Colonization at the University of Alabama?!?

[AnatraAmore]

I was looking at the AL Panhellenic site and it seems that there was a vite to raise house total in November to 180 - did it end up getting raised to higher than this? According to the Fall 06 grade report, there are 4 of the 15 groups under total. Several groups have numbers in the 220's!!! Two of them are within 14 of this new total and two more of them are much further under total. My question is... do you think they'll wait for all four groups to get to total? My thought is that maybe wait and let the two groups who are close get to total... but the other two groups are smaller than the next smaller by more than double (ex: 12, 85, and the next group has 166...) One more slightly random question... how big of a new member class do you think a colonizing sorority would have to take be to be competitive???


PS: Coming from a campus where total is 60 and that's considered HUGE, these numbers seem outrageous to me!

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by sangers

how big of a new member class do you think a colonizing sorority would have to take be to be competitive???

The number of new members would have little to do with whether or not the new chapter would be considered competitive.

[AnatraAmore]

So what I meant was not competitive, but more... stable? I know tradition and reputation have a lot to do with success at a school like that, but what I was asking is more "What would the ideal beginning be for an organization colonizing?"

[aopirose]

Originally Posted by sangers

So what I meant was not competitive, but more... stable? I know tradition and reputation have a lot to do with success at a school like that, but what I was asking is more "What would the ideal beginning be for an organization colonizing?"

Generally, you like to start a colony that is either at Chapter Total or the Average Chapter Size, whichever is the larger. Sometimes a group may opt to take less than that. It just depends.

[AlphaFrog]

I'm probably in the minority, but I think it would be nice to see a non-tradtional SEC sorority make it at Bama. Something for those women who aren't Southern Belles, groomed for rush since birth.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I'm probably in the minority, but I think it would be nice to see a non-tradtional SEC sorority make it at Bama. Something for those women who aren't Southern Belles, groomed for rush since birth.

They're there, but they seem to have an awful lot of inside squabbles where several people quit. And at the most, they seem to have from 10 to 30 members, hardly enough to maintain a house or any other physical presence on campus. The non-Southern belles seem to go to non-Southern girls.
...As far as an ideal number of members to start with, you'd have to have at least average chapter size, simply to maintain that big house. And yes, you'd have to have a LOT of NMs to be competitive. And they'd better be mostly girls from Alabama. Chapters with a high percentage of out-of-state members struggle.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

They're there, but they seem to have an awful lot of inside squabbles where several people quit. And at the most, they seem to have from 10 to 30 members, hardly enough to maintain a house or any other physical presence on campus. The non-Southern belles seem to go to non-Southern girls.

What do you mean "they're there"? Are you talking about non-NPC groups? I though AlphaFrog meant that she would like to see an NPC at Bama that wasn't a typically strong southern group.

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

They're there, but they seem to have an awful lot of inside squabbles where several people quit. And at the most, they seem to have from 10 to 30 members, hardly enough to maintain a house or any other physical presence on campus. The non-Southern belles seem to go to non-Southern girls.
...As far as an ideal number of members to start with, you'd have to have at least average chapter size, simply to maintain that big house. And yes, you'd have to have a LOT of NMs to be competitive. And they'd better be mostly girls from Alabama. Chapters with a high percentage of out-of-state members struggle.

I'm really not sure if I should be offended by this post but I WAS. Seeing how we are one of the non-Southern groups on that campus and definitely bigger than the numbers you list there and we don't have inside struggles.....

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

They're there, but they seem to have an awful lot of inside squabbles where several people quit. And at the most, they seem to have from 10 to 30 members, hardly enough to maintain a house or any other physical presence on campus. The non-Southern belles seem to go to non-Southern girls.
...As far as an ideal number of members to start with, you'd have to have at least average chapter size, simply to maintain that big house. And yes, you'd have to have a LOT of NMs to be competitive. And they'd better be mostly girls from Alabama. Chapters with a high percentage of out-of-state members struggle.

Maybe I am just an idealistic Yankee, but I disagree. Why does this theoretical new chapter at Bama have to strive to be Old Row/First Circle/whatever? There are chapters all over the country where they aren't considered the prettiest/blondest/richest/WASPiest chapter. As long as a chapter is financially stable, and the members are happy there, why, if a chapter is not "top tier" is it a failure?

There have to be out-of-staters at Bama that would like to be Greek, but don't get the chance because all of the chapters essentially have their new members picked out before recruitment begins based on recs from their Mama's friends. One of the reasons for (re)colonization is because there is a niche in your Greek community missing. Who cares if you have all 26 NPCs on campus if they are all looking for the same thing? If the new chapter isn't going to fill a new niche, Bama should just raise total if they feel that enough women aren't getting placed in "desirable chapters".

[Buttonz]

Any idea how the SDT chapter is doing there? I know that we are the smallest group but I haven't heard anything lately.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I'm probably in the minority, but I think it would be nice to see a non-tradtional SEC sorority make it at Bama. Something for those women who aren't Southern Belles, groomed for rush since birth.

What is a traditional Non SEC Sorority?

[33girl]

A sorority that isn't particularly strong in the Deep South or at the schools in the SEC.