Do any locals get any respect from other GLO's?

[AGDee]

I guess that would pose a problem! It was weird having Phi Sigma Kappa and Phi Sigma Epsilon. Once they merged, they were all Phi Sigs, which was easier. I wonder if Jeff the Phi Sig ever graduated.. he'd been there seven years when I graduated! LOL.

Dee

ETA: Sig Nu's made sense then because everybody was either a Sig or an Alpha. Tri Sig, Sigma Kappa, Sigma Nus, Alpha Xi's and Alpha Gams!

Originally posted by JocelynC
Well my campus had a local (Phi Gamma Pi). They were about 15 or so years old when they closed this past spring. They were at their peak around the early 90's, they had about 40-50 sisters,a house and everything. It's my understanding that there were some disagreements and personal issues amongst the sisters, and many of them dropped. Their numbers went down and they lost their house around 1999 -2000. Their numbers steadily declined and more sisters left. By the time I came to Kent in 2002, they were down to about 5 sisters. They participated in formal rush that fall and got 0 new members (quota was about 25).

They didn't get a whole lot of respect on campus and were pretty much invisible which was kinda sad. If you mentioned Phi Gam to another greek, they'd pretty much be like, "what?".

The True Facts About Phi Gamma Pi:

Actually, Phi Gamma Pi had a reputation it couldn't run from. When we first started, Phi Gam was the typical local- hazing and a lot of women only looking for letters. From my knowledge, the house had nearly 100 ladies at its peak. A petty matter devided the house in the late '90s and many sisters left.

When they participated in formal recruitment in fall of 2002 the chapter was down to 10 sisters. Due to not getting any new members, many of the older women quit. These women were over-worked and exhausted from their efforts.

When I joined in the spring of 2003 there were 3 active sisters in the chapter. My pledge class had 2 women in it and my pledge sister dropped out her first semester active. Pretty much the chapter was dying and though I tried my best to salvage the sisterhood I saw, it didn't happen. Many of you can see my struggle here.

Due to the unsalvageable retutation our earlier sisters created, we were highly disprespected at Kent and eventually ignored.

[HollisterDXiChi]

Originally posted by AlethiaSi
we're the only local sorority on campus and we almost died out (i'm sure a lot of you read my early posts) and when we started building back up and getting rid of the stigma associated with us- most of the sororities were supportive- 3 of them were really- but one of them is causing a lot of problems with us- and its pretty difficult... they say stuff about us at rush- talk trash about us- and spread terrible rumours... we knowt hat they are jealous and threatened by us- and they are in danger of losing their charter b/c of money problems.... i would never wish that upon them... but i definately wish they could cut the crap and just let us be....

the fraternities and sports teams are awesome to us... at first it was like pulling teeth trying to get them to mix with us (the national fraternities) but now we have to beat them off with sticks ( lol) we stay loyal to the ones that were there for us in the beginning (the other small locals) and we don't run off and become obsessed with the hot fraternities... its all about moderation....

its still a struggle getting rid of our stereotype... and its a hell of a lot of work getting girls and "competing" with the national sorortities... but when i see my girls and know waht we're about... its worth it...

The same thing has been going on with my sorority since like last year since we were founded and now that the particular sorority knows that our numbers have shot up (I believe more than theirs), they've gone back to like trashing our fliers and other childish things. I've pretty much gotten over it. Im local and dern proud of it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[qteasied]

There aren't any locals on my campus, but we have 7 Panhel sororities, plus AKA and Lambda Theta Alpha. Panhel's doing fine-most manage to meet quota before or after COB. But the black and Latina orgs are different. They are very small here, think 1 pledge per semester, so they go to other campuses where chapters are biggers and hold events. I believe this is because of the fact that there are racial cliques here, and it's hard to branch out. I'm interested in starting a chapter of a multicultural GLO here, and I've heard about girls ripping our flyers down, and one girl even made faces at me behind my back!!! We really want people of all cultures to join us. There are two GLO's trying to colonize here, a Black/latina org, as well as a latina at the same time as we are. Competition sucks, but we've managed to raise over 700 dollars after only 4 fundraisers with no name flyers, so I'm not really worried. The only thing is that because Panhel's so big here, we're invisible. Most people don't really know anything about the black and latino groups we have here, so we have alot of work cut out for us to get and stay established.

[PhoenixAzul]

I have a problem with the statement of a "typical local, hazing their pledges and a bunch of girls just looking for letters". That would be like me saying that all nationals are money hungry and don't care about their chapters. That might be true of that org, but it is in NO WAY typical of local chapters. Many local charters are held by the school, and the school giveth and the school taketh away, and if you're caught, that's it. The Greek Life office keeps a tight lid on our activities, and our system-wide risk management policy (which is really shitty right now, needs reworded to be clearer) is plastered in every corner of the house. And as far as just looking for letters....I wouldn't have wasted 6 weeks of my life just to wear a shirt with letters on it. We don't get to wear ANYTHING with letters until we go through initiation, so they're very important.

That being said, I kinda feel like my chapter gets the shaft in a lot of things. Being the smallest, we just get overlooked (literally) at Panhel, we don't have the money to throw off campus parties (not that we would anyways), and we don't have a huge house. But we don't think about what we DONT have, we HAVE a ton more. We've got a cute, tiny, CLEAN! house. We have the highest GPA of any greek house, fraternity or sorority. We somehow manage to cover tables for recruitment and fundraising at a moments notice, even with 17 members. We have 17 intelligent, beautiful and loyal women, and I wouldn't trade them for all the money, big houses, and huge rush numbers in the world.

[wanderersarah]

I have a problem with the statement of a "typical local, hazing their pledges and a bunch of girls just looking for letters". That would be like me saying that all nationals are money hungry and don't care about their chapters. That might be true of that org, but it is in NO WAY typical of local chapters.

AMEN. Generalizations like this really get me hot under the collar. And it is an attitude that I have encountered a lot in being in a local. There is a lack of respect not only from chapters on my campus, but a lack of respect about the 'validity' of my local organization from Greeks I know from other campuses. My local doesn't haze and we certainly aren't just looking for letters, we've had 107 great years of sisterhood and tradition from which I have benefitted.

People get so wrapped up in the competitive aspects of Greek Life, and it's easy to forget the purpose in being in an organization. I really like the quote "These letters don't make me better than you, they make me better than I was." Whether a person is in a local or an inter/national organization, the thought shouldn't being 'I'm better than them because..." but "I am a better person because..."

[Diamond Delta]

Originally posted by wanderersarah
I really like the quote "These letters don't make me better than you, they make me better than I was." Whether a person is in a local or an inter/national organization, the thought shouldn't being 'I'm better than them because..." but "I am a better person because..."

I LOVE THAT!!

These letters don't make me a better person than you, they make me a better person than I was.

This should be on a rush shirt! This totally sums up how I feel about my entire sorority experience and did not know how to verbalize it.

Thank you. You've just made my day.

[KSUViolet06]

I like to say that my letters don't define me, I define my letters.

[KDChiNicole]

Going back to the locals hazing subject, my sorority is a local that is very anti-hazing, but a lot of the groups on campus weren't until they were forced to be after spring pledging last year. Basically, so many members of the community and college complained that we had pledging suspended(It's been reinstated now) until a solution could be had as to how to fix the hazing, and making pledging a positive experience for all the NM. We had no changes to make to our policy, but there was a lot of groups on campus that did, and complained bitterly about it, but the administration gave us three options. Go national, reform pledging completely, or greek life will be banned. It's now been reformed completely, and our fall rush got moved back by a month, but pledging is starting soon, and I'm definately excited to see how the changes will affect the other groups on campus.

[KSUViolet06]

Honestly, I respect ANY local with a positive,visible, campus image. A group that interacts positively with other groups and is competitive in terms of size.

[SiempreYo]

Hi. I agree with you, I seen on my campus that they don't respect neither want to support. Maybe it is fear that the locals will take their interest. I am not in any sorority. I am looking into them and paying a lot of attention to the surroundings and that is something I had noticed also. It may be jealousy? Fear? I don't know but I just don't like it.

[PhiNuBlue]

Im in a 151 year old local. There arent any national sorors on our campus (although i hear they were on campus trying to change us to national) but we do have a national fraternity. Our own brother frat is national. I really think if anyone is dedicated to their soror and the greek system they would respect the groups that work hard. If sisters put the time in they get respect. And if other groups put time in like me they deserve it too. It sounds snobby almost, but not every girl is right for your soror. Its good to have different ones so any girl that wnats to gets the chance to be in a soror. I think we will all agree its a worthwhile experience. Even though its hard on our recruiting, im glad theres another ligit local on our campus bc it gives someoen that may not be right for phi nu the chance to experience greek life. When im out recruiting new girls i say well im in phi nu and this is what we do but theres this group too. I just thnk they deserve the respect I hope they would give to us. Its when you treat other people like crap that they dont respect you. Like it was mentioned earlier...you define your letters. Just my opinion.

[MTSUGURL]

Originally posted by LilPhiRose
Size isn't everything.

Yep. That's what my last boyfriend said.



Sorry. Just had to go there. It was too easy.

[tunatartare]

Originally posted by MTSUGURL
Yep. That's what my last boyfriend said.

Ironically enough, that's what I said to my first boyfriend. I'm evil.

[MTSUGURL]

Originally posted by LilPhiRose
lol You guys know what I meant!

Yes, but it's illegal to let such an easy joke pass us by unnoticed.