Quote:
Originally posted by ariesrising
My main question is why deactivate and not just take alum status?
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I think that NMs need to be educated more on what comes after collegiate membership. You may not want to be a part of the organization after initiation because of internal problems in your chapter, but if you're educated on the fact that collegiate membership is not the only way to be involved in the organization, maybe it would allow people who don't feel like they fit with their chapter to consider keeping their membership internationally, as there's so much more out there than one chapter.
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ariesrising, good points made!! The problem is that if everyone could just go alumna when they didn't like their chapter, no one would be a dues-paying collegiate member and much revenue would be lost. Most of the sororities I know of will not allow you to go alum unless you are graduating or leaving the university to transfer schools, get married or start a family. So if you don't meet those criteria, and you are disatisfied with your membership, you have the option of remaining a dues-paying undergrad member or voluntarily cancelling your membership and no longer being a sister. In cases where you have an unforseen financial hardship or family emergency, or you are taking a semester to study abroad, you can take advantage of a one-time "inactivity" status that saves you from paying your dues for the remainder of that academic year.
And sadly, sororities do a great job of promoting the undergrad experience, but alumnae associations exist primarily as a support group. There is no huge push to recruit alumnae members, nor requirements for alumnae chapters to stay in operation (number of service hours a year, etc)... nor motivation to require a new or older alumna to remain actively involved in the sorority. I call again on the great Junior League model-- there are requirements that you must fulfill and after a set number of years, you take on a voluntary sustainer status where you pay dues and have limited requirements that differ from active members.
If sororities actively recruited alumnae members for AI and made specific membership requirements, more women would be compelled to remain active post-college, IMHO. The reason we lose so many woman to volunteer groups like JL is that their numbers are larger and there is expecation for performance. In alumnae associations, your membership status is not in jeopardy for failing to show up to the annual meeting or completing service hours. If we hold our alumnae members to the same expectations as collegiate members, and foster that expectation from the time they are new members, you would see sororities having much greater success at both the collegiate and alumnae levels, as well as earning the support and respect of college adminstration. Again, IMHO.