting up a British chapter?

Any information you lot can throw at me would be lush!

Cheers guys

Jack

Hey Jack.

I'm afraid that there is no all-encompassing "governing body" to contact about setting up a British chapter. While fraternities may belong to associations designed to work for the good of all member groups, each fraternity governs itself and makes its own decisions about chartering.

So, you'd have to contact specific fraternities to see if they would be interested in chartering a chapter in England. I have to be honest and say that I can't see any wanting to do so -- if nothing else, the logistics (and expense) of trying to maintain adequate contacts with a chapter on the other side of the Atlantic would seem to make an English chapter unworkable.

Sorry, but that's what I think you'll find out.

If you want to try to start your own fraternity, you can look around here and find some threads about doing that. I think some may even have come from some other Britons.

Good luck!

Hey,

Zeta Psi Fraternity ( http://www.zetapsi.org/ ) does have an existing chapter in England at Oxford University. It is our Iota Omicron chapter. So it is possible. As far as I know we are the only one with any chapters in England. Zeta Psi is looking at other international chapters. Potential chapters must meet certain criteria to be accepted, as do the universities we choose.

Here is the contact info for starting a chapter of Zeta Psi. From what I understand we have about 8-10 requests a year for perspective chapters. We usually only accept 1 or 2, as the Fraternity is choosy as to what universities we go to. In the USA the criteria is top 100, in Canada it is determined partially by ranking, programs offered etc. Not sure what they are looking for internationally. http://www.zetapsi.org/about/starting

I am sure since we have a successful chapter in England there may be others looking to make the move overseas as well.

I didn't know that, and I stand corrected. Interesting!

I did my undergrad in the states and in Northern Ireland, and I'm doing my postgrad in Scotland right now, just so you know where I'm coming from.

I really have to wonder if Greek Life could take off in Britain the same way it did in the states. What i see as the difference between British and American universities is that British universities maybe lack something of the "community cohesion" (speaking broadly here, of course) and a sense of campus identity that American universities have. I think in the US this derives from everyone living in close quarters (its not unusual for students to live on campus, in halls of res. for all 4 years) and basically living and breathing the university for 4 years. What I've felt in the UK is that, yeah, I go to University of ......, but that doesn't mean a whole lot aside from what's printed on my parchment. Meanwhile in the states, if I said, "yeah, I go to Ohio State/Pitt/insert big university here", people associate an identity with those schools...its very strange.

Now, that being said, I think that Fraternity and Sorority life could be very beneficial to the university community in the UK. It would provide students from far away (both home/eu and non) with a support system that's independent from the uni. It could involve students in their university and the community at large (and ease the "town and gown" problems that sometimes occur). I think it could help with the fact that, aside from us woeful postgrads and our research, universities tend to be empty during the weekends.

So yes, go forth and fraternize! Check with your student union on the rules/regs/paperwork for forming new organizations before you go charging headlong, because the last thing you want to get held up on is a technicality. Work the student media as well, it will raise your profile and get people asking questions. In future years, you could use fresher's week to gain interest (by doing community work, not the rest of the debauchery that happens during that week)!

oh, and check your private messages!

I had no idea that Zeta Psi had a chapter at Oxford. Very cool.

Jack, if you'd like to learn more about American fraternities you might stop by the NIC (North-American Interfraternity Conference) website. http://www.nicindy.org/

The member fraternities and their own websites are listed here: http://www.nicindy.org/information/N..._fraternities/
Phi Delta Theta and Kappa Sigma both left the NIC but their websites are:
http://www.phideltatheta.org/
http://www.kappasigma.org/

Best of luck to you!

Hey im from UK, england quite near to bournemouth i was wondering if you do ever make that fraternity jus tell me how u did it because i was actually wonderin if i could do the same