[FuzzieAlum]

The writer said, "Both are very valuable and both produce fine products." I don't think that was anti-local.

I think the biggest distinction between a local and a national isn't in the people in the chapter. Hazing or any other bad thing can start in any kind of chapter. Girls in an NPC group aren't smarter or better than members of locals. BUT if a chapter of a national group does start doing dumb things, and nationals finds out about it, it will be closed. It's sort of a quality control mechanism.

Many local sororities are wonderful, and they do offer some things nationals don't - on my campus, they had lower dues, for example, and looser rules about boys/drinking. (Quite frankly, if you are 21 and have a single, why can't you drink in-house or have a boy over? I can see why rules that strict turn some girls off.) But if a local has problems, the only one who can change it is the school, and their power is minimal, because the chapter can always go underground.

I think many people on here's experiences are colored by the locals they've experienced at their school. The local at my school was a Panhel member and followed all the rules for rush, etc. They did use to do some minor hazing but have since cleaned it up. So I have seen locals working well and upholding what I think of as being the good a sorority has to offer. Some folks on here, however, have seen locals that are out of control, and I'm sure that influences their opinions. It's hard not to have your opinions influenced by your own experiences! It takes a while to figure out how very different Greek systems and chapters can be. (You see the same thing happening when talking about hazing ... one person says "no one hazes," another says, "oh everyone hazes.")

The differences between Local A in City A and Local B in City B are as different as formal rush at a big Southern campus and rush at a small Midwestern liberal arts college with three chapters.