What makes Greek life "hot" in the south?

[bowsandtoes]

I did take the time to google it. The only chapters in the South were in Florida, Louisiana, and one in Texas, all at very small schools not known for their greek life, so not knowing what sorority that was is understandable. When we think sorority, we think tri-delt, chi-o, zeta, pi phi, kappa, theta, the ones that have national name recognition.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by bowsandtoes

I did take the time to google it. The only chapters in the South were in Florida, Louisiana, and one in Texas, all at very small schools not known for their greek life, so not knowing what sorority that was is understandable. When we think sorority, we think tri-delt, chi-o, zeta, pi phi, kappa, theta, the ones that have national name recognition.

At least you googled it, but seriously, just because (general you) don't know about doesn't mean it doesn't have worth or value. I've never met a member of Alpha Delta Phi but I know about them (as well as the other 25 other NPC sororities and NPHC groups) because I had a complete fraternity education that included learning about the history of greek life beyond my campus. That knowledge might be useful while applying for a job or in other social situations. If an interviewer has some paraphenalia of a group and I recognize it, that may be the hand shaking that puts me above the other people who were also grade making.

[SWTXBelle]

I have to say that ALL NPCs have "national name recognition". There are only 26 of them, after all. Just because a GLO isn't on your campus, or even big in your geographic area, doesn't mean they aren't important. It's rather dismissive to say the only glos that matter are the ones you know.
Like Vandal Squirrel, I think it is important to know all the members of your GLO umbrella group - and others, as well. Heck, you don't even have to google it - just go to www.npcwomen.org .

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I have to say that ALL NPCs have "national name recognition". There are only 26 of them, after all. Just because a GLO isn't on your campus, or even big in your geographic area, doesn't mean they aren't important. It's rather dismissive to say the only glos that matter are the ones you know.
Like Vandal Squirrel, I think it is important to know all the members of your GLO umbrella group - and others, as well. Heck, you don't even have to google it - just go to www.npcwomen.org .

Agreed. Prime example that happened here semi-recently. I corrected a collegian on the proper pronunciation of Alpha Phi. She had never heard of them and asked "Are they new?" (Man, I hate these 6 week pledgeships.)

[banditone]

how many paddles did the wrong answer earn her?

[ree-Xi]

Of course there are "prestigious" schools everywhere. In your case, the schools where you may have been encouraged to go to, happen to have stronger Greek systems. The schools that many kids in my area/school/system were encouraged (pushed) to go to happen to have weaker Greek systems.

There is also the difference in the sizes of the campuses. In the northeast, the on-campus populations are much smaller compared to some of the "regional" schools in the midwest and south.

Regarding Greek culture - Things like holding rush before school even begins (where girls might leave school before classes start because she didn't get her choice chapter), being a legacy and being groomed to a join particular GLO and/or GLO at a particular campus, having Greeks dominate high-profile student leadership positions ...these things are largely unheard of up here. The focus is mostly on "how strong" your major program is.

There are cultural differences between a school that is known for its academics vs. a school known for being a big Greek school. When students are applying to schools, more importance is put on the strength of their academic program than the strength of the Greek system. In some cases, it may be both, but as generalizations go, the difference is pretty evident, at least at first glance.

Originally Posted by bowsandtoes

I'm not sure I agree with this. I also went to a rigorous private school in Texas and aside from the Ivys, there was just as much 'prestige' in going to Texas as there was for many of the NESCAC schools or other small school throughout the South. Given, most of the people who do go to Texas from there are in the honors program, but it is still looked favorably upon.

In a state where the state university does not have a very good reputation, I could see that happening. But there are several good state schools throughout the South that have very solid academics as well (UVA, Chapel Hill, Texas, just to name a few) as well as smaller liberal arts schools.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I have to say that ALL NPCs have "national name recognition". .

Not with me. National name recognition means that across the nation one would hear the name and know it was a NPC sorority. That doesn't take away from an org's validity, I'm just saying that is a very broad statement to make.

I would not presume that my own sorority (or the rest of the NPHC) has national name recognition even within the Black community, much less out of it. And there are only nine NPHC orgs.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by bowsandtoes

In the end, I'm not saying the small northern chapters aren't 'good' at what they do. I just think that the two different types of chapters we're discussing have different goals, and that should be taken into consideration.

We are in agreement, then. I didn't say you NEVER have an awesome Greek experience w/ big membership and big house, I said that those things don't AUTOMATICALLY make a person the happiest Greek in Greekland or automatically make the chapters the "best."

You would be miserable at my school, I would be miserable at yours. In the end, we both got what made us happy.

