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Originally posted by Nhfulmer
This is all I have time for today. I did not intend to offend anyone with my original post. I have never heard of AI's as you all describe them. The Zeta who was initiated at Convention had Zeta connections (her mother) and would be considered an "Honor Initiate". I was at a meeting last night with a friend who is an active ADPi alumna and told her of this discussion. She also had never heard of this and the words out of her mouth were (Don't shoot the messenger; this is what she said.) "Why would anyone want to when they could join other worthwhile groups? We are bound from our college years." So you see it is not just me who didn't know what you were talking about. Our alumnae Panhellenic meets next week and I am going to ask the representatives their opinions and how many of their groups have this policy.
Please forgive me if I offended some of you. That was not my intention -- I just didn't know what you were talking about. I still do not understand but then I have been a Zeta since before I attended my first class in college. To me, it is all wrapped up with college experiences. Yes, my best years have been as an alumna but then most of my years have been as an alumna.
Some of you need to be less quick to take offense. I'm glad that you are happy with your affiliation. Just because I have never heard of it and questioned the reasons, doesn't make me a bad person.
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Nhfulmer, I don't think anybody here was trying to attack you for the opinions you stated, and I hope you still feel comfortable posting them.
Traditionally, the NPC sororities have been seen as a "college-only experience." They've been associated with drinking, promiscuity, frivolousness and immaturity, and I think the NPC is trying to move away from that image by emphasizing that sororities are not just for college, they're for life, and involvement in them continues long after college is over. I think that along with that push, alumnae initiation is experiencing a surge in popularity, and it will continue to grow in the years to come. I think the reason it hasn't been popular before now is that most people didn't know about it! That goes for people in the sororities AND those outside of it. Now, with the internet, information travels so much more quickly, and I think the process of alumnae initiation will lose a lot of its "mystification."
The historically black sororities have always emphasized lifetime membership and they've always allowed post-undergraduate women to join -- and subsequently, they are VERY respected in the black community. I think the NPC sororities are making a push towards that sort of emphasis, hoping that the stereotype of superficial, immature college "sorority girls" will be diminished, and replaced with a picture of women of all ages working together to help each other succeed, contribute to the community and have fun.
I know you probably feel like these women were too quick to get angry, and maybe they were. But also try to see it from their view: I'm sure that at some point in your life, you've had non-Greeks ask you why you chose to go through the supposedly superficial process of "sorority rush" where women judge you on your looks, clothes, and three minutes worth of conversation. You probably felt disrespected by their degrading of the rush process. Now just imagine that it was a member of another sorority telling you that the rush process you used to join your organization was silly or strange, and that THEIR organization would never allow women to join in the way that you joined yours. I think you would be a little offended too.
I don't mean to offend you . . . I am just trying to help explain where these women are coming from.