Theta Chi at Duke Going Local

[SigmaPezY60]

Coming from a local sorority I can say a few things.

Not ALL locals exist because we don't like rules. We've got plenty of rules of our own. We just didn't like the kinds of rules and wanted to make our own. Most that exist were founded because they wanted to fullfill a need that had yet to be met on their campus by existing groups.

Also we don't exist so that we can get away with hazing. My sorority does not haze. Before making that assumption joking or not, you may want to take a look at the Risk Management Section of Greek Chat where you will find stories of many national organizations that have been caught hazing.

In my opinion the best benefits to being part of a national organization is the connection you have with other women/men accross the country because of the traditions of your organization. You may not like the image of another chapter, but you do share the same letters and traditions.

Also insurance. That's why national dues are so high. And insurance is a very big deal.

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally Posted by SigmaPezY60

Coming from a local sorority I can say a few things.

Not ALL locals exist because we don't like rules. We've got plenty of rules of our own. We just didn't like the kinds of rules and wanted to make our own. Most that exist were founded because they wanted to fullfill a need that had yet to be met on their campus by existing groups.

Also we don't exist so that we can get away with hazing. My sorority does not haze. Before making that assumption joking or not, you may want to take a look at the Risk Management Section of Greek Chat where you will find stories of many national organizations that have been caught hazing.

In my opinion the best benefits to being part of a national organization is the connection you have with other women/men accross the country because of the traditions of your organization. You may not like the image of another chapter, but you do share the same letters and traditions.

Also insurance. That's why national dues are so high. And insurance is a very big deal.

Thank you .

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by SigmaPezY60

In my opinion the best benefits to being part of a national organization is the connection you have with other women/men accross the country because of the traditions of your organization. You may not like the image of another chapter, but you do share the same letters and traditions.

And that's probably another big reason for disaffiliating from their (inter)national organization. There are some members who believe members in other chapters are douches so why be affiliated with them? The letters and traditions don't matter, it's the brotherhood you gained in the chapter, not the organization overall, that matters.
----
I'm assuming by Big XII Elephant Walk meant Texas and possibly OU. None of the other schools in the conference "matter" as far as GLOs are concerned.

[Elephant Walk]

Correct, Big - 12 Texas, Oklahoma is pretty iffy as far as anything goes. Oklahoma greeks always get that north Dallas Trash.

[g41965]

First Greek life was stronger back in the late 1980's when I attended college and law school. Duke is now at 37% with the women in the low 40's men in the low 30%. In the late 1980's it was higher. I can admit when I'm wrong, however I believe my point stands, in the 1950's Dartmouth was 80% greek now its 50%, Amherst was 80% Greek now it's 10%. This happened after chapters went local. My point is this, when Greek Letter Fraternities go local at elite colleges is a decline in the system going to follow? Empircally the evidence seems to say yes. However are their alternate factors of causation such as changes in the student body etc. I don't know I think the "local" phenomana at elite schools is interesting. Note UVA has also had a trend some national fraternities go local.
On Tom's point about smaller schools my guess is William Jewell is a good school but has not hit that elitist stage that seems to drive Greeks at the the most selective colleges.

[LPIDelta]

National values should permeate, not necessarily be mirror exactly, throughout a chapter--if they don't, then maybe the group should be local.

Also, I would encourage a group to work with their national to change things that are unsatisfactory--sometimes, national orgs are not even aware of the issues with local chapters.

I didn't mean to imply before that all locals don't want to follow the rules--I was in a local and we didn't haze, we followed the rules (most of the time)etc. What I meant was that this particular group seems to not want to follow any rules but their own...and I guess in that case, paying for all those services and assistance really doesn't make sense.

[Elephant Walk]

National values should permeate, not necessarily be mirror exactly, throughout a chapter--if they don't, then maybe the group should be local.

Completely correct. When the nationals preach liberalism, unsatisfactory pledge programs, untolerable rules and so on, the chapters should leave. The Kappa Sig's here are powerful enough to leave nationals.

[LPIDelta]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Completely correct. When the nationals preach liberalism, unsatisfactory pledge programs, untolerable rules and so on, the chapters should leave. The Kappa Sig's here are powerful enough to leave nationals.

Those weren't the values I was talking about....those things are programs, and that is completely different.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Heather17

Those weren't the values I was talking about....those things are programs, and that is completely different.

But I believe EW is saying that he believes that the enaction of those programs shows that the organization no longer espouses the values they did previously.

To be really simplistic, if one of the values of your org is high scholarship and you enact a program that says you don't need a minimum GPA to join, that would say to me the org no longer cares about scholarship as a value.

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Completely correct. When the nationals preach liberalism, unsatisfactory pledge programs, untolerable rules and so on, the chapters should leave. The Kappa Sig's here are powerful enough to leave nationals.

Is that at Arkansas or LSU?