[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Yeah so does this topic boil down to the difference between NPHC and NPC/NIC?

It will be kinda funny if it does.

Originally Posted by EE-BO

I have zero personal experience with NPHC alumni/alumnae chapters, but after reading about them here over the years I agree answers to the OP's question will depend entirely on NPHC vs NPC/NIC.

Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest

I think it does indeed. People keep making excuses like our members are single, no kids, no jobs and nothing else to do...LOL! Sure everyone can't devote the same amount of time but if it means that much to you, you'll do what you can whenever you can.

I do think you have to be reared with this mentality though and clearly every org doesn't instill this in its members. I think that's the big difference.

I'm swerving out of my lane a bit here (though in this regard I think we're very much like the NIC fraternities), so anyone who thinks I'm off track about this, feel free to say so. (Not like you needed permission. )

While I do think that it boils down to a NPHC - NIC/NPC difference, I don't think it's necessarily a difference of whether some groups stress the lifetime commitment more than others. I think it's a difference in the groups to begin with.

NPHC groups, while social organizations are also service organizations. At least from what I've learned here at GC and what I've seen in real life, the social and service aspects are perhaps equally important. Thus, there is an understanding from the outset that your involvement in the fraternity or sorority will be involvement in service to the community through that fraternity or sorority.

NIC (and similar) fraternities and NPC sororities, on the other hand, are primarily social organizations. True, most have in the last few decades adopted official philanthropies and most have always had some degree of service to the community, but that is secondary (or tertairy) in their reasons for being. The lifetime expectations in NIC/NPC-type groups is that you will continue to cherish and foster the bonds of brotherhood or sisterhood for life, that you will live the values of the organization for life and that you will continue to be involved by supporting the organization and its chapters in whatever way you can. That, I think, is why some NPC-people here have talked about joining other groups (Junior League, Jaycees, Rotary) over alumnae groups. If you want to do community service, you join a group that does that. In my experience, NIC/NPC-type alumni/ae groups exist primarily if not exclusively for social purposes and to support nearby chapters, not to do community service (although they may do some). Often, participating in particular community service groups or activities can be seen as an effective way of living out the values of one's GLO.

It seems to me that the difference, then, is not whether membership is for a lifetime. That's a red herring. It's what lifetime membership entails, which in turn depends on the nature of the fraternity or sorority to begin with.