What can be done to help smaller GLO's?

[honeychile]

MANY of my high school teachers were in Chi Omega at CMU! I was shocked when they closed that chapter! Do the Pitt sororities still have mixers with the CMU fraternities? They were some fun times!!

Alpha Delta Pi currently has seven chapters in Pennsylvania, and another 4-6 chapters on the borders of WVA or OH. The Pittsburgh Alumnae Association regrouped last year, and is on FIRE!!! The women in charge are going step by step to complete everything needed for both the Association and the Chapter to win awards - a great mentality!

I could easily see ADPi presenting at either CMU or Duquesne. I've also been curious as to why there hasn't been a new colony at Robert Morris - their campus is growing by leaps and bounds!

[honeychile]

Originally posted by Denise_DPhiE
Dusquene timeline was much slower than expected so no presentations yet. Fifteen groups sent packets. Three groups were invited to present. Out of courtesy and the desire to not get into a "GO ABC" I am not listing which three.

Would you have a problem letting us know who sent packets?

[33girl]

Originally posted by scotty K
I have noticed that some GLOs cannot seem to keep a chapter up and running is some states. For example, Zeta Tau Alpha has closed all three of the chapters that were opened in the Commonwelath of KY, dating from the 1920's forward. Alpha Xi Delta has had to close it's two chapters in KY due to low numbers. Alpha Xi closed the Xi chapter on the campus of UK. On the other hand, Alpha Gam, Pike, Sig Ep, Chi O, and KD seem to grow all over.

I don't think you can compare fraternities and sororities, and I would hardly say the other sororities you've listed are "growing all over." Nothing against them, just that I've heard of them having as many closed chapters in recent years as the ones you bring up. What happens in your state certainly has nothing to do with the rest of the USA.

[kddani]

Originally posted by 33girl
I don't think you can compare fraternities and sororities, and I would hardly say the other sororities you've listed are "growing all over." Nothing against them, just that I've heard of them having as many closed chapters in recent years as the ones you bring up. What happens in your state certainly has nothing to do with the rest of the USA.

No, that's very true. I think he's looking at it from a very limited point of view- his geographic area, which isn't very accurate. If he actually looked into the info,he'd see that he's wrong. I would hardly say that KD is growing all over. Hell, we haven't even colonized anywhere for awhile now. Every group is opening new chapters

[Denise_DPhiE]

Originally posted by honeychile
Would you have a problem letting us know who sent packets?

Almost everyone not represented on the campus responded. I did not get the list of 15. He just told me there were 15 when I followed up with a call a week after the NPC bulletin said they would announce the selected groups for presentations. He said it was going to take weeks long because they had 15 packets to review when they only expected 5 or 6. I expect the same situation at Carnegie Mellon.

If you want to know if your org submitted a packet, you could drop an email to your extension director.
Denise

[irishpipes]

FYI, for Duquesne, the NPCs on campus are:
Delta Zeta (1969)
Alpha Phi (1970)
ZTA (1970)
Alpha Gamma Delta (1971)
Alpha Sigma Tau (1971)
Gamma Phi Beta (1995)
Sigma Sigma Sigma used to have a chapter there.

[Little E]

Originally posted by Denise_DPhiE
Three groups were invited to present. Out of courtesy and the desire to not get into a "GO ABC" I am not listing which three.

I know we had a thread on not discussing extention on the forums so we don't influence the campus' decision. I think it would be good to keep that in mind, so I totally ditto the idea of keeping it private.

I think extention is great, but I really do not think that this is the only way that NPC can help struggling GLOs. As we've talked about extention, we've said here that alumane bases, real estate and financial bases are just as important as an open campus. How can NPC groups who are doing well, help in these areas? You just can't expand without other ducks in a row...

[33girl]

Originally posted by Little E
I think extention is great, but I really do not think that this is the only way that NPC can help struggling GLOs. As we've talked about extention, we've said here that alumane bases, real estate and financial bases are just as important as an open campus. How can NPC groups who are doing well, help in these areas? You just can't expand without other ducks in a row...

I don't think other groups can help with alum support. Your group needs to look within itself and see why alums are or are not supportive and be realistic. It's easy to say "people are so busy nowadays and this generation doesn't want to do anything" but that's a copout. If your level of alumnae participation plummeted after you (totally random & silly example) changed the national mascot from a cow to a duck, well then, maybe the alums didn't want that and you should have explored it further before you unilaterally did it.

Making sure alums do not feel disenfranchised increases support, which increases donations and the amount of alums enthused about their sorority, which makes everything better.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by irishpipes
FYI, for Duquesne, the NPCs on campus are:
Delta Zeta (1969)
Alpha Phi (1970)
ZTA (1970)
Alpha Gamma Delta (1971)
Alpha Sigma Tau (1971)
Gamma Phi Beta (1995)
Sigma Sigma Sigma used to have a chapter there.

