Has there ever been a sorority system started from scratch?
 

I was talking with one of my friends about this recently and we were both pretty curious. Has there ever been a case (in modern times) where a university opened up its doors to sororities and multiple groups expanded at the same time? I'm 75% Pepperdine did this, was wondering if that was true and if this has happened on any other campuses. How did that work? Was it like rush or did they all do separate expansions? It would be really interesting to see a full scale recruitment WITHOUT any tent talk, preconceived notions, etc (although it's likely that groups of girls joined up to pursue one over the other).

University of Arkansas-Fort Smith established Greek Life just last year. Gamma Phi Beta and Delta Gamma were the first two sororities on campus.

Clayton State (Georgia) is starting up this year. Theta Phi Alpha and ASA will be the first 2 sororities.

Valparaiso kind of. I believe there were locals that simultaneously went NPC,; they had "mutual selection" to match up locals' and NPCs' preferences. Maybe ValpoKD or polarpi could tell us more?

ETA: I just read elsewhere on GC that John Carroll also had locals that all went NPC together.

On another note, it makes me sad that certain schools are so anti-Greek (cough cough Colby) that they are unwilling to give Greeks another chance. The risk management policies are definitely not what they were in the 1980s and starting a new Greek system gives the students and the administration the opportunity to make it what they want. Fraternities and sororities have so much good to offer and part of their beauty is that they are different at every school, yet they are bound by the same values. It's a real shame that some administrations fail to see that.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi colonized 3 NPC groups (DDD, AGD and GphiB) in fall 1998 as well as 3 NIC fraternities at the same time (Phi Delt, Beta and SigEp). The school also offered the opportunity to AKA and they waited a few years to colonize. We just added Delta Chi (NIC) last fall and the women are going to discuss NPC expansion this semester too. We have also added several NPHC and NALFO groups with mixed success.

Prior to 1994, the school was upper divison only, just jrs, srs and grads, so Greek life obviously not an option there. The school actually started in 1947 as small Baptist school, 4 year, and had a few NIC and local chapters for several years.

Darn. You beat me to the Valpo comment. So far, so good with their NPC Greeks!

These may not be as recent examples as you would like:

Previously all-male Washington and Lee admitted women as undergraduates for the first time in 1985. I believe Kappa, Theta, and Chi O were allowed to colonize in 1989 and then Pi Phi and KD were added at 2 separate times in the 90s. W&L has had a long history of male Greek Life as several of the male fraternities are single letter chapters and have been at W&L for well over a century.

Wake Forest had all local sororities yet national fraternities. They had each of these local sororities affiliate with an NPC sometime in the late 80s/early 90s. There was a GC thread a couple of years ago about one of the Wake groups keeping too many of the local traditions even after 15 years of NPC affiliation.

When starting a brand new greek system at a university, is it more common to have 2+ groups colonize at once or just colonize one group at a time? I figured it would be more practical to see how one group would fair then add more, but I have no experience in the matter. What's the norm?

Yes, UT-Tyler did this - but you forgot Gamma Phi Beta! They all three colonized at the same time.

It really depends on what the administration wants to do. When Tusculum opened a few years ago, only one NPC group colonized and it didn't seem to take. No further efforts have been made. On the other hand, UT-Tyler decided to add three groups at once because they felt that that was best for them. It seems to have turned out great.

IIRC, the colonization recruitment process there was a little different then other multiple colonizations that I have seen. The three groups held recruitment at the same time similar to formal recruitment but a bit more involved with interviews. The process was detailed on the UT-Tyler web site so I am sure that it is in cache somewhere.

Sorry I missed this - the merging of the local sororities with NPC organizations happened a little before I started school at Valpo (and 2 years before I joined). adpi*violet would know more than I did, as she was a charter member of our chapter, but what you describe sounds right :)

I'll try and get adpi*violet over here to check in on the discussion :D

Pennsylvania College of Technology is opening for sororities in the Fall of '09. They currently have 2 fratenities (Phi Mu Delta and Sigma Nu) and are adding another fraternity this semester (Chi Phi). No word on how many sororities will be invited to colonize.

Probably not as modern as you were thinking...

Twelve of the thirteen locals all went national within a 29 month period at Texas A&M University - Commerce (then East Texas State College) back in the late 50's early 60's.

5/11/59 - The Friars merged with Vanguard Club affiliated with Delta Sigma Phi (inactive)
9/21/59 - The Tjas Club affiliated with Sigma Phi Epsilon (inactive)
12/5/59 - Marpessa Club affiliated with Chi Omega
3/12/60 - Les Choisites affiliated with Alpha Phi
3/27/60 - Kaidishan Club affiliated with Kappa Delta
5/14/60 - Artema Club affiliated with Lambda Chi Alpha (inactive 1991)
6/60 - Cavaliers Club affiliated with Delta Tau Delta
11/19/60 - The Paragon affiliated with Kappa Alpha
3/11/61 - Kalir Klub affiliated with Alpha Delta Pi (inactive early 80’s)
5/2/61 - Ogima Current Events Society affiliated with Pi Kappa Phi (inactive 1994)
10/1/61 - Tooanoowe Social Club affiliated with Gamma Phi Beta