new national chapters

[carnation]

Well, it seems that suddenly the local groups at the college where I teach may very likely be going national. In this case, it's a very good decision. On the sorority side, I have contacted the extension chairmen of 8 NPC groups. We probably have room for 3 fraternities and 3 sororities--each group would have 50-70 members.

Does anyone have any advice for the college?

[coffeemug]

Well it will be an exciting and busy time for greek life at your school.

One suggestion is to contact NPC and let all National groups decide if they are interested in coming to this campus. You said you only contacted 8 groups, but by contacting NPC all groups would be notified and those interested typically submit written proposals.

A second suggestion is to have each sorority put together an information packet. NPC groups like to evaluate the health of individual groups as well as the system overall before deciding to extend.

Things to include: what quota has been on the campus the last 3 years, what the GPA of sororities are vs all women's gpa, what % of the campus is going greek.

For the individual sororities I would have them include their colors, symbols and history. What their membership numbers, sctivities and goals are like. Also a class distibution (# in each academic class). This is a great way for the local to make sure they include stuff about their personaility in order to find a national group that their is a good fit with.

What campus are you at and how soon are they looking to affiliate?? Some things to keep in mind --not all NPC groups are able to expand even though they might want to come to your campus. They may be committed to other extension projects, etc.

Good luck!!

[carnation]

Coffeemug, I would like to say which college this is but I would end up getting vulgar e-mails from a certain listmember, I'm sure. But it's a Southern college so I primarily contacted the classic Southern sororities--and those who really support a new chapter if they choose to colonize there (some, I recall from my days as a Greek advisor at a university, basically abandon their struggling chapters).

Also, alum support here would definitely be strongest from the classic Southern sororities--sometimes it seems that everyone here is a member of 1 of 5 groups! Also, I don't know yet whether each group would go national or the groups would just disband and the nationals would conduct rush. Probably the latter would be preferable.

[33girl]

I thought that in a situation like this all the NPC groups HAD to be contacted through a group notice to NPC, but I could be wrong.

Valparaiso University in Indiana recently had all their national sororities go local at one time (there were around 8 of them) a year or 2 ago. It might be worth it to you to contact their Greek life advisor and see how they handled the change. Good Luck!

[PenguinTrax]

Carnation,

The school administration must formally inform the NPC of the school's decision to open the campus for national colonization. The NPC will then forward the information to the 26 members of the NPC. Those interested in pursuing colonization will inform the NPC and that information will be sent back to the school.

While it is OK to contact some groups directly, you will need to follow NPC procedure.

As far as things to look out for - evaluating the health of the existing local chapters is key. At Valparaiso, the local group that accepted AST as their affiliation folded almost immediately. Recolonization efforts did not work and the local that had been on campus for decades (and their members) are nothing but a memory.

Don't rush the process with the locals - this is a BIG and difficult decision and there will be opposition within each group as well as the local alumnae chapters.

Barb

[33girl]

Originally posted by PnguinTrax:
As far as things to look out for - evaluating the health of the existing local chapters is key. At Valparaiso, the local group that accepted AST as their affiliation folded almost immediately. Recolonization efforts did not work and the local that had been on campus for decades (and their members) are nothing but a memory.

Barb

Barb - I'm not sure if you know but was it more due to the local group not being a strong group or AST not having the resources? Compared to the other nationals that colonized there AST was a lot smaller.

A guy I went to high school with went there and he couldn't believe the sororities went national at all.

[PenguinTrax]

I think AST had great resources there from what I heard. I think many of the problems were internal. Shortly after the switch, the chapter dropped down to about 3 women. AST came back to campus and did a big membership push. Why that didn't work, I don't know but I think the size of the national wouldn't matter too much on that campus because all the local groups were about the same size.


I think there were a great many risk management issues which is why the administration moved toward national affiliation.

Barb

[carnation]

I'd like to thank all you who have been e-mailing me about our "nationalization". You had some fabulous ideas and I've already talked to lots of reps from the national groups! We hope to have a system in place by the end of the school year.

I still don't know if we'll approach it from the standpoint of nationalizing the groups we have or just disbanding them and starting from scratch. Probably the latter, though we must be careful because some groups move too fast and in their haste to build size, grab new members they shouldn't--I know one group who bitterly regrets doing that during their colonization and that was some thirty years ago!

I imagine they'll stick to the "classic Southern sororities" due to heavy local alum support.This is so exciting!

[33girl]

Originally posted by carnation:
I still don't know if we'll approach it from the standpoint of nationalizing the groups we have or just disbanding them and starting from scratch.

I hate to be a wet blanket but how old/big are the locals? If they've been around for a long time, just scrapping them and beginning over as if they never existed could cause a LOT of bad feelings among alumni. It's one thing to be able to say "My local became a chapter of Sigma Chi" - and to be able to look at those guys and know they are in a way your "descendants." It's something else again to know your org was completely dissolved and the the members-to-come at your school will never hear anything about what you worked so hard to build. Personally, if I was in the latter situation I think it would totally suck.

If the orgs are too small to each support a separate national, maybe the Greek life coordinator could approach them about mergers.

[carnation]

Until this fall there were 2 local sororities about 90 years old and a third that's about 35. One of the older locals folded, probably due to hazing, in the spring. The other 2 have 100 and 50 members each but a lot of kids aren't pledging because the hazing is so very bad--they just don't know any better and think that this is what Greek life is all about. I know these groups didn't haze 20 years ago.This morning one of the pledges said, "They took us out in a pasture last night and covered us with syrup, flour, and orange juice!"

Anyway, the old traditions are all but lost and I hear that a lot of students drop out junior year--what else is there to do after you get your shot at hazing your soph year? I think our administration just wants to start clean. If they had been sticking to their old rituals and so forth it'd be one thing but it's just out of hand...I passed a guy wearing a leopard print bra on his head.

Also, the really strong Christians aren't pledging--seems like it's mostly the wilder kids. The others want something different--including, secretly, some of the current members.

It'll be interesting to see what happens!

[sigmagrrl]

Carnation,
What school is this that wants to go "national"??

[carnation]

Hi Sigmagrrl,

If you can provide me a way to e-mail you, I'll be happy to let you know the college's name! We welcome all interested parties.

[33girl]

Carnation - can you e-mail & let me know the school? (My e-mail addy is in my profile.) I'm just too curious now. I can't believe a guy would be made to wear a leopard bra on his head - everyone knows it's python print that is in this season!

Yacch...if it's that bad with the hazing, most of the current members will probably quit anyway rather than follow the national policies.

[coffeemug]

hey carnation...can you email me too?

coffeemug@home.com

thanks!

[tempests12]

Hey Carnation-
could you email me too...i go to a small school in TN which is considering just the same thing...we have about 8 locals here...this spring we are having pre-colonization visits by 3 nationals...i would like to find out more from you about the process
thanks
Crazycaligirl_12@hotmail.com