My chapter had its origins as a local sorority. My local was an associate member of the campus Panhellenic, which meant we had a non-voting representative and our sisters could hold minor offices, but we weren't in the rotation for the major offices. Once we were chartered as a chapter of AEPhi, of course, the chapter became a full member of Panhel.
The major snag was that our Greek Life Advisor didn't believe my local was a real sorority.
At a presentation to prospective students, he declared, "There are four sororities on campus." At the time, there were four NPC sororities, AKA, and my local. Our president was sitting in the front row, and she loudly cleared her throat. He looked over and said, "...oh, and you guys." Then instead of correcting his statement, he just went right on talking!