Now, now, ladies, let's not be hasty. Nhfulmer is new here and she's learning new things about GC and other areas of Greek life, just like we all are.
First, Nhfulmer, welcome to Greek Chat. No matter how long you've been Greek, you're going to find out all kinds of things from across the country as fast as you can take it in!
Second, as to your question as to "why would anyone want to join a group that
has as its basis collegiate membership".
There are a few ways to answer this.
One, is the way you described it yourself in the ZTA forum:
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the best Zeta times have been as an alumna.
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You have already experienced the fact that sisterhood is a lifetime. Life does not end at college graduation!
Let me describe this another way: There are several ways that people join families: they can be born into it, adopted, or marry into a family. There may be several paths and many circumstances, but once you are in that family, that's it. You're
all related, one way or another. I never had any siblings, but when I married my husband, I "inherited" his two sisters. Now there is a 20-year age difference between them and me, we were born to different parents, grew up in different states, but the minute Mr. Adrienne and I performed our wedding ritual, the bond was sealed. (Anyone foolish enough to tell one of them that the 3 of us are "not really sisters" will get an earful that will rattle the rafters of high heaven!)
The more time you spend browsing the many threads of GC, the more stories you will hear of post-collegiate women who didn't pledge a GLO because of one circumstance or another,
but still have much to offer an org. You'll also see stories of problems with sisters disaffiliating, depledging, or just being inactive alumnae. Some NPC orgs have begun to look at post-collegiate women as an untapped resource. There is no greater demonstration of a worthwhile, lifetime sisterhood than a woman who is willing to go the extra mile and make greater effort to pledge themselves to it.
Now you are absolutely correct in indicating that not all NPC orgs approach alumna initiation ("AI" in GreekChat shorthand) in the same way. There are some orgs that practically advertise and invite prospective AIs to contact them. Others will accept
self-recommendations, but are subtle about it. Others, like ZTA and ADPi will only accept recommendations from current members. There is nothing wrong w/ any of these! In fact,
I think ZTA does an *excellent* job of explaining their policy on the topic in a straightforward and civil manner, without any guesswork on the part of the PNAM (Potential New Alumna Member - also a GreekChat term). I wish all NPCs were so honest with the public on this issue!
So Nhfulmer, I hope you stick around. It sounds like we have a lot to teach and learn from each other.
Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
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