Fraternity Overseas

[Taras]

Thank you for showing your interest in my case.
Just to make myself clear:
My peer group and me want to start our own Social(General) Fraternity which would serve to people of our society. We want to know how it works in US because there is no specific law about fraternities in Ukraine. We could start a club which we would call "fraternity", but we want to be recognized by Greek community. That was the main reason I have published this question online.
We want you to understand that nobody is looking for any information about secrets that are prohibited to strangers, we simply want to know the direction in whisch we would start moving. I believe that basic information can be provided.
Thank you for the time and efforts.

If anybody is interested in cooperation you are welcome to email me: 4qwert@ukr.net

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Taras

Thank you for showing your interest in my case.
Just to make myself clear:
My peer group and me want to start our own Social(General) Fraternity which would serve to people of our society. We want to know how it works in US because there is no specific law about fraternities in Ukraine. We could start a club which we would call "fraternity", but we want to be recognized by Greek community. That was the main reason I have published this question online.
We want you to understand that nobody is looking for any information about secrets that are prohibited to strangers, we simply want to know the direction in whisch we would start moving. I believe that basic information can be provided.
Thank you for the time and efforts.

If anybody is interested in cooperation you are welcome to email me: 4qwert@ukr.net

Taras, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Perhaps you should consider a semester in the U.S.? On a side note, my wife's school just finished hosting a young lady from the Ukraine last year as an exchange student. From what I could tell, she really loved it here.

[Corsulian]

Taras,

Are you entirely clear on the American Fraternity system? That's not a question designed to be at all insulting, but several European countries have "Greek" systems that differ considerably from the American one (Germany in particular).

Several of the former USSR countries near the Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) have such systems.

I don't know that most of these European systems are really "recognized" by the American Fraternity & Sorority Life system. There's nothing wrong with them--they just operate differently and have different governing bodies.

For a new organization, it's no different from creating any other student organization at your school (college, university, high school, or any place really).

Our fraternities and sororities, generally, started like this:

-Group of people with common ideals & goals
-Create organization
-Expand organization

The Greek letters in our organizations mostly stand for secret Greek mottoes that define the goals or purpose of the organization. Greek and Latin were both languages many scholars knew--so that's mainly why they were used.

After that, the organization can do whatever you want it to. Songs, crests, pins, a new member process, a recruitment process, creeds, handshakes, symbols...whatever else you want.

[DUKyleXY]

Although I have no prior knowledge of starting a fraternity/sorority, I would be willing to bet that the easiest place to begin if you want an American Style fraternity/sorority is to determine what you want your organization to be based upon. Choose the values that you would like your members to live by, remember to pick something reasonable, this organization needs to appeal to a number of different individuals. After you have decided on a set of founding values or principles, try drafting a constitution and some by-laws as a way to unify your organization under a specific set of rules. Also decide if you want your organization to be secretive or non-secretive, there are a few non-secretive organizations in American system. Remember to record all the planning meetings your members and yourself hold, they could become historical documents in a hundred years!