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Originally Posted by TSteven
From what I have read and heard, Phi Mu Alpha would be a welcomed member of NIC. My understanding is that the only issue in joining is duel membership.
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That's certainly one of the issues. My understanding of the dual membership question, though, is similar to yours -- that should we join the NIC, any ban on dual membership would likely be prospective only.
Another big issue, frankly, is money. As I understand it, dues to the NIC are based on the number of active chapters a fraternity has. If we were to seek membership and be accepted, we would be in the top 5 fraternities in terms of number of chapters (although our chapters tend to be smaller than those of many NIC fraternities). That would make for a really large bump in our budget (and dues, probably) -- the kind of extra obligation a fraternity doesn't want to take on unless there is a real comfort level that membership will be worth it.
There's another issue to, I think. While we remain out of the NIC, our chapters don't necessarily have to join IFC, at least on most campuses. I think right now our concensus is that it's better to let the decision to joing IFC/Greek Council be made on a campus-by-campus basis. Many chapters have joined IFC and it's worked great for them. Some chapters have been required by the administration to join. For other chapters, they may do better outside IFC, maybe being part of a council like AwaysSAI described. Campus cultures are different -- on some campuses, our chapters stick pretty much to the music department. (Shoot, on many campuses,
all the music students create a school within a school by sticking close to the music department.) On other campuses, our chapters are actively involved in campus life in general and are much less confined to the music department. Not being in NIC allows some flexibility for chapters to do what works best for them.
So for now, we're keeping things like they are and are not part of any umbrella org. (That is, unless one counts the Interfraternity Music Council, which is basically an annual gathering of the presidents of the "music GLOs".)
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Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI
I do know that the PMA chapter at my sister's school (Western Carolina Univ.) petitions to be a part of their campus IFC every semester and are turned down because they (allegedly) haze. I honestly think it's activities condoned by PMA nationals that are viewed as hazing by IFC....but anyway.
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I'd be curious what activities that would be considered hazing by IFC would be condoned by our nationals. Curious and maybe a little skeptical.
Though I could easily believe that some practices condoned by our nationals would be considered hazing by the NPC. {ducking and taking cover}