Alums behaving badly!

[adpiucf]

I have found that a lot of recent graduates haven't gotten the message that once they graduate, "my chapter" now becomes "my chapter of initiation and I'm going to go join an alum association and/or volunteer with the national organization or devote my time volunteering directly with our philanthropy."

This isn't cause to offend anyone who is an alum and has a special affinity toward their chapter. But in the day-to-day goings on of a collegiate chapter-- unless you are dues-paying collegian, on the advisory board or part of the district officer structure supervising the chapter, your participation is now on a different level.

I feel like this lesson isn't adaquately provided to collegians during their stay in the chapter nor to alum.

I've had several instances where well-intentioned alums have escalated chapter incidents into major chaos.

ETA: And for those members who stay at their undergrad university through grad school, find a loophole to go "early alum," or just end up living in the same town-- understand thay while you are an alumna member of the sorority, you are no longer a member of the chapter. By all means, visit your friends at the house and socialize out in public. But don't crash chapter functions or get involved in chapter business-- it is no longer your place. It may sound harsh, but when too many cooks get in the kitchen, plans can go awry. Please stay involved in the organization with an alumnae association, volunteer to support the chapter and step away when asked regarding a chapter incident. Collegiate membership and alumnae membership are very different things and as an alumna, you have a whole wide world out there waiting to be discovered. Service to the sorority is wanted, needed and appreciated, but there are certain rules to remember and a fine line to maintain between involvement with a collegiate chapter and trying to assert your will or wants on a collegiate chapter that you are no longer a collegiate member of.