[SWTXBelle]

Of course the NPCs don't have name recognition like, oh, say Coke. But I can't understand how any member of a NPC group, or for that matter an international/national fraternity, can remain ignorant of the orgs. If they are, it's a reflection on the individual,not the GLO.
Within the community at large I would not expect non-greeks to have any familiarity with the groups. That's one of the problems with negative information about any greek org - Joe Blow on the street thinks we are all alike, so when something bad happens we are all guilty by association.
I'm kinda surprised, Ladygreek, that NPHC members wouldn't be up to speed about other member GLOs. Heck, I'm familiar with all 9, and they were not all at either of my colleges. Do the orgs only cover their individual org history? I know we had to learn NPC history as part of our pledgeship.
I think membership is enhanced when you know more about your own org, and others. It helps to understand how the system evolved, and gives you an appreciation for the struggles and achievements of all the other GLOs.

[12dn94dst]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I'm kinda surprised, Ladygreek, that NPHC members wouldn't be up to speed about other member GLOs. Heck, I'm familiar with all 9, and they were not all at either of my colleges. Do the orgs only cover their individual org history? I know we had to learn NPC history as part of our pledgeship.

LG referenced our name recognition in the Black community as a whole, not within the NPHC community specifically.

Bottom line regarding name recognition for anyone or anything, you can't be familiar with that which you are not exposed.

[luv n tpa]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

Not with me. National name recognition means that across the nation one would hear the name and know it was a NPC sorority.

For argument's sake ...

If you came to my area and mentioned Pi Phi, AChiO, etc, and other more or less "southern" sororities, people would look at you with a cocked head and react with WTF is that?

So do those considered as having "national name recognition" no longer have it, or does my area just not count?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I'm kinda surprised, Ladygreek, that NPHC members wouldn't be up to speed about other member GLOs. Heck, I'm familiar with all 9, and they were not all at either of my colleges. Do the orgs only cover their individual org history? I know we had to learn NPC history as part of our pledgeship.
I think membership is enhanced when you know more about your own org, and others. It helps to understand how the system evolved, and gives you an appreciation for the struggles and achievements of all the other GLOs.

We were taught basic information, and respect given to, about other NPHC organizations.


If people want to know more details about other NPHC (or other) organizations they could "research" them before or after the membership intake process.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by luv n tpa

For argument's sake ...

If you came to my area and mentioned Pi Phi, AChiO, etc, and other more or less "southern" sororities, people would look at you with a cocked head and react with WTF is that?

So do those considered as having "national name recognition" no longer have it, or does my area just not count?

Did you type this in agreement with ladygreek's post?

[SWTXBelle]

Just to kind set the scene - bowsandtoes ( a member of a national/international fraternity, I believe) implied that Theta Phi Alpha did not have national name recognition. My point is that they are indeed a national NPC GLO, and thus they have a national name recognition. That doesn't mean that everyone knows it, or that you can stop any greek and they would know it. It does mean that anyone active in NPC activity would know it, and I think certainly all NPC members should at least recognize it as part of the NPC. No man is an island, and no NPC exists alone. The more you know, the more you appreciate both your own history and the movement in general. Because fraternities co-exist with the NPC groups, I'd expect them to be familiar with the groups, just as I am with both large and small IFC members and the like groups.
I just hate the implied superiority in the idea that if a group is not at YOUR campus or YOUR part of the country, they are somehow inferior.

[honeychile]

For some reason, I can't quote today, but my own take:

-First of all, Georgia Wesleyan College for Females (now Georgia Wesleyan) was the first college in the US which even allowed women to earn a degree, period. So, of course the first two sororities were founded there, in the South. I highly doubt that the "control" of either ADPi or Phi Mu was ever in the North, even if ADPi had a few years of a national headquarters in Iowa. The influence was always Southern in tradition.

-For the most part, unless one's a legacy, more youngsters hear about Greek life in the South prior to middle school, as opposed to in the North, where few non-legacies hear about it until high school or even college. A few of the teachers in our elementary school were Southern Greeks and told us all about it; my sixth grade teacher made us memorize the Greek alphabet frontwards and backwards! There could have been Greeks who went to school in the North, I just never heard about them.

-I graduated from high school with over 700 people. The one reunion I went to, the Greeks seemed to hang together, and it was a goodly number of the formerly college prep/advanced placement classes. Notice that I don't mention the, "oh, I decided to go to college" people" - it was mostly those who really planned it out.

-I'm still not wild about the 6-8 week new member period. I can understand it for individual GLO purposes, but I think the Panhellenic concept gets lost. Does any school still have Junior Panhel?