As much as I bleed azure blue & white, I would really like to see Theta Phi Alpha there. They're based on Roman Catholism, and it would be great to see them expand (assuming, of course, that they presented)!

[33girl]

Originally posted by honeychile
As much as I bleed azure blue & white, I would really like to see Theta Phi Alpha there. They're based on Roman Catholism, and it would be great to see them expand (assuming, of course, that they presented)!

Apparently the sorority that wants to go national is Jewish based, so if that's still the case I would say TPA is out.

ETA can we move the expansion posts into a new thread? We are getting away from the original topic.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by 33girl
Apparently the sorority that wants to go national is Jewish based, so if that's still the case I would say TPA is out.

ETA can we move the expansion posts into a new thread? We are getting away from the original topic.

OOPS! So goes my theory!

[AEPhiSierra]

Originally posted by honeychile
As much as I bleed azure blue & white, I would really like to see Theta Phi Alpha there. They're based on Roman Catholism, and it would be great to see them expand (assuming, of course, that they presented)!

I get the impression that while Theta Phi Alpha has Roman Catholic roots they have really moved away from them (not saying this is a good or bad thing, just saying.) I have never really heard references to them embracing their Catholic roots the same way, say AEPhi or SDT does their Jewish roots.

[Little E]

Originally posted by 33girl
I don't think other groups can help with alum support. Your group needs to look within itself and see why alums are or are not supportive and be realistic. It's easy to say "people are so busy nowadays and this generation doesn't want to do anything" but that's a copout. If your level of alumnae participation plummeted after you (totally random & silly example) changed the national mascot from a cow to a duck, well then, maybe the alums didn't want that and you should have explored it further before you unilaterally did it.

Making sure alums do not feel disenfranchised increases support, which increases donations and the amount of alums enthused about their sorority, which makes everything better.

I wouldn’t expect a group rebuild another alumnae base, it would be inappropriate. What I’m saying is that (for example) alumnae support is integral to having a strong organization. I think we can learn from each other about how we transition collegiate members into alumnae. Some of the medium to smaller orgs are great at keeping alumnae members involved, that is what I think we need help other orgs replicate. How do we find ways to keep sorority participation if they are the only alumna in 60 miles?

I think that these types of ideas are beneficial to share across the board, none of us can say we don’t need more alumnae support.

I really feel like expansion is great, but not the key to long term survival.

ditto on moving the expansion convo...

[honeychile]

Originally posted by Little E
ditto on moving the expansion convo...

I'm all for that!

Back to helping the smaller sororities, isn't that what both the Collegiate and Alumnae Panhellenics should be doing, also - improving the options? Let's face it - I was ready to be gung ho for TPA at Duquesne because of their religion, not knowing that the focus group was primarily Jewish! And as an aside, TPA was very strict about being Roman Catholic when I went through Rush.

I can understand that the sororities must speak up first, and say that they would like to expand, as for all I know, there's a GLO or two that wants to stay small(er). But Panhellenics are all about trying to spread the wealth - or at least, they should be!

[irishpipes]

Originally posted by AEPhiSierra
I get the impression that while Theta Phi Alpha has Roman Catholic roots they have really moved away from them (not saying this is a good or bad thing, just saying.) I have never really heard references to them embracing their Catholic roots the same way, say AEPhi or SDT does their Jewish roots.

This is interesting, too, because the NPCs with historical ties to a specific religion are some of the smaller GLOs we are discussing. At Illinois, we had 3 "Jewish" sororities - DPhiE, SDT, and AEPhi. Now, Illinois has a fairly large Jewish student population (considering it is in the midwest in a rural area) and that is largely because the Chicago area has a substantial Jewish population. When I was there, SDT was very well established and my perception was that it was kind of the top Jewish house. DPhiE was also considered a Jewish sorority, and they ended up closing. AEPhi seemed to move away from labeling itself as a Jewish sorority on campus, and their numbers really went up. It seemed that 1 Jewish sorority on campus could do really well, but 3 was just too many, even with a good-sized Jewish student population. The inevitable happened in that 1 closed and 1 ceased to be "Jewish."

In some ways, I think it is sad what happened, because I think it would be cool to have the bond of religion with your sisters, or at least many of them. I think maybe part of the heritage of AEPhi was lost when it went "secular" for lack of a better word. On the other hand, maybe it was a sacrifice for the greater good.

I am Catholic, and part of me is with Honeychile that it would be great for TPA to really get a stronghold at Catholic schools since that is their heritage. It is sort of sad that they are moving away from that, but maybe like AEPhi at Illinois, it is what they had to do to survive.