Starting a New Chapter & Advice

[al_z]

I need a little advice, from anyone willing to give it. I also apologize in advance for the long post (and if this is the wrong subforum...)

And, for the record, I'm spending 15-20 hours a week trying to get this off the ground (the other guys I've recruited are devoting a similar amount).

My school is a private university with ~1/3 of the campus being Greek.

A group of guys and myself (~25) are interested in starting a new chapter here at the university -- the majority of us rushed, but discovered the Greek system here is a bit questionable (some of the chapters are at risk for losing their charter, etc etc). The average fraternity on campus is approx. 60 guys, with the typical pledge class being ~15.

We have a cumulative gpa of roughly 3.5 (), and we're heavily involved on campus (student councils, radio station, researchers, varsity sports, scholarship winners, etc.), for context.

We reached out to a number of national fraternity organizations (NGLO is the term?) and have one that is willing to sponsor us (they've flown our representatives to talk with us -- leaving the specific organization out). We currently have colony approval from the nationals, a board of alumni (which is larger than the average fraternity's alumni board here), 25 interested committed guys (with another 20-30 who are planning on rushing), faculty advisors, and the support of a couple of the other fraternities on/off campus, as well as sororities.

But here's our issue: the university is slow. It's taken them roughly 4 years to add a sorority (given each has ~200 members, and the # of people rushing is going up every year), and the last fraternity that started here was started in the 1950s (aka, no one here in the university knows how this process works). The IFC constitution is from the 1980s and contradicts itself regularly on how colonies are supposed to start and gain recognition. Everything we do with the administration seems to lead nowhere (we've had multiple meetings, they've met with our nationals reps, and little progress has been made).

Without university recognition, we're not allowed to do anything. We're not allowed to hold meetings on campus, volunteer on campus, anything. It's really stalling anything we try to do.

There's also the issue of housing. We're currently operating out of a small off-campus apartment, but that's really not going to hold up for long.

So my questions (sorry for the long-winded post!) are as follows:
1) Do you have any recommendations for working with the university to try and expedite support/recognition? I'm racking my brain trying to come up with a way to get this going.
2) Would you recommend operating even w/o university recognition? (This would create liability for us, but if we acquired a house, would not be a terrible idea).
3) For housing, what's realistic? Should we try and purchase a house with a mortgage, or lease/rent?

Thanks for your time.

[excelblue]

Glad to see that you're getting an organization going with good numbers, plenty of initiative, and national backing. I also co-founded a nationally-backed chapter (a few years go) and have gained so much from the experience.

1.) Work with them to get a schedule with hard deadlines. Ask them about the process, who/what it'll involve, and devise a timely action plan. Figure out what your roadblocks are and actively work to overcome them. Thankfully, it's usually magnitudes easier to start an IFC chapter than to colonize a NPC sorority.

2.) Not recommended. The liability involved can get you shut down and looked upon unfavorably. It's not worth the risk unless national HQ is backing you 100% (which is unlikely). Even then, you'll have trouble recruiting people / gaining opportunities if you don't have the university's backing.

3.) A fraternity is not about a house. Focus on the brotherhood/operations/values first. After all, that's why all of you didn't join one of the existing fraternities in the first place, right? If a few of you want to get together and unofficially live in the same place, that may be a good idea, but having a house introduces a lot of financial/logistical challenges that may be detrimental to a brand new organization. Also, remember that any place you get isn't necessarily permanent; you can always upgrade if you have the means to do so.

Good luck, and I hope you're involving the national organization along the entire process.

[al_z]

@excelblue: Thanks for the reply and advice. We're still trying to schedule meetings with some of the deans/chancellors involved with Greek Life. They've been giving us vague answers/run around. From my friends who are in the IFC, our university's GLO is very...slow. They will sit on their hands and discuss issues into the ground.

And on the house note: I fully understand it's not about the house, but just at our specific Greek system, the house represents the fraternity (to a degree more than even the brothers present) -- how its maintained, what it is, etc. The first question most people ask of us (we're trying to play this relatively close to the chest, pardoning the cliche) is where our house is. It would really help solidify us if we had a house (would also give the university a little more reason to approve/acknowledge us), especially since we're not allowed to do anything on campus without recognition.

[DubaiSis]

It sounds like you've got quite a bit of support so I'd start using it. Hopefully the local alumni have some connections. And your national org should be able to provide insight and possibly do the talking on your behalf. And when you communicate with the University or IFC, make sure your requests or statements are clear, concise and to the point. I would find a way to justify your expansion using the language they provide. If it's contradictory, that's pretty easy; just use the parts that work for you. It will either work by them not knowing what their bylaws say or by making them fix their bylaws and clarifying your position.

But I think I'd also start marketing heavily to get your group to a point where they really have to let you in. If you have by-laws, standards, organized meetings, do a philanthropy (even if it's off campus), follow the drinking and other behavior rules to a T and probably better than the existing fraternities, what are they gonna say? You can't make it on their campus?

[excelblue]

Everyone at my campus has been asking where's my chapter's house for three years. For the first year, it was: "we don't have a house yet but are looking into get one." For the past two years, it was: "we don't really have a house, unless you count the unofficial one which has several brothers living in it." In fact, we're the chapter that's been around the longest without an official house. Yeah, a house will help, but it's a potential liability at the same time. In a sense, it's kind of like owning a car: will help you get places, but there's gas/maintenance/parking/insurance to maintain. Get one only when you're ready; by the sounds of it, you're not quite there yet.

As for administration: if they won't give themselves deadlines, you should propose reasonable deadlines and see if they can meet them. If it involves any higher-ups, you should figure out who those are and arrange meetings with them if they don't figure it out themselves. As a rule of thumb, I find that even the busiest people are usually able to schedule a day-long meeting with about 3wk notice.