How does one suggest a makeover?

[AnchorAlumna]

You're never going to offend nobody. Let's put it this way. SOMEBODY is bound to be offended.
But why not seriously suggest it? If nothing else, it might shake things up a bit and lead to some positive change.

[LPIDelta]

LadyLight, I think you may be confused. NPC, the National Panhellenic Conference, has rules for adding additional groups to the 26 member groups--but for a local sorority chapter to join an already established NPC sorority does not require a certain number of chapters etc.

With NPC groups on campus, the local may have to petition to those groups to open the campus to expansion, and that can be a tenuous process--but not impossible--especially at "smaller" Greek campuses.

GGirlEC--why don't you propose a "heritage team" for your sorority. This group would be charged with keeping the history updated, reviewing the old binders to discover past traditions and reintroduce them, and creating new ones. This could be a great job for newer members who may not have other responsibilities and seniors who may have limited time but you still want to keep them involved. This could be something you could coordinate in your member educator role.

[modorney]

My experience with a local joining a national involves a number of factors. Driving this involves having a few with a vision, passion and spare time to push it along. Usually it helps to have both alums on your team, as well as faculty and administration support. In general, colleges who like greeks, like nationals, since they help keep the houses out of trouble. This is more of a fraternity issue, sororities don't seem to have the same troubles.

The second thing is to find a national that is both compatible with you and is willing to accept you. Some nationals can absorb only a few colonies a year, and will have a "full plate". So they won't have time for you. Other nationals have a few houses, and are looking to grow to more than a hundred, which gives them economies of scale. But, being a local for 20 years means you aren't likely to fold on you. But that does mean you have established a "personality", and that needs to fit the national. Granted, a chapter on one campus is usually different than one on another, but there often is a commonality of traits.

The third thing is that colleges, in general, are getting tougher to get into (the "new ivies"), so the better your college gets, the more you will want the networking benefits of a good national. More and more grads will move away from the local area, usually because of a good job offer. They will want an alum chapter in their new city.

As mentioned, you have the vision, you may have to run for president and carry it through. But, if you are the lone wolf, and have experienced interest from a national house on campus, that may be a better option.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by LadyLight

I thought I had read that Panhellinics won't consider accepting smaller sororities into themselves until you had several chapters (and thus wouldn't truly be a local). However, they do consider individual women who are willing to drop all affiliation with their locals. Go back through and do a search, I know there was a thread somewhere that clearly explained the process of Locals being absorbed into both NPHC and NPC orgs.. I would say definantely get answers on that first because as someone already mentioned you certainly will offend someone in your local when you mention going national.

I think this post wins the "Most wrong info in one post" award.

National Panhellenic will accept a NEW GLO with a certain amount of chapters (with the youngest being at least 2 years old). It has nothing to do with individual NPCs taking over locals.

Individual women cannot join a GLO that is not on their campus, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. A GLO can accept ALL of the members TOGETHER of a local who want to become an NPC.

And I have absolutely no idea why you even brought NPHC into this, as it surely has nothing to do with this conversation. I don't think there has been any time in history where an NPHC has absorbed a local, and I don't think there ever will be.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I don't think there has been any time in history where an NPHC has absorbed a local, and I don't think there ever will be.

I can only speak on APhiA in this case, as I've never heard of it happening in other orgs, but in the early days we absorbed a few local societies. Some were Greek letter, some were not.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I can only speak on APhiA in this case, as I've never heard of it happening in other orgs, but in the early days we absorbed a few local societies. Some were Greek letter, some were not.

How did that work? Did they each have to be accepted, pledge, etc? I'm taking "early days" to mean 1910's-1920's? (This is also why I said "I don't think", caz I knew someone would have an exception ).


I said I don't see it happening today because of how selective y'all are. I can't see a current D9 taking a look at a group of people and saying "Yeah, sure, let's just take them all...".