Hi, OPAGal...
I'm new to all of this too, but I can tell you what has worked for me.
First of all, my group is NOT affiliating with the campus Greek system, and we are not applying to be recognized as a student organization. There are a number of reasons for this decision. For one thing, our chapter will be operating in a region that has FIVE colleges in the immediate area. We want to invite women from all of the campuses, so being a student organization at UMass seems irrelevent. We have advertised our chapter as a Community-Based Sorority, and that phrase seems to have turned some heads! Certainly a plus! Also, we want the freedom to run our recruitment as we see fit, and we do not have the resources or the desire to do formal Rush with the UMass Greeks. We could never compete with the big sororities on campus, and honestly, I'm not looking for this chapter to be as big or as competitive as they are. Most Beta Sigma Phi chapters include 10-20 women, and that sounds just fine to me!
I can certainly see benefits to being a recognized student org. As Ginger (see Milwaukee thread) has discovered, some campuses won't allow a group to advertise or reserve a meeting space unless it is officially recognized. You should probably find out how things work on your campus before you do any advertising.
Things are pretty relaxed here, so the advertising rules were not an issue. People put up signs for everything from textbooks to strip clubs, and no one seems to care. Early this fall, I contacted the Office of Greek Affairs via e-mail to let them know that I was starting a Beta chapter that would not be affiliated with the UMass Greek system. I didn't want them to see my fliers and get all worked up about this sorority that they knew nothing about. Fortunately, the head of Greek Affairs was familiar with Beta Sigma Phi, and he wished us good luck in our efforts. I'm in the process of writing a letter of introduction to send to all of our GLOs. I want them to understand the ways that Beta is different (i.e. not their competition), but I also want to emphasize that we have the same goals...to promote friendship and to impact our community in a positive way.
I would be happy to e-mail you some of our fliers as attachments if you would like. You can just PM me with your e-mail addy.
One of my favorite fliers said: "Beta Sigma Phi. Community-Based. Internationally Loved."
Each of the fliers lists the International website and our local site as well as an e-mail address.
Good luck,
Erica
