Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[SoCalGirl]

Don't a couple of the Ivys have greek systems that aren't recognized by the university? I think most groups want university support but I don't think it's unheard of for a chapter to be colonized without a blessing.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

An NPC chapter isn't going to be colonized without a blessing. You'll HAVE to get support to get an NPC organization to consider colonizing at your school. You could possibly begin a local without support, but I wouldn't, personally. I would try to convince the administration that Greek life can be a positive addition to the school. If you go to a school where it is viewed as a positive to not have Greeks, you could point out that a school can have Greek life without it being in the forefront. It doesn't have to take over. You'll have a hard time expanding and having other chapters come to the school later if you're underground. It might also make it hard to recruit new members...knowing that they will be on the administration's bad side from the start. I think the suggestion to find a greek in the administration is a good one. Have someone who understands basic PR help you make a full presentation to the administration. Use good persuasive paper technicques...don't just talk about the positive-refute the negative. Talk to alums and actives at other schools in the area and have them share their experiences. Maybe even bring them in to help you with your presentation. It'll take hard work, but I think it will be worth it.

If you choose to start your own instead of going the NPC route there's a forum of locals on this site. I'd go there and see if you can find founders and ask their advice about beginning a new organization.

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

Don't a couple of the Ivys have greek systems that aren't recognized by the university? I think most groups want university support but I don't think it's unheard of for a chapter to be colonized without a blessing.

I believe Princeton and Harvard don't recognize the greek systems on their campuses. However, other Ivies and their peer institutions -- Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, and so on -- do recognize greeks. I'd say it's highly unusual for GLOs (especially NPC organizations) to establish colonies / chapters without college / university recognition. The situations at Princeton and Havard are probably not applicable to the vast majority of colleges in the U.S.