Interested Party saying hello!

[AOII Angel]

I'm really puzzled by the extreme reaction to AI illicited on greekchat. If our organizations are meant to be useful to women through out their lives and not just for the college years, why are we so suspicious of women who wish to join later in life? Our goals are to provide women with the chance to be part of something greater than themselves...why is this only open to 18-21 year olds? If one chapter (who we all will admit often make decisions based on appearance or reputation rather than the qualities of a women that really count like leadership potential, level of commitment,etc) does not wish to give a woman a bid, why does this exclude her from joining another chapter of the same organization? Our organizations are larger than just one chapter or just one member. Women may identify with our missions, philanthropies or programming even if rejected by a chapter earlier in life. If we want to improve our alumnae participation, why exclude women who want to participate? Last time I checked, there wasn't an overwhelming rush of women trying to "sneak" in! I actually feel that alumnae initiates would be more likely to accept a lifetime commitment and follow through than the thousands of 18 year olds each year who make the same commitment but don't follow through.

[AlphaFrog]

READ THE REST OF THE AI FORUM.

[AOII Angel]

I have, Alpha Frog, and I still disagree.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I'm really puzzled by the extreme reaction to AI illicited on greekchat. If our organizations are meant to be useful to women through out their lives and not just for the college years, why are we so suspicious of women who wish to join later in life? Our goals are to provide women with the chance to be part of something greater than themselves...why is this only open to 18-21 year olds? If one chapter (who we all will admit often make decisions based on appearance or reputation rather than the qualities of a women that really count like leadership potential, level of commitment,etc) does not wish to give a woman a bid, why does this exclude her from joining another chapter of the same organization? Our organizations are larger than just one chapter or just one member. Women may identify with our missions, philanthropies or programming even if rejected by a chapter earlier in life. If we want to improve our alumnae participation, why exclude women who want to participate? Last time I checked, there wasn't an overwhelming rush of women trying to "sneak" in! I actually feel that alumnae initiates would be more likely to accept a lifetime commitment and follow through than the thousands of 18 year olds each year make the same commitment but don't follow through.

That's what a lot of GC posters used to think. Then we had a rash of women who obviously 1) were "shopping" for whatever sorority would take them as an AI and 2) were more concerned about what the sorority would do for them (as in fulfilling their college dreams) than what they could do for the sorority.

I know I don't agree with some of the membership decisions made by my sisters....however, they are my sisters. If I found out that a prospective AI went through rush at any school with a chapter of ASA and was dropped by the ASA chapter, forget her. Who in the world am I to think that my opinion should override that of 30-200 other women?

Lots of women join sororities for the wrong reasons. Some of them are 18, and some of them are 30. The problem is when they join at age 30, it's a lot harder to get rid of them.

[jwright25]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

If our organizations are meant to be useful to women through out their lives and not just for the college years, why are we so suspicious of women who wish to join later in life? Our goals are to provide women with the chance to be part of something greater than themselves...why is this only open to 18-21 year olds?

The first line of the Panhellenic Creed:

"We, as Undergraduate Members of women's fraternities, stand for good scholarship, for guarding of good health, for maintenance of fine standards, and for serving, to the best of our ability, our college community."

As has been noted, there are a great many organizations open to non-student women who wish to be a part of something greater than themselves. NPC sororities are not open to the regular admittance of non-student women. Otherwise we would hold membership drives just like Junior League, etc.

One of the membership benefits that we tout when encouraging college women to sign up for recruitment is the lifelong aspect of sorority membership. Yes, we do provide opportunities for our members beyond graduation. But we do not provide them with recruitment tools or assistance for bringing in new members.