[Erik P Conard]

Colleges have changed a lot in the past fifty years and apparently
so have groups, especially those using greek letters.
Some have come in the back door, being women's clubs in towns,
non-collegiate and have merged into higher education, too. That
is okay, but hardly what we would traditionally call "greek."
The trade schools and high school extensions (junior colleges) are
part of the warp and woof on some campuses. Some have tried
to "fit" themselves as traditional types as they had no chance to
be a "traditional greek." Identities have changed, too.
One would hardly take, for example, Phi Theta Kappa, as a social,
full-blown, organization. Some places that charter was sought to
be able to recognize good scholarship, open to all who had the grades, and each chapter could set it's own guidelines. Perhaps
a party or dance or event...say each semester. Sometimes even a
sweatshirt with letters. But take a look back to when the club was founded...was it fraternal? Or a money-maker with degrees
and $ for them? Has it been shaped to fit varied purposes on the
individual campuses? What is the common identity, if any? This
does not mean to imply there is no reason for their existence, but
please...do not equate Sigma Alpha Iota with Kappa Alpha Theta or Sinfonia with Beta Theta Pi...and besides, most of those non-NIC groups allow dual memberships. If your campus has Sinfonia
in the IFC, can you be a Sig Alph too? How do you handle the ones which are co-ed? Or the metro-urban-chapters? Do you identify with day school/night school, college or urban area?
Back to Phi Theta Kappa...it was a two-year organization, generally junior college>community college of questionable identity, perhaps a resume filler for transfer students. Certainly not a recognized power outfit, though one may choose to love it.
Extending bids to Phi Alpha Theta, the history club, or Delta Sigma
Pi, business, are generally not as intense as deciding who is gonna get an invite to Pi Phi or Lambda Chi. In the cases of the
professional groups, often someone simply says they want to be
a member, sign an application and pay the bucks...period.
But where each campus may be different, okay...but the NIC, NPC
ones have rather standardized criteria for membership and we
have strayed -- in some situations -- far from our roots. And if
you REALLY want to be in a social fraternity or sorority, join one.
There is plenty of room for more members or expansion to add a
new chapter or three...our welcome mat is out.