Why So Many Greek Letter Orgs?

[PANTHERTEKE]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The niche hasn't gone away in 100 years. It has only evolved. Look forward to more evolution without dissolution 50 years from now.

The niche of NPHC orgs hasn't gone away, but I was more referring to the other minority GLOs.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

America isn't going to change that much.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it'll change for the better, maybe for the worse.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The similarities and differences are GOOD and I have no desire for a melting pot in terms of organizations or in terms of society. A salad bowl works perfectly as long as people seek understanding and fairness.

I agree 100%

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by PANTHERTEKE

The niche of NPHC orgs hasn't gone away, but I was more referring to the other minority GLOs.

Your original quote that my Soror responded to didn't specify but I see that you referenced LGLOs, AGLOs, and MCGLOs in the rest of that post. I see the context of your post but what you said can easily apply across the board.

NPHC and LGLOs and MCGLOs aren't the only organizations where race and ethnicity are important/members often join because of race. This happens for "white" fraternities and sororities, too. Although these organizations are supposedly not "culturally specific" and whites often considered themselves to be mainstream and to not have a "race." Until the wonderful advancement of "whiteness" studies happened approx. 20 years ago.

Originally Posted by PANTHERTEKE

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it'll change for the better, maybe for the worse.

Well, your comment of change didn't imply a good or bad as far as I'm concerned. It simply implied that there will be so much diversity that everyone will become one gooblygob of humanity and there will no longer be a niche for particular types of organizations. I'm not psychic but don't foresee that happening across the board and don't particularly want that to happen.

[PANTHERTEKE]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

It simply implied that there will be so much diversity that everyone will become one gooblygob of humanity and there will no longer be a niche for particular types of organizations. I'm not psychic but don't foresee that happening across the board and don't particularly want that to happen.

Lol I think you're reading into what I wrote a bit much.

Originally Posted by PANTHERTEKE

But what will happen when their "niche" starts to subside and you have, for example, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th generation Asians/Hispanics/South-Asians/etc who are assimilated and don't feel the need to stick to an organization that promotes their culture? Will these organizations eventually die off, or will they stick around and continue to serve their purpose and niche?

I never said or implied that the US will become one big culture in the future. I said that as the demographics of this country changes that the niche for some organizations will probably diminish, not become extinct... and I posed a hypothetical question.

And I agree with you that I don't think we will become "one gooblygob of humanity" nor do I want that to happen either.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

NPHC and LGLOs and MCGLOs aren't the only organizations where race and ethnicity are important/members often join because of race. This happens for "white" fraternities and sororities, too. Although these organizations are supposedly not "culturally specific" and whites often considered themselves to be mainstream and to not have a "race." Until the wonderful advancement of "whiteness" studies happened approx. 20 years ago.

I'm not sure if this was where you're going, but do you mean historically Jewish fraternities and sororities?

Plus, there's Alpha Phi Delta. It was founded by and for