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Originally posted by CarolinaDG
I think the most frustrating thing about it is that unless you went through it, you will never understand... and because of that there's no way to really help it from happening to other chapters. Plus, explaining all of the details within a chapter is often a breach of confidentiality.
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This is really true. I know a number of sisters I was close to in the house still feel rather bitter about the whole thing. (We were all officers together at various times.) Since we had all graduated, we never really had the opportunity to say good-bye, visit the house one last time, understand the entire closing process, etc. My position was better than most because I was a national volunteer at the time so I had access to more information and people. But for a lot of women who had worked their you-know-whats off for three or four years, trying to make a difference in keeping the chapter alive and stronger, it was a really hard pill to swallow. If you've ever been a part of a chapter that had to work twice as hard to achieve half as much and then saw it close, you know exactly what I am talking about.
I know the whole chapter closing thing soured a lot of women on their membership and they have no interest in being involved as alumnae. It really is too bad because we had a lot of phenomenal women in our chapter who have lost all interest in DDD because it is too upsetting to really care about it any longer.
Our magazine (The Trident) recently went subscription only so unless you are a member of an alumnae chapter or have paid to be a Life Loyal member (or whatever it is called), you will no longer receive the magazine. I can imagine a lot of women from closed chapters won't subscribe to something that reminds them each quarter of what they lost.
I don't know if GLOs in general do anything in particular to reach out to members of closed chapters. My experience is that they do not. Usually it is just a little blurb in a corner of the magazine that announces with regret that such and such chapter has closed. Wouldn't it bring a lot more meaning and a better sense of closure for the members of that chapter to actually CELEBRATE that chapter's existance and the women who were a part of it rather than making a tiny little announcement in the corner of a page? Write up a page about the history of the chapter and celebrate the accomplishments they had during their history rather than just closing the chapter and pretending like they never existed except during Founder's Day when you do a chapter roll call. At least celebrating the chapter's existance would make the alumnae of that chapter feel proud of their chapter instead of feeling shame that they are part of a closed chapter.
It is also hard because you don't want to come across like you are bashing your GLO. I truly love Tri Delta and am glad I was a DDD at MSU. I met some lifelong friends through the process and wouldn't trade my experiences for anything.
I know a number of folks here suggested trying to start an alumnae chapter in my area. I think it is one of those things that you can't understand unless you've gone through it. After devoting four years of my life to bringing the chapter back to see it fold a few years later, I just don't have it in me to start something all over again. Maybe someday, but not now.
I have volunteered on the national level and truthfully did not find it very enjoyable. It ends up being a lot of paperwork, emails and phone calls and not a whole lot of relationship. I would really prefer to be a local advisor so I could work directly with the women rather than make a once a year visit for a day or so and then all the rest of the time is spent on paperwork and dealing with problems from a distance. Just the way I'm wired, I guess. I'm so glad for the opportunities I had on the national level, but at least at this point in my life, the last thing I need it more paperwork and emails! LOL!
Well, thanks for letting me ramble and thanks too for all the nice comments. Our panhellenic was not very panhellenic-y so it is really fun to come to GC and converse with women (and men) from different GLOs from all over!
Sallie