Education With Respect to Other Greeks?

[equeen]

I'm curious, what kind of education do new members in your organization receive with respect to other greeks? How extensive is the education?

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equeen
A Lioness has her Pride!
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Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies

[BFulton]

Our membership candidates learn about the different types of GLOs. They also learn the history of Greek letter organizations (back to the early secret societies in the U.S. education system, anyway). I'd say it's a pretty good overview.

[equeen]

OK, I'm underwhelmed by the number of responses... ...I didn't mean this question to just go out to BFulton (thanks for responding).

Perhaps I should be more specific, if you're in a fraternity, are you asked to learn about other fraternities only, or sororities as well? Ditto and vice-versa if you're in a sorority? If you're a member of an NIC or NPC GLO, do you learn about non-NIC/NPC GLOs? If you're in an NPHC GLO, are you taught about non-NPHC GLOs? If you're a local, are you taught about only greeks on campus, or do you learn about nationally governed orgs as well? What about if you're a co-ed GLO? Or special interest (like SAI or Tau Beta Sigma)?

The reason I ask: most of my education has been about greeks in general and specific greeks has been by asking questions and browsing the 'net. I'd like for candidates of my sisterhood to have the opportunity to learn about all greeks, and I'm looking for the best way to go about doing it. If I'm treading on the toes of Privileged Information, I apologize. I look forward to hearing from y'all.

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equeen
A Lioness has her Pride!
@>--;--
Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies


[This message has been edited by equeen (edited July 18, 2000).]

I know that in my sosrority we learn about who is in the npc and what the npc stand for and ifc...sct. we do not learn about other sororities just ours and what we need to know about our history and how we function as an organization. that's all! I hope i answered your question!!

[etienneSAI]

equeen,

as an SAI, i think i can answer this question from the "special interest" category.

my chapter was re-founded after being inactive in 1996. the founding sisters really didn't take the time to get to know the other greeks on my campus, but once my pledge class came in, we had more of a holistic view of greek life and what we wanted out of it. my girls and i have been working very hard to become part of the "social greek" community. just because our members revolve around music doesn't mean that we can't join our fellow greeks as well and be treated equally. we're still climbing that mountain of equality right now, but it's getting much better. there have been fraternities that have invited us to do socials with them because they're curious as to who we are and what we stand for. i can honestly say that the bigger we get, the better responses we're getting from the campus. basically, we're just trying to get our name out there again, show people our talents and assets and get more involved.

as for general fraternity education, we've started with this last pledge class, getting our pledges and pledges from different fraternities and sororities to do things with each other, such as eating dinner, throwing a party, putting together a philanthropy, things like that. we as sisters try to educate our pledges as much as we can about the ideals of the other greek chapters on our campus. we're still trying to think of new ways for that part of fraternity education, so if anyone has ideas, i'd love to hear them as well.

equeen, i hope this helps a bit. let me know!

etienne
sigma alpha iota-the hartt school of music

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"red is the color of music and has been since the very earliest of times. the caps of faeries and musicians are well-nigh always red."~*~w.b.yeats

[matthewg]

Hi equeen,
in my fraternity pledges learn about the different fraternity associations in Germany and partly, where applicable in Europe. Sororities in Germany are mostly local and have been reestablished only as early as the eighties after having flourished in the twenties between the two world wars. We often have contacts with other chapers of our association in other cities in Germany and visit each other. Contact to chapters of other fraternity associations is limited (at least here in Constance where we only have three fraternities) partly because differences are big and there is a pretty strong rivalry.
To come back to your question, pledges learn about our fraternity history, they learn special ways of formal conduct and how to represent the fraternity correctly on official occasions. Furthermore, they are taught local Contance history, to be able to identify with their temporary home (and that's a lot to learn... the city was founded by the ancient Romans...).

Information about the American Greek system is sparce, most fraternity members know something out of hear-say, but there is little general and sound knowledge.

[Gina_lynn]

Durring our intake process, the information about other NPHC organizations is sparse, but that is because we expect that you did all of that research before you decided to seek membership with us.

To answer your question about how to teach information about other orgaizations while at the same time not spend your whole intake time teaching other people's history, ist to have a "crest disection". We did this when we were having a greek unity day right after I crossed, and it was a lot of fun.

Instructions:
Put the names of different greek letter orgs in a hat (equal to the number of girls participating.. the big sisters should do it too). If you want them to think about BGLOs and other types of organizations, put them in there too. Have everyone pull a name, and find a picture of the crest of that orgainzation. The goal is to try to come up with a reasonable explination as to why those symbols/colors were chosen. Later everyone tells about the crest they researched, and discusses if the explinations are reasonable.
The part that brings the unity is, of course, when you listen to the explinations, you realize just how similar ALL ORGANIZATIONS really are. This would be a good Pan project too. I can see members cracking up when people come close to, but still miss the meaning of their symbols.

I think the idea of learning about other orgs.is admirable

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If you can't raise conciousness, at least raise hell!--Rita Mae Brown

[equeen]

Thanks for the responses, etienne, dpherlove and matthewg. dpherlove, which GLO are you in?? Gina_lynn, what an excellent idea, certainly thought-provoking about how similar greeks are, and lots of fun.

and might I also add, Gina_lynn, that I love the Rita-Mae Brown quote in your sig-file. I think you did a great job of both on another thread.

hey,
I am in DPHiE (aka- delta phi epsilon)!!
To: magda...DPHIE WHAT!!!