Expansion/Quota Questions

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AZ-AlphaXi

re: quota/total with only 1 NPC group ... no such thing ... the chapter would/could take as many new members as they wanted.

The chapter usually does have a "total" set by their national office that they need to achieve, just so the chapter stays viable. Obviously if they go over this (by a little or a lot) the national isn't going to complain.

[minDyG]

Originally Posted by 33girl

The chapter usually does have a "total" set by their national office that they need to achieve, just so the chapter stays viable. Obviously if they go over this (by a little or a lot) the national isn't going to complain.

So if one of the prerequisites for a campus's Student Activities office (or NPC if it exists) to decide to open for expansion is generally (as I've read on a few threads here) that the existing chapter(s) be consistently at or above quota, but there is only one chapter present and therefore no official "quota" per se but only a suggested guideline, what other factors may be considered in convincing or encouraging a campus to open for expansion? It seems pretty obvious that if a group is constantly scrounging around for new members and barely able to fill all of the officer positions within the org, then of course the interest just isn't present on the campus. But if numbers and participation are high or at least sufficient, what other aspects of the student environment could persuade a campus to want to expand?

[Buttonz]

Possibly a local or a group of women who are interested in Greek Life but not the current NPC on campus. Or maybe the school admin wants to see Greek Life expand because it feels it will help recruit high school seniors to come...

[aopirose]

Originally Posted by Buttonz

Possibly a local or a group of women who are interested in Greek Life but not the current NPC on campus. Or maybe the school admin wants to see Greek Life expand because it feels it will help recruit high school seniors to come...

Exactly.

I guess I'll chime in as well since my collegiate chapter is the only NPC presence on campus.

First, 33girl was right when she mentioned the "total" standard set forth by HQ. Obviously we don't have a quota to follow, but each year IHQ suggests that we get x number of women.

A few years back when I was still working on campus, I saw fliers for an AST interest group forming. I tried to nose around to find out who was in charge -- if she was an AST alumna or a transfer who wanted to start a collegiate chapter. I was working at Student Activities at that time and wanted to offer my assistance, but my calls went unreturned. I don't think that group ever got off the ground because AGD's still the only NPC there.

I've said time and again that a collegiate chapter won't survive at UHM if there's no strong alumnae presence and backing, and I know a lot of sororities don't want to colonize because it's just too risky. If there's a group of XYZ alumnae who want to colonize a chapter, they too can approach the Student Activities and Programs office and go from there. They'll just need a campus representative to sponsor them. Unfortunately, judging from my experience and how I know who still works there...they don't know jack about the NPC and expansion policies. They wouldn't know if there was a need even if it slapped them in the face.

Personally, I would love to see a second NPC on campus. (We already have 3 local sororities). I get jealous when I see the fraternities grow (we've had TKE, Beta Theta Pi, SigEp, and Kappa Sigma in the last 10 years) and it'd be great if the sororities could be the same way.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by OTW

I guess I'll chime in as well since my collegiate chapter is the only NPC presence on campus.

First, 33girl was right when she mentioned the "total" standard set forth by HQ. Obviously we don't have a quota to follow, but each year IHQ suggests that we get x number of women.

A few years back when I was still working on campus, I saw fliers for an AST interest group forming. I tried to nose around to find out who was in charge -- if she was an AST alumna or a transfer who wanted to start a collegiate chapter. I was working at Student Activities at that time and wanted to offer my assistance, but my calls went unreturned. I don't think that group ever got off the ground because AGD's still the only NPC there.

I've said time and again that a collegiate chapter won't survive at UHM if there's no strong alumnae presence and backing, and I know a lot of sororities don't want to colonize because it's just too risky. If there's a group of XYZ alumnae who want to colonize a chapter, they too can approach the Student Activities and Programs office and go from there. They'll just need a campus representative to sponsor them. Unfortunately, judging from my experience and how I know who still works there...they don't know jack about the NPC and expansion policies. They wouldn't know if there was a need even if it slapped them in the face.

Personally, I would love to see a second NPC on campus. (We already have 3 local sororities). I get jealous when I see the fraternities grow (we've had TKE, Beta Theta Pi, SigEp, and Kappa Sigma in the last 10 years) and it'd be great if the sororities could be the same way.

Of course, this is true about so many campi!

The problem with your state is the far reaching of HQ's! The costs are exteemly high so it is left up to a very few visits, or Alums to keep things in working order instead of visits by IHQ reps.


I admire the NIC GLOs that came there and are there and as always, I want to see expansions!

[Xidelt]

Originally Posted by minDyG

So if one of the prerequisites for a campus's Student Activities office (or NPC if it exists) to decide to open for expansion is generally (as I've read on a few threads here) that the existing chapter(s) be consistently at or above quota, but there is only one chapter present and therefore no official "quota" per se but only a suggested guideline, what other factors may be considered in convincing or encouraging a campus to open for expansion? It seems pretty obvious that if a group is constantly scrounging around for new members and barely able to fill all of the officer positions within the org, then of course the interest just isn't present on the campus. But if numbers and participation are high or at least sufficient, what other aspects of the student environment could persuade a campus to want to expand?

Some other factors that might let the Student Activities office know it's time for another NPC:

--the existing sorority consistenly has larger and larger pledge classes.
--the undergraduate population of the college is growing each year.
--growth of the college in other areas: is it transitioning from a local, commuter college to a regional, residential school by building student housing, attracting students from other areas of the state? I've seen many of the state colleges in GA do this in recent years.

[minDyG]

Originally Posted by Xidelt

Some other factors that might let the Student Activities office know it's time for another NPC:

--the existing sorority consistenly has larger and larger pledge classes.
--the undergraduate population of the college is growing each year.
--growth of the college in other areas: is it transitioning from a local, commuter college to a regional, residential school by building student housing, attracting students from other areas of the state? I've seen many of the state colleges in GA do this in recent years.

Interestingly enough, the school I'm thinking of exactly fits the last criterion you mentioned. I'm not sure about pledge class size and undergrad population but I'd imagine they're on the rise (at least total pop) due to the fact that the school has recently added student housing and is expanding the campus itself as well. Thanks for bringing that up--it's something I hadn't thought of yet!

[Xidelt]

I think I know what school you're referring to!

But some Ga state schools that have transitioned from commuter schools to more regional, residential schools in recent years are Armstrong Atlantic and Kennesaw State. Both are adding (or have recently) student housing. Kennesaw is adding a colony of Gamma Phi this fall and Armstrong Atlantic has a fairly new (less than 10 yrs old) Greek system. Columbus State also has new student housing and an AOPi colony (local wanted to affiliate).