Alumni Associations limited in ways that chapters can't?

[naraht]

I'm curious as to whether any Fraternity or Sorority out there has alumni associations which are limited to specific brothers using criteria that chapters would not be able to use to limit brotherhood.

For example, your fraternity allows all Christians to become brothers, and there is a recognized alumni association for Catholics only.

or, your fraternity is for limited to Engineers, but allows all engineers, and you have a recognized alumni association for only those with Electrical Engineering degrees.

[Drolefille]

The topic line makes my brain hurt.

SK doesn't limit our alum chapters, although I suppose it's hypothetically possible the chapter could drive people away who don't fit a certain type.

However we do have break out groups that chapter members can set up for book clubs, nights out, etc. Nothing exclusionary though.

[knight_shadow]

No, not in my organizaton. I would think that'd discourage alumni involvement.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by naraht

I'm curious as to whether any Fraternity or Sorority out there has alumni associations which are limited to specific brothers using criteria that chapters would not be able to use to limit brotherhood.

For example, your fraternity allows all Christians to become brothers, and there is a recognized alumni association for Catholics only.

or, your fraternity is for limited to Engineers, but allows all engineers, and you have a recognized alumni association for only those with Electrical Engineering degrees.

Alpha Phi Alpha does not have this. Alumni chapters do not focus on special interests or common interests.

On a national level, we have expanded the various national committees which brothers from certain professions might have an affinity to. For example, the Arts & Humanities Advisory Council actually inspired many brothers to return to active alumni status. But I believe that social fraternities and sororities like mine the responsibility to investigate the role of our brand of social action on the arts and humanities, the sciences, education, etc. An NPC or NIC org might not feel that obligation (and that's okay).

Regardless, an ASA Alumnae Association for Crocheters..... a Lambda Chi Alpha Rowing Club..... nah, people generally have their own outlets for these things and they don't have to have the organization's branding.

I think special interest alumni associations are ill-conceived and are better off as unofficial groups, like facebook groups or yahoo groups.

Or to paraphrase 33girl - two people standing on the corner don't make an alumni association. They can just be friends.

[DrPhil]

I would say that our alumnae chapters focus on common interests within the context of our Five Point Programmatic Thrust and national and regional frameworks. Our membership demographics reveal the similar careers that Sorors tend to be in. So, generally speaking, alumnae chapters are likeminded and similarly situated women with Delta in our hearts and on our minds.

ETA: I now see what is meant by "common interests" in this thread. No, our alumnae chapters are not based on "common interests" in the sense that "if you are a college professor or like to sculpt, join this chapter." Whether people are eligible to join particular chapters is based on other factors.

On that note, Sorors who have similar interests often join certain committees and participate in certain programs. If you're a medical doctor, for instance, you may be interested in the Physical and Mental Health programmatic thrust and therefore join a committee and work with those programs/create programs. This works toward Delta and also for expanding your social and professional networks. Also, similar to what Drolefile stated, people who have similar interests beyond that can form their own book club, church-going groups, and other social and professional networks outside of the alumnae chapter. Wherever there are people, there will be associations (ETA: even if they aren't the formality of an "alumni association").

[Kevin]

Our alumni chapter is open to any alumnus of our chapter who is in good standing with the active chapter and is not still enrolled somewhere pursuing an undergraduate degree.

Alumni associations for Sigma Nu cover a geographical area. The nearest one I'm aware of is in DFW.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Our alumni chapter is open to any alumnus of our chapter who is in good standing with the active chapter and is not still enrolled somewhere pursuing an undergraduate degree.

Alumni associations for Sigma Nu cover a geographical area. The nearest one I'm aware of is in DFW.

The same is true for my organization, although two of our collegiate chapters have their own alumni chapters for graduates to transition into.

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Our alumni chapter is open to any alumnus of our chapter who is in good standing with the active chapter and is not still enrolled somewhere pursuing an undergraduate degree.

Alumni associations for Sigma Nu cover a geographical area. The nearest one I'm aware of is in DFW.

It's funny, because ours is exactly the opposite.

Alumni Chapters are geographically based (e.g. Capitol Area Alumni Chapter, Eastern Iowa Alumni Chapter) and they are fully recognized voting bodies.

Alumni Associations are composed of alumni from one or two specific chapters regardless of their geographic location.

To the original question, what Drolefille/Dr. Phil said.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

SK doesn't limit our alum chapters, although I suppose it's hypothetically possible the chapter could drive people away who don't fit a certain type.

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

The only possible example I can think of is if a group of alumnae from a certain CHAPTER of Chi Omega chose to exist with only alumnae from said active chapter. I know of no such example for any "official" alumnae chapter, but I can imagine it is out there.

This and this. It's nothing you can "prove" on paper, but it certainly does exist. And it will continue to exist until chartering an alum chapter becomes a bit more difficult.

This is one of the reasons I think all national groups should support both chapter associations (where everyone in it is from the same collegiate chapter) and alumnae chapters (which are open to everyone in a certain geographic region). That way if you only want to associate with the Mu Mu chapter XYZ alums, you can, and you won't be ruining an alum chapter for someone who just moved to BFE and is trying to connect with XYZ sisters.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This and this. It's nothing you can "prove" on paper, but it certainly does exist. And it will continue to exist until chartering an alum chapter becomes a bit more difficult.

This is one of the reasons I think all national groups should support both chapter associations (where everyone in it is from the same collegiate chapter) and alumnae chapters (which are open to everyone in a certain geographic region). That way if you only want to associate with the Mu Mu chapter XYZ alums, you can, and you won't be ruining an alum chapter for someone who just moved to BFE and is trying to connect with XYZ sisters.

To some extent I think facebook helps a lot with this. (Or pick you social networking site here.) You can keep in touch with your sisters from your chapter but your alumnae chapter is, well, your chapter. I have not been active in my (kind of) local one because it hasn't been convenient and I've been poor (bad alumna) but I actually enjoy being with different people of all ages from different chapters and many times our goal is supporting the local collegiate chapter, which makes it less about "us" so to speak.

[pshsx1]

Each of our undgergrad chapters have their own alumni association (AVC).

With a school like mine, though, that puts out almost solely architects and engineers, it's very possible for the AVC to be like-minded and interested in the same things. For other schools, though, it's a bunch of different guys. Plus, the AVCs are composed of both alumni from the home school and the surrounding geographical area.

So no, there aren't "specialized" alumni groups for my org.

[ree-Xi]

OP - Are you saying that such sub-groups do exist and are looking for evidence in other Fraternities/Sororities, or are you asking if such sub-groups exist at all?

[NutBrnHair]

The only possible example I can think of is if a group of alumnae from a certain CHAPTER of Chi Omega chose to exist with only alumnae from said active chapter. I know of no such example for any "official" alumnae chapter, but I can imagine it is out there.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

OP - Are you saying that such sub-groups do exist and are looking for evidence in other Fraternities/Sororities, or are you asking if such sub-groups exist at all?

I'm trying to find comparisons to the situation in Alpha Phi Omega where there are geographic Alumni Associations which are restricted to only men, even though most chapters are co-ed.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by naraht

I'm trying to find comparisons to the situation in Alpha Phi Omega where there are geographic Alumni Associations which are restricted to only men, even though most chapters are co-ed.

Pardon the double-post, but how do you account for people who move into new geographical area? I would be pretty bummed out if I moved and tried to join a different alumnae chapter only to be forbidden. Then again, given what I have observed with APO (the chapter on my campus was co-ed, but not every male member was happy about it), I can see where there might be some clashes.