chapter fell apart

[adpiucf]

As much as I am loath to recommend this under usual circumstances, there is nothing to stop you and some friends from forming a local sorority, affiliating with the campus Panhellenic and having your own sorority with a unique name, tradition and ritual that has nothing to do with the national that granted you alumnae status. You would not be operating as a unrecognized chapter of XYZ, you would be a completely new organization that shares nothing in common with the national, and whose members could be any of the women on your campus, including perhaps some of the ladies who belonged to the national sorority that closed. You could plan sisterhood events, social mixers, select a philanthropy to support, conduct business meetings and select a name and develop a ritual for your organization. This is a lot of hard work, but it is an option. You may also want to take this semester to investigate other women's groups on your campus to see if there is an opportunity to join an established campus activity that you might enjoy, too. It isn't a sorority, but you can gain a sense of sisterhood, be involved on campus and make new friends.

And while joining the national sorority's local alum assoc feels weird, since there are so many alumnae of your sorority on the college campus now who are current students, you might form an auxilary of the current alum assoc just for young members. A lot of alum assoc's have a "Young Alum" programming component anyway. Locally, Pi Phi alums in my town have a really robust Young Alumnae club-- so much so that one of the young alums told me recently that she doesn't really know any of the older women b/c the young alum club stays so busy and doesn't interact much with the older set. They're working to improve this of course, but their group stays busy and has regular socials and charity events.

[sdsuchelle]

I am so sorry. The same thing happened to me when I was a freshman... its really frustrating and I'm still kind of angry about it.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

As much as I am loath to recommend this under usual circumstances, there is nothing to stop you and some friends from forming a local sorority, affiliating with the campus Panhellenic and having your own sorority with a unique name, tradition and ritual that has nothing to do with the national that granted you alumnae status. You would not be operating as a unrecognized chapter of XYZ, you would be a completely new organization that shares nothing in common with the national, and whose members could be any of the women on your campus, including perhaps some of the ladies who belonged to the national sorority that closed. You could plan sisterhood events, social mixers, select a philanthropy to support, conduct business meetings and select a name and develop a ritual for your organization. This is a lot of hard work, but it is an option. You may also want to take this semester to investigate other women's groups on your campus to see if there is an opportunity to join an established campus activity that you might enjoy, too. It isn't a sorority, but you can gain a sense of sisterhood, be involved on campus and make new friends.

Is this me posting under the wrong username? LOL.

If you do choose this option, and you do end up being part of the school's Panhellenic - go along with the rush and risk management rules that the national groups have to follow. Don't do things they can't do (even if you can) because you're local. That will just tick the other groups off.

[AlphaFrog]

I PMed you.

I know what you're going through. So do many ladies on this board. You can always hang around GC. We like stray greeks here.

[Stef the Pef]

I've heard of some NPCs organizing "young alumni" groups, so you might want to see about starting one with the girls in your chapter and some other younger alums.

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Originally Posted by Stef the Pef

I've heard of some NPCs organizing "young alumni" groups, so you might want to see about starting one with the girls in your chapter and some other younger alums.

Young "alumnae" (the correct word for the female plural) groups are usually recent college grads which if you read her post she considers old as well.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by SmartBlondeGPhB

Young "alumnae" (the correct word for the female plural) groups are usually recent college grads which if you read her post she considers old as well.

In this case, there may be enough alumnae who are also current undergraduate students to make it feasible for her. (If the other women who were granted alumnae status at the same time were interested in organizing together.) I'd assume that most NPC groups have a special group for younger alumnae - in Alpha Gamma Delta, its called a Junior Circle.

Depending on your perspective, one of the perks of organizing an alumnae group for your fellow undergrads would be not having to deal with the stress/pressures of recruitment. (Sorry - trying to find anything remotely resembling a silver lining for you in this situation. I know that you're upset, and understandably so, at the situation. But perhaps joining forces with your sisters who are in the same boat will help make things a little better.) You could still have social events, and most likely the restrictions on an alumnae group are not quite as strict as the restrictions upon an active undergraduate chapter. (This is depending upon your National organization though - you'd want to check the rules with them directly.)

[BootyKBG]

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Are there others from your chapter who are interested in restarting? PM me, I might have an option for you other than starting from scratch.