An all Panhellenic Council Sisterhood

annice22 · #1 02-06-2004, 03:57 PM

I've noticed lately that there has been a lot of ill will or negativity between the 5 panhellenic sororities on my campus. I was thinking about having an all panhellenic council sisterhood where we could have a Tea and desserts with a guest speaker either this semester or next. I am going to address this at next week's Panhell meeting and ask each sororities delegates to take it back to their chapters.

Other than that idea does anyone else have any other ideas that would work?

Annice

aephi alum · #2 02-06-2004, 04:14 PM

We did something like this for the new members the semester I pledged my local. A couple of weeks into the semester, we had a social for all the new members, their new member educators, and Panhel officers (I think chapter presidents were invited too).

The idea was for us to get to meet the Panhel officers and the new members of the other sororities on campus. It did backfire slightly - people tended to "clump" by sorority. I think you would need some sort of icebreaker activity that forces people to interact with members of other sororities whom they don't already know.

You could do the same thing with all the members; you'd just need a bigger room.

I'm not sure if this is quite what you had in mind... are you thinking of trying to address the issues directly, or just get people talking and interacting with members of other sororities in a social setting?

Glitter650 · #3 02-06-2004, 05:48 PM

We had a dessert night with the other NPC sororities and played a game called "I love my NPC sister who" (usually we call it I love my greek who and its' a drinking game... but we changed it for this event) NE WAY everyone stands in a circle and someone is in the center, says their name a chapter then says "I love my NPC sister who.... and says something about themselves.. (IE has brown hair) everyone with brown hair must leave their spot in the circle and move to another one that was just vacated (no moving to the spot next to you) the person with out a spot then is in the center and says her thing... it's a good way for people to see that they have things in common with the other sisters from different chapters.. especially for new members who tend to be a *bit* more "my chapter is the best and I'm not interacting with the women from xyz...

nhpgator · #4 02-06-2004, 06:00 PM

you might consider contacting "north american interfraternity council" www.nicindy.org and their IMPACT program - it is great and really makes an IMPACT on the campus!! youcan check out the program online to see what its about!

tasha

annice22 · #5 02-06-2004, 06:05 PM

I checked out the site but I believe that it's for IFC fraternities and I'm not sure if there is anything on the site that would be very helpful.

But thank you very much
annice

33girl · #6 02-06-2004, 06:16 PM

I looked at IMPACT, that seems more like something for the whole college to do that really doesn't apply in this situation. They want everyone to get involved not just the campus leaders.

I really like Glitter's idea. If at all possible - if you could use the gym try having an all-sorority retreat during the day and doing icebreakers and such where people have to interact with sisters of other chapters.

nhpgator · #7 02-06-2004, 07:25 PM

actually i have facilitated IMPACT a couple times for my sorority = it was done at one school for exactly the reasons listed in the first post - the chapters all thought the others were out to get them - that they had nothing in common and each chapter thought that the others all thought they were better than them, one chapter even thought the other had certain spies who were in charge of turning in the other chapter for violations.... the tension could have been cut with a knife

that's why i suggested it

also it is not just for male fraternities - it is for the greek system as a whole - the NIFC just puts it on - and it is not only for leaders - it is good for leaders but like at one school i did it for - the entire greek system did it - and it was great...

they really broke down barriers that were causing conflict, competition and strife between the chapters and the school and also showed them how they can work together to unify or develope a greek "community" rather than just a system - it teaches that a greek community is only as strong as their weakest chapter and really gives them challenges to work on throughout the year

with that said - it does take a financial committment - and each chapter has alum volunteers come in for the weekend and give their time to facilitate... so it takes some committment -

but it definitely would work for the situation described in the start of this - in fact it really is like a retreat with ice breakers and team building excercises- except it is a weekend long and delves deeper into what the underlying issues are

on a side note - most of the educational programs on that website are for fraternities or sororities!

annice22 · #8 02-06-2004, 08:21 PM

That does sound like a good program however our Panhell budget is really small right now and the price for the event would cost a lot.

Maybe I could take some of the suggestions and put in the sisterhood.

FAUNikki · #9 02-07-2004, 04:17 PM

I am on Panhellenic at my school and the Panhel MAL (who is also one of my sisters) asked for dates open on everyone's calendars for a panhel sisterhood. Well, 1 sorority gave her a dirty look and said "we are busy." They wouldnt give the time of day. It was very rude. We do have alot of tension btw the sororities on my campus, and that why we wanted the panhel sisterhood, but they wont even cooperate!
The other ones were happy to have a chance to have an event like that.
It all depends on how much tension there is I beleive.

HotDamnImAPhiMu · #10 02-07-2004, 04:22 PM

could you maybe kick them?

sheesh, ladies. Get it together.

I'll tell you what, if GC was a part of every sorority's new member program, we'd have a much more panhellenically-minded bunch of greeks out there.

FSUZeta · #11 02-07-2004, 06:04 PM

served you could have the sororities host each other on a rotation basis, i.e., half of sorority a goes to sorority b, half of b to c, half of c to d, half of d to e, and half of e goes to a. this takes place all on one night. the a sisters who stay at their own house would each be responsible for hostessing one b sister and treating her like a pnm. in other words, rush her to make her feel welcome and at home in your house. then the next month you do it all over again but each sorority goes to a different house. we did this at florida state way back when(i hope that they still do it) and it was a fun way to meet the other sorority members and it forced us to deal with them on a one to one basis and helped avoid the "clump" affect that can happen when all the sororities go to a neutral site with only panhellenic serving as hostesses.

HotDamnImAPhiMu · #12 02-07-2004, 06:17 PM

What an AWESOME idea. I hope y'all still do that.

hannahgirl · #13 02-07-2004, 07:25 PM

Every semester, the Panhellenic Secretary plans an All-Sorority Sisterhood for everyone (NPC and NPHC) which is usually held at our house in our basement or who ever offers. We've iced cookies and then serenaded all the fraternities, we've decorated cards and ornaments for kids a Children's Hospital, we make trick or treat bags for the fraternities, and things to that nature to bring our panhellenic women together and also get to know the women of NPHC. We don't require everyone to be there, but we do ask that as many people come as possible. Usually we have a pretty good amount of each chapter (NPC), it is harder to get the NPHC women to participate. It is fun and everyone is able to meet other women and get to know each other. Plus the guys love when we come and serenade.....

Start off small with a gathering and see where it goes from there!