Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge
Thank you, but also we've been doing things largely the same for years and years. It's not hard to "copy off our paper" if you wanted to.
However, NPHC orgs fill gaps that groups of white women have filled with other community and civic endeavors for many, many years. For example, the Junior League. There is no black version of the Junior League, so black sororities have filled that need for black women after graduation.
I'm not saying the Junior League is the main competitor for college women after graduation, but let's also be honest that most college women don't stay engaged in their sororities after college. Alumnae initiation is the true pipeline. Maybe even moreso for NPHC fraternities than sororities.
I agree with all of this. I wanted to tag you in before I answered, but I don't know you in real life LOL
I don't know that a dialogue is really necessary, though. I just think that NPC alumnae groups need to show up in places that they're not accustomed to. In my home town, for example, there is definitely an alumnae panhellenic. But are they showing up in DC Public Schools to talk about the sorority experience?
I agree with this, too. And with alumnae/alumni intake, we definitely encourage people who don't feel like the college chapter is a fit to just wait and pursue after they graduate. For me, I didn't come to know I wanted to pursue Alpha until I was a senior in college, but because I knew about alumni chapters, I was happy to wait until the timing was better.
That's part of it. I know a lot more goes into it than this, but NPC orgs have to be okay with being dramatically different sizes if they want to change the culture. I'd rather see a college campus with a huge chapter of Chi Chi Chi and a small chapter of Pi Alpha--if that's who they decide to be based on available interest.
This happens at large black colleges where 75 women may pledge AKA or Delta, 15 may pledge Zeta, and 5 may pledge SGRho -- and nobody is unhappy with those numbers because everybody is where they want to be (except the women who got rejected of course lol).
I think here is a place to retell the brief story that my mom (a Delta of nearly 50 years) rushed at a Michigan college and ALL the sororities participated. She still has a memento from a Delta Zeta rush party (I think she got a bid). I am not sure how it was structured, but she went into the rush because it was mandatory to go visit all the orgs, and for all orgs to participate, even if they weren't necessarily giving out bids.
That said...
Me and NUPE4LIFE (former Kappa mod and friend of mine) discuss Greek life all the time, and we've come to the agreement that all Greek orgs should participate in some sort of mandatory first round event where all orgs are visited. This would build an appreciation of BGLO, LGLO, and MCGLOs among the predominately white organizations, while allowing those same orgs to "catch" people who didn't know about them beforehand, if that makes sense.
It puts everyone on the same playing field if you come to college not knowing the totality of Greekdom. This would allow the AKA and Delta legacy daughters that Carnation mentioned the chance to really see the other side, and would allow students who don't know any better have a chance to make an informed decision.
AND the elimination of legacy preference levels the playing field further.
Recs should indeed be next on the chopping block.
Sorry if this rambles. I'm used to speaking about this more than typing about it.
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