Is this legal? Deactivated one NPC, now part of a new NPC.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Yet another good reason to use the sponsorship system. Your sorority's alumnae from the candidate's hometown checks her out and writes the sponsor (AKA recommendation) form or letter. More than likely she will turn up whether the girl has been an initiated member of another NPC group. Not to say that some will slip through the cracks, but it would be another check. I personally would not give Panhellenic my social security number.
I really don't think it is that big of a problem. Now, I'm not saying that NO woman has EVER been initiated in 2 NPC orgs. People forget the rules. Perhaps the transferee really misses her sorority experience and wants to continue it. But I don't think it is that frequent a problem.

But this is pretty absurd for women who are from towns where most people did not join sororitys. I should be precluded from membership simply because most women in my town were anti-establishment hippies when they were in college? I find that troublesome.

[SWTXBelle]

The student has to be registered at the college in order to pledge. Colleges routinely use s.s.n.s to identify students - I always have to provide mine to get transcripts. I doubt that many students would lie about their s.s.n. to enroll in college - it would make it too difficult to get employment later. So, some means of cross-checking with the # is probably feasible.
Having said that, I don't think it is really that big of a problem. In this case, I would notify both NPC orgs. Perhaps her losing both memberships would be a good example!

[tld221]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

The student has to be registered at the college in order to pledge. Colleges routinely use s.s.n.s to identify students - I always have to provide mine to get transcripts. I doubt that many students would lie about their s.s.n. to enroll in college - it would make it too difficult to get employment later. So, some means of cross-checking with the # is probably feasible.
Having said that, I don't think it is really that big of a problem. In this case, I would notify both NPC orgs. Perhaps her losing both memberships would be a good example!

and again, considering greeks are at a university at their leisure, you think sschool officials have time to be cross-checking SSNs for every PNM during rush?

also, many colleges are moving away from using SSNs as ID#s. NYU had a whole big to-do about it a couple years ago. doesnt mean they still dont have my SSN.

[AGDee]

You've got to think about the ROI here. First, creating a database that's going to hold information about probably half a million people. (I'm just guessing at a number here, based on an approximate number of new members we get in Alpha Gam annually, plus some, because we have fewer chapters than a lot of NPC's and multiplying by 26 NPC groups times four because they are in college for about 4 years). Someone has to add in 3000-5000 new members per year per NPC. This database has to be accessible by ___ ?? Who would be able to add members to it? Who would be able to check it? Would you have one person at headquarters designated to check for each chapter? When do you do this? During recruitment on all PNMs? During their new member period but before Initiation? So, you have to figure out who has access to this database with SSNs in it. THEN, you have to ensure that this database is kept really secure so that they don't end up having to pay for credit monitoring for half a million women.

I'm not sure all that is worth it to catch a handful of women who do this each year.

[SWTXBelle]

But those who are stupid enough to do it and are caught - really need to be kicked out of their NPC GLOs!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

But those who are stupid enough to do it and are caught - really need to be kicked out of their NPC GLOs!

Yep.

ETA: I think the best thing would be for the chapters to carefully screen the new members that they get who are transfers before initiation. (Even the hometown sponsor thing might fail if your hometown was big enough to include two members who didn't know each other that you could ask for recs at the different campuses.) But once the girl is a new member, then before initiation, you call the old school's office of Greek life. If they don’t have good lists, you could call each of the chapters at the old campus. Worst case is that you’d call 26 groups if the old campus had EVERY NPC group, which seems unlikely. Considering that you probably didn’t pledge that many transfers, it would seem worth it to protect your ritual.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by AGDee

You've got to think about the ROI here. First, creating a database that's going to hold information about probably half a million people. (I'm just guessing at a number here, based on an approximate number of new members we get in Alpha Gam annually, plus some, because we have fewer chapters than a lot of NPC's and multiplying by 26 NPC groups times four because they are in college for about 4 years). Someone has to add in 3000-5000 new members per year per NPC. This database has to be accessible by ___ ?? Who would be able to add members to it? Who would be able to check it? Would you have one person at headquarters designated to check for each chapter? When do you do this? During recruitment on all PNMs? During their new member period but before Initiation? So, you have to figure out who has access to this database with SSNs in it. THEN, you have to ensure that this database is kept really secure so that they don't end up having to pay for credit monitoring for half a million women.

I'm not sure all that is worth it to catch a handful of women who do this each year.

Also, how do you know the SSN's are real? If a girl is going to lie about being initiated elsewhere, why not also give a false SSN?

[kathykd2005]

True--if someone is going to be dishonest about her affiliation, why would she be honest about her membership in another NPC sorority. However, I am of the opinion that NPC should have some sort of database to show membership. I know that each has its own website with membership info for alums and collegiates, so why not just merge the two?

[susan314]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Also, how do you know the SSN's are real? If a girl is going to lie about being initiated elsewhere, why not also give a false SSN?

I don't think you'd necessarily need an SSN anyhow - in most cases, name, birthdate, and hometown/HS should be sufficient to do a check. (What are the odds of 2 Jane Smith's both born on 3-14-89 both from City XYZ? And then what are the odds of them both going through NPC recruitment? In the rare event that a duplicate match might happen, a procedure could be established for a deeper verification.)

Many of us already gave our SSNs to our own NPC group on the new member paperwork. (I won't go so far as to say that all NPC groups collect them for their pledges/new members, but I suspect a lot do.) However, I wouldn't be in favor of an NPC database that contained them for all 26 orgs members in one location. Too hard to control for who has access and to big of an expense to develop/maintain.