[FuzzieAlum]

These mostly apply to new groups, not colonized locals, just because I know more about that.

- Make sure the campus really wants a new colony. It's heartbreaking, but sometimes Panhellenic commits to a chapter and then proceeds to tear it down the moment it materializes. Look at the history. Have other young chapters failed there recently?

- Get the alums involved. The chapter will rely on them financially and for volunteers long after the colonization period is over. Make sure they are behind the colony. Make sure they are willing to be advisors. And make it clear to them that their involvement will be ongoing - they aren't just there to help until the new chapter pops out its first bunch of alums in a year or two.

- Ensure they have competitive housing, whatever that is on the campus.

- Sniff the winds of change. Are any kinds of restructuring, new housing or new policies on the way, especially of the kind that might place you at a disadvantage?

- Information, information, information! Fraternities typically take a couple of years, whereas sorority colonizations frequently happen in under a semester. Either way, the group needs tons of information from nationals. What do we need to do? What next? What do we need to do to get our charter? You can't communicate too much.

- Give them a strong advisor. He/she needs to be flexible enough to know campuses A and B are different, and firm enough to know what Something is the XYZ way. The advisor needs to put in serious time and effort - and to know when he or she can no longer handle the position.

- Teach them to rush. Maybe a few of them have gone through formal rush, but none of them have ever done it from the other side. (Similar for guys, too. Informal rush is a learned skill.) A sorority that is only good at COB will eventually find itself working too hard for members.