Bringing the Councils together

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by ZChi4Life

Why wouldn't the councils want to work together? What's wrong w/ building a united Greek community on campus?

There's nothing wrong with it, but you have to ask how much the orgs have in common besides the use of Greek letters. On some campuses, joint programming makes sense. On others, it does not. The problem lies in partnering just for the sake of "unity" or "diversity" or something of that sort.

[KAPital PHINUst]

DeltaBetaBaby,

You hit the nail on the head as to why I posed the line of questioning the way I did. Hence why I asked, "What specifically will the councils be uniting to do?" What purpose will it serve other than unity for unity's sake? If that was to happen, what unity that does arise from that will be short-lived and will revert back to status quo in short order.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

One way we try to bring together chapters within the CPH is common programming that meets national requirements. So for example, a lot of chapters are supposed to have programming on alcohol/drug abuse. If the CPH can put on that program, it serves a need for most of the chapters. I have no idea if NPHC groups have the same requirement. If they do, it makes sense to include them, if they don't, well, you can invite them, but why would they show?

(I don't mean to pick on NPHC groups...it would work the other way, too, if the NPHC groups had a program to honor outstanding AA high school students. What would the NPC groups want with that?)

[tld221]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

One way we try to bring together chapters within the CPH is common programming that meets national requirements. So for example, a lot of chapters are supposed to have programming on alcohol/drug abuse. If the CPH can put on that program, it serves a need for most of the chapters. I have no idea if NPHC groups have the same requirement. If they do, it makes sense to include them, if they don't, well, you can invite them, but why would they show?

(I don't mean to pick on NPHC groups...it would work the other way, too, if the NPHC groups had a program to honor outstanding AA high school students. What would the NPC groups want with that?)

wow, talk about pulling out examples through stereotypes. i hope in your head that was hypothetical.

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by tld221

wow, talk about pulling out examples through stereotypes. i hope in your head that was hypothetical.

What are you talking about? Delta gave two very concise examples which would demonstrate two different situations. It should be obvious that Delta's not insinuating that all NPC/IFC members do drugs and drink too much, and that all NPHC orgs sponsor AA high school students.

Originally Posted by ekDZ1535

Often, NPHC and MCGC have been left out of the loop in the past with things such as Greek Week, Week of the Scholar, and other such "all-Greek" events. Whether it's right or not, some of these members may not feel so inclined to extend the all-Greek love, so it's going to take more work on the PHC/IFC end to show sincere commitment to Greek unity and interest in collaboration outside of for your own good (not that you are - but we all know how things can be perceived at times).

I think it's the opposite problem. We invited the NPHC groups to participate in Greek Week. Two accepted. Of the two, one teamed up with DZ [because the NPHC groups were too small to compete on their own, and they knew this going in]. The other group was supposed to be with us. We called and called them to organize stuff and discuss it, and never once did they call us back. Not one person showed up to anything from that group.

I agree with Susan; at least here, it's more effort on the NPHC side that's needed if intercouncil relationships are to work.

[ekDZ1535]

I think it's the opposite problem. We invited the NPHC groups to participate in Greek Week. Two accepted. Of the two, one teamed up with DZ [because the NPHC groups were too small to compete on their own, and they knew this going in]. The other group was supposed to be with us. We called and called them to organize stuff and discuss it, and never once did they call us back. Not one person showed up to anything from that group.

I agree with Susan; at least here, it's more effort on the NPHC side that's needed if intercouncil relationships are to work.

I think you raise one of the issues with inter-council relations - everyone expects everyone else to come to them. I'm going to be frank in that the hoo-rah of Greek Week tends to be a favorite among the PHC and IFC groups and has traditionally been a week put on by these groups. So now one day PHC and IFC decide to include NPHC and they're expected to fit their mold for Greek Week? Just because you invite someone to participate doesn't mean that they should - I saw our councils do the same thing at first - Greek unity was inviting other people to our stuff...umm, no. Greek unity is reaching outside of your chapter and council to understand others. Each campus is different in terms of this and each chapter within the council maintains a different culture that's going to influence the success of doing so. But that's why the focus needs to be on understanding your campus, collecting others who also want to build inter-Greek relationships between councils, and figure out through communicating with one another what those ideal relationships should look like. You have to meet people where they are and not every chapter/council is going to be ready to participate with you in Greek Week, join in on the all-Greek stroll, etc. It's wonderful when those things work - but in terms of the question at hand, you have to invest the time to understand your community's needs and how far councils/chapters are willing to go to make these relationships a priority.

[LUC Kappa]

at loyola university, we formed a greek council that holds members of the NPC, IFC, and MGC councils and together they help plan greek week. we did this for the first time this year and it worked out great, everyone participated because everyone was involved in planning it. and we are expecting bigger and better for next year....I tell you the moment all your councils get together the better, because you end up making a greek week so unique and great!

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by ekDZ1535

I think you raise one of the issues with inter-council relations - everyone expects everyone else to come to them. I'm going to be frank in that the hoo-rah of Greek Week tends to be a favorite among the PHC and IFC groups and has traditionally been a week put on by these groups. So now one day PHC and IFC decide to include NPHC and they're expected to fit their mold for Greek Week? Just because you invite someone to participate doesn't mean that they should - I saw our councils do the same thing at first - Greek unity was inviting other people to our stuff...umm, no. Greek unity is reaching outside of your chapter and council to understand others. Each campus is different in terms of this and each chapter within the council maintains a different culture that's going to influence the success of doing so. But that's why the focus needs to be on understanding your campus, collecting others who also want to build inter-Greek relationships between councils, and figure out through communicating with one another what those ideal relationships should look like. You have to meet people where they are and not every chapter/council is going to be ready to participate with you in Greek Week, join in on the all-Greek stroll, etc. It's wonderful when those things work - but in terms of the question at hand, you have to invest the time to understand your community's needs and how far councils/chapters are willing to go to make these relationships a priority.

Exactly!

It's just like any other invitation to attend or participate in events on college campuses. Almost every event is open to anyone who wants to attend--Greeks and nonGreeks of any race, ethnicity, gender, GLO affiliation, etc. To figure out why people don't come out despite your attempt at inclusion requires more than just a surface level invitiation.

[Axid angel]

i think the main thing people should do is ask why some organizations don't participate. sometimes it is as simple as they haven't been asked. if you ask one and there is no response ask again. keep asking until you get an answer. you'll get on their nerves and they will have to answer eventually. i liked getting to know the members of the npch and mcgc organizations on my campus. the way they do things is different but there is still some common ground. i think there is a need for diversity for educations sake.

[mccoyred]

Originally Posted by ekDZ1535

I think you raise one of the issues with inter-council relations - everyone expects everyone else to come to them. I'm going to be frank in that the hoo-rah of Greek Week tends to be a favorite among the PHC and IFC groups and has traditionally been a week put on by these groups. So now one day PHC and IFC decide to include NPHC and they're expected to fit their mold for Greek Week? Just because you invite someone to participate doesn't mean that they should - I saw our councils do the same thing at first - Greek unity was inviting other people to our stuff...umm, no. Greek unity is reaching outside of your chapter and council to understand others. Each campus is different in terms of this and each chapter within the council maintains a different culture that's going to influence the success of doing so. But that's why the focus needs to be on understanding your campus, collecting others who also want to build inter-Greek relationships between councils, and figure out through communicating with one another what those ideal relationships should look like. You have to meet people where they are and not every chapter/council is going to be ready to participate with you in Greek Week, join in on the all-Greek stroll, etc. It's wonderful when those things work - but in terms of the question at hand, you have to invest the time to understand your community's needs and how far councils/chapters are willing to go to make these relationships a priority.

Well said! Thanks!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by tld221

wow, talk about pulling out examples through stereotypes. i hope in your head that was hypothetical.

What is hypothetical? This is something I know the NPHC groups did on my campus. Is it now inappropriate to note that NPHC groups do activities geared toward African Americans?

I actually included that example because, unlike the above posters, it was not my experience that the NPHC groups were to blame for lack of unity. It was definitely a two-way street on my campus.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

What is hypothetical? This is something I know the NPHC groups did on my campus. Is it now inappropriate to note that NPHC groups do activities geared toward African Americans?

I actually included that example because, unlike the above posters, it was not my experience that the NPHC groups were to blame for lack of unity. It was definitely a two-way street on my campus.

i started to respond, but i'll PM you since it takes the thread off-topic and what not...

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Okay, back on topic.

One thing that worked very well for my chapter was inviting NPHC or MCGC orgs to join our homecoming float. Campus rules allowed up to 4 orgs, but most Greek floats were on CPH sorority and one IFC fraternity. Groups from the other councils were traditionally much smaller, and couldn't do a float on their own.

For them, it meant a chance to participate in a campus-wide activity that they didn't have the people/resources to do alone. For us, it meant we got to hang out with some new people (admittedly, we were most interested in the male people).

Obviously homecoming floats are the right activity for every campus, but you should take a look at what you already do that may interest groups from the other councils, as well as what you'd like to get out of a relationship with some of those groups. If you can find common interests, great. If you find that doing something with another council makes about as much sense as co-programming with the rugby team, don't bother.

(One exception would be those huge displays of Greek unity that you don't even want to do for your own council, but do for show, i.e. groundbreaking on a new house, installation of a chapter. You should do those for any chapter on your campus, regardless of council.)

[mccoyred]

I want to know why its the NPHC and MGC folks that are at fault here? Maybe they don't want to work with you because you all are too self-righteous!

[ZChi4Life]

Originally Posted by mccoyred

I want to know why its the NPHC and MGC folks that are at fault here? Maybe they don't want to work with you because you all are too self-righteous!

I was wondering the same thing...

And I wonder has anyone ever thought to ask those two councils why they don't want to participate?