Need help organizing my sorority

[GammaDelt]

we could go dry and try to get ourselves school sponsoring like the other school sponsored "Greek life" but those frats aren't real Greek life. They're more like clubs - there's a one week pledge period and no ritual or anything, plus they're all co-ed. there are no parties, and all events are school regulated things like donuts and pizza - they aren't real greek life.

Originally Posted by GammaDelt

they aren't real greek life.

Define "real" Greek Life...?

[GammaDelt]

Originally Posted by OTW

Define "real" Greek Life...?

real greek life as in not being a club. not having administration monitoring all your activities with a critical eye. being allowed to socialize with alcohol. being student led and student run with no adviser.

Originally Posted by GammaDelt

real greek life as in not being a club. not having administration monitoring all your activities with a critical eye. being allowed to socialize with alcohol. being student led and student run with no adviser.

Well I guess my Greek life experience wasn't "real" then.

My chapter followed rules set down by the school, had strict policies regarding alcohol (dry rush; alcohol allowed at events with a 3rd party vendor) and we had advisors up the wazoo when it came to finance, scholarship, recruitment, and operations. It was because of these advisors that helped keep us functioning and afloat. The advise. They do not govern.

I'm going to be frank here and say that your perceptions of Greek life are very way out there and ridiculous. It's a possibility that your current situation may get worse if you really think y'all can do it all by yourselves.

[princesskneesa]

I agree with you, OTW.

[princesskneesa]

OP,
I'd say focus on the philanthropic aspects of your sorority. Betting humanity is always a good thing. I did a lot of service in college, so I can help you come up with catchy service projects. Either way, good luck with your sorority!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by GammaDelt

we could go dry and try to get ourselves school sponsoring like the other school sponsored "Greek life" but those frats aren't real Greek life. They're more like clubs - there's a one week pledge period and no ritual or anything, plus they're all co-ed. there are no parties, and all events are school regulated things like donuts and pizza - they aren't real greek life.

So you're saying (and you know for a fact), that the groups on your campus have no ritual and only have meetings once a week, and don't have any other events? That's pretty hard to believe.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

So you're saying (and you know for a fact), that the groups on your campus have no ritual and only have meetings once a week, and don't have any other events? That's pretty hard to believe.

Ahhh...gotta love pretend Greeks!

[GammaDelt]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

So you're saying (and you know for a fact), that the groups on your campus have no ritual and only have meetings once a week, and don't have any other events? That's pretty hard to believe.

yeah thats what I'm saying. they have social events regulated by the school, and they have an advisor that oversees everything. Gamma Delta Pi does not want to become that - we want to keep our traditions, be allowed to socially drink, and not have administration down out throats. these groups are music fraternities - like clubs.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by GammaDelt

we could go dry and try to get ourselves school sponsoring like the other school sponsored "Greek life" but those frats aren't real Greek life. They're more like clubs - there's a one week pledge period and no ritual or anything, plus they're all co-ed. there are no parties, and all events are school regulated things like donuts and pizza - they aren't real greek life.

As a memeber of one of those "clubs" you're speaking of--let me give you a little info.

-Sigma Alpha Iota is a single sexed women organization. We were granted exemption to Title IX when our membership criteria was broadened to one music class. We pay dues, had to pay an initiation & pledging fee. Oh, and our nationals is hosting something like 20 leadership conferences this summer for sisters around the country (one of which I am attending!)
-We have a pledging ceremony and a six week pledge (MiT) process. At the end of that process there's this little ceremony called INITIATION where the MiTs learn the secret meanings of all of our symbols, the secret meaning behind the greek letters SAI, and many other things which I do not speak of in public out of respect for my ritual.
-We have more than 100 years of history and some 210 active chapters.

And, you also speak of Mu Phi Epsilon and Phi Mu Alpha. We also have those chapters on my campus. They also have a pledging and initiation ritual along with a 6-10 week pledge process.

On many campuses we are not recognized by the social greek system because of our focus on music but that does not take away from our rich histories, rituals, and all the work the members do to keep our chapters running. And, my chapter is currently in search of someone to fill two vacancies we've had recently on our advisory committee.

How about you go do some more research, k.

[GammaDelt]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

As a memeber of one of those "clubs" you're speaking of--let me give you a little info.

-Sigma Alpha Iota is a single sexed women organization. We were granted exemption to Title IX when our membership criteria was broadened to one music class. We pay dues, had to pay an initiation & pledging fee. Oh, and our nationals is hosting something like 20 leadership conferences this summer for sisters around the country (one of which I am attending!)
-We have a pledging ceremony and a six week pledge (MiT) process. At the end of that process there's this little ceremony called INITIATION where the MiTs learn the secret meanings of all of our symbols, the secret meaning behind the greek letters SAI, and many other things which I do not speak of in public out of respect for my ritual.
-We have more than 100 years of history and some 210 active chapters.

And, you also speak of Mu Phi Epsilon and Phi Mu Alpha. We also have those chapters on my campus. They also have a pledging and initiation ritual along with a 6-10 week pledge process.

On many campuses we are not recognized by the social greek system because of our focus on music but that does not take away from our rich histories, rituals, and all the work the members do to keep our chapters running. And, my chapter is currently in search of someone to fill two vacancies we've had recently on our advisory committee.

How about you go do some more research, k.

I'm not saying anything about your particular chapter. Everyone's greek experience is different. I have friends in the music fraternities that I'm talking about, and they do not have the same type of tradition and ritual that my sorority does. In addition, in order to be recognized by the campus, we have to have school advisers (which we do not want because there is such a tight reign over them), go dry and state a special interest in our constitution, like music, or biology; however, we want to be open to any student who wants to join, so long as they are interested in service. So please refrain from attacking me when I am not attacking you or your fraternity; clearly, your fraternity is essentially different from the fraternity that I'm talking about in this post. k?

[OPhiAGinger]

Originally Posted by GammaDelt

In addition, in order to be recognized by the campus, we have to have school advisers (which we do not want because there is such a tight reign over them), go dry and state a special interest in our constitution, like music, or biology; however, we want to be open to any student who wants to join, so long as they are interested in service.

Of the three requirements for being recognized by your campus, one of them is not really an issue. You already require a special interest in your members -- a commitment to service. Just put that in your constitution, and you can check that requirement off.

The school requires you to have an advisor because they need to protect themselves from liability. But as long as you have the ability to select your advisor, you should be able to find one that will provide guidance and oversight without stifling your individualism. Will they intervene if you try to do something that will put the sorority and university at risk? Absolutely! That's what they're supposed to do. Don't do risky things and you should be alright. You'll probably even benefit from the impartial advice of a non-member in sorting out sorority issues.

About going dry.... Apparently that's non-negotiable at your school. But I'm concerned that you are so adament in resisting this change. Would your sisterhood crumble without alcohol to lubricate it? If so, you've got serious problems. Omega Phi Alpha went dry nationally about 15 years ago. Although the national leaders were concerned about the policy's acceptance among the active sisters, it turned out to be less of an issue than they had anticipated.

[GammaDelt]

Originally Posted by OPhiAGinger

The school requires you to have an advisor because they need to protect themselves from liability. But as long as you have the ability to select your advisor, you should be able to find one that will provide guidance and oversight without stifling your individualism.

I guess I misworded our feelings about having an adviser. We're not against having an adviser at all - it would be great to have an adviser. However, we don't get to pick our adviser. The school will assign us one who they think will be good for the job, and we're afraid that our adviser will be too uptight and controlling, as many of the school assigned advisers are.

Originally Posted by OPhiAGinger

About going dry.... Apparently that's non-negotiable at your school. But I'm concerned that you are so adament in resisting this change. Would your sisterhood crumble without alcohol to lubricate it? If so, you've got serious problems. Omega Phi Alpha went dry nationally about 15 years ago. Although the national leaders were concerned about the policy's acceptance among the active sisters, it turned out to be less of an issue than they had anticipated.

Our sisterhood is keen on drinking, I'm not going to lie. I think the general consensus is that it would be a great idea in theory to go dry. It would attract a lot of people who are solely interested in service, which would be awesome. But my sisters do like to drink. and since we're all best friends, who better to drink and have a good time with then your best friends? it would be easy to have an alcohol free rush, and we already have alcohol free pledging, but once those girls who are completely opposed to drinking are active members, then what? No one can stop people from drinking socially, because sometimes its hard to draw a definitive line between sorority time and friends time. I'm just afraid the line will get blurred if we declare ourselves a dry sorority, and then the new actives will feel who pledged a dry sorority will feel uncomfortable when there is social drinking among sorority sisters at what may or may not be a sorority event. does that make sense?

[KSUViolet06]

I think you misunderstand what "dry" means. Dry doesn't mean no drinking EVER EVER. It just means that alcohol can only be served at certain social events (i.e. formal/mixers/date parties) and only to those who are 21 and over.

Basically if it wasn't a date party, formal, or mixer, it was clear that there was to be BE no alcohol.

You say that there are no boundaries between sister and friend time, well then you all need to be mature and MAKE SOME. Yes your sisters are your friends. I get that. My sisters are mine too. But we knew that while it was okay for us to go out to bars and drink together (friend time), it wasn't cool for uas to drink at sorority things where we weren't supposed to have alcohol (sister time).

[OPhiAGinger]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I think you misunderstand what "dry" means. Dry doesn't mean no drinking EVER EVER. It just means that alcohol can only be served at certain social events (i.e. formal/mixers/date parties) and only to those who are 21 and over.

Interesting interpretation. In O Phi A, "dry" means there can be no alcohol at any sorority event -- ever. Not at mixers, not at formal, and not even to those who are over 21.

I suspect that her school's requirement is similar to O Phi A's interpretation..