Delegate Strength

[DSTRen13]

For OPhiA:

Each (collegiate) chapter gets two votes, regardless of size. If your chapter is on any kind of conditional status, etc., that will have an effect, but your size will not.

The alumnae chapters do not have votes (currently, there is not enough structure in place around the alumnae chapters for this to make sense). The alumnae votes are instead done by region. Each region gets one alumnae vote, plus two alumnae-at-large votes.

[KSUViolet06]

In my sorority, I believe each chapter (collegiate & alumna) has the same number of voting delegates regardless of chapter size

[Kevin]

Each chapter gets two votes. Each alumni chapter gets one vote.

[Wolfman]

Voting at Grand Conclave:

Each chapter (Undergraduate and Graduate) has a guaranteed baseline for voting strength. Beyond that there is a formula by which voting strength (i.e., additional votes) is calculated proportionally according to how many financial members there are in a chapter beyond a certain level. For instance, __ additional vote(s) for every __members over __ in a chapter. It's sort of like a "unicameral" system in which we merged the U.S. Senate and the Congress in terms of voting.

[sigtau305]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

At your national conventions, is each chapter given the same amount of delegates?

Are your number of delegates dependent upon the size of the chapter?

Do alumni chapters/associations have a vote?

Discuss.

For Our Grand Chapter Convention:
40+ member chapters : Three Delegates
Less Than 40 members chapter: Two Delegates
Alumni Chapters / Alumni Association: One ( as far as I know)

[33girl]

bumpity bump bump.

[nate2512]

Well you see, there are pledged delegates , then they have super delegates who screw everything up because their purpose really defeats the whole purpose of having pledged delegates............wait a second thats not a fraternity, thats the DNC.

[Zillini]

Thanks for the bump, 33girl. Interesting topic.

I find it surprising that many GLO's base the number of voting collegiate delegates on chapter size. Having been to many Grand Conventions of my own GLO, I can imagine that causing significant problems for some smaller chapters. I'm thinking particularly about proposals for increased fees. An example: For large chapters on competitive campuses, minor fee increases would be just that - minor. But for small chapters who are struggling and/or are on a campus where the whole Greek system is struggling, even minor fee increases can have a devastating effect on future recruiting and retention. I've seen it happen.

Again based only on my personal experience, collegiate voting delegates are the least knowledgeable in the workings of an I/national organization and have difficulties seeing the "big picture". It's simply due to inexperience within the org as well as in life. I've seen collegiate struggle to understand what a proposed change even means due to the formal/legalese way it's written. They have difficulty grasping how some change might have long term effects (good or bad) for their own individual chapter, other chapters across the country and the org as a whole. They often blindly follow Grand Council's, the Bylaw Review committee's or other "important" alums' recommendations simply because "these people must know what's best". That's not always the case.