Taking a sorority national

[KDAngel]

Hey, so I'm in KD here at ECU, and clearly we're a national Panhellenic sorority. Currenly I'm working on bringing Sigma Alpha Omega, a Christian sorority on campus with a few others girls- we only have social sororities and our school has a great need for some diversification and what better than a Christian sorority.

Anyway I know SAO is in the process of going national but are having some setbacks. I was just wondering what kinda of process it actually is and what it actually involves. I mean it's nothing to do with NPC, so I don't even know where to begin to look. Anyway, if anyone has any knowledge I'd LOVE to hear it.

Thanks soo much!!
In KD love and AOT!!
-Liz

[ecugamma]

Hi Liz,

Wow, this was kind of a funny/ironic post for me to find, as I am also a Greek student at ECU, but in a very different way. I am a Founding Sister of ECU's only local sorority, Gamma Chi Epsilon. I don't know is you have heard of it, but it's incredible. The reason that I found this ironic is b/c your chapter used to be called Pi Delta, and was also a local sorority on our campus, and I think that the answer to your question is closer than you think. From what I understand, Pi Delta did not originally plan on going national through the traditional NPC affiliation, even though that is what eventually happened. You might want to check your chapter's roster, and contact your elder sisters from 1999 and ask them how they had originally planned to go national. You might also want to look on the homepage/website for the Christian sorority that you are talking about to find some contact numbers, and ask them how they plan to go national. In this situation, the Alpha Chapter will typically act as the "chapter in charge," and may have those answers.
On a side note- it is a main priority of my own sorority to "go national." Although it seems that there is more than one way to do it, typically it involves obtaining a certain number of chapters over a certain amount of geographical space. I think it is 14 chapters (with the last being no younger than 2 yrs old) over multiple state lines. This is just one plan. I think that there are at least two other sororities that have gone national through other methods, but they are multi-racial and latino based. Gamma Sigma Sigma also went national on its own, with no affiliation, so you might want to check with their national headquarters. Ion Outterbridge (Greek Life Advisor at ECU) should have that contact info. for you, and although he is very busy, he is also an amazing man to work with. Sorry the post was so long, but I hope it gives you a step in the right direction.

Greek love,
Jenn

[Diamond Delta]

Just out of curiosity, what is it that KD is not providing that you feel a need to belong to another sorority. (This is not a flame-I am simply curious that's all!)

[bonelifer]

The best way is to first incorporate under the state in which your chapter is at, then you would need to form an expansion committee. It's not something that comes over night. Our Alpha chapter started in 1919 with incorporation in Oklahoma and then it took years to get a number of chapters, then the Great Depression and WWII nearly whiped out most of chapter, then we rebuilt over the years. Currently as of the middle of this last spring semester we had 196 active chapters with the most recent chapter install being Lambda Eta (Chapter #271), there are currently 8 colonies. Seven new colonies and one rechartering colony, 196 Theta Delta (Inactive 3-31-95) Central State University. Just remember that going national isn't something that comes easily or quickly. Another thing you'll need to do is devise a *National Constitution* for your organization seperate of the local ***Alpha Chapter Constitution ***, this would be one requirement of incorporation. You might want to contact your social Sorority's National and see if someone there knows someone who could and would help with this process. Good luck.

[GPsiLambda2K4]

From my knowledge all U have to do is be incorporated, have more than 1 chapter & have a National Board then U can be considered National. Thats just from what I hear, The process my be different. My organization is National & we only have 7 chapters Nationwide.

[KDAngel]

Wow, I wrote this so long ago. Update- I didn't end up starting up SAO, my friend Jenn I talked about did though this past Spring. At the time I wanted to because I wanted an outlet for Christians to build each other up and support each other through sisterhood that is sometimes hard to do in traditional social sororities. SAO has now gone national with a good number of chapters out there.

I did know about Pi Delta having been a local sorority, and I even know some alums who were once in it, but I never thought to ask them because they went NPC, and we weren't trying to with SAO.

Thanks for the replies though!

[AXOeva]

Originally posted by Diamond Delta
Just out of curiosity, what is it that KD is not providing that you feel a need to belong to another sorority. (This is not a flame-I am simply curious that's all!)

I'm gonna butt my way into this discussion. I am a member of Sigma Alpha Omega (Gamma- Elon University) and Alpha Chi Omega. I was a founding sister of each chapter and found that the combination of the two completed me. At the time our Chapter of SAO (which I joined first) didn't have the history and ritual that I craved, but provided me with the Christian fellowship and support that I needed. Each organization provided me with something I need and I would not have been the person I am now having not been a part of SAO and Alpha Chi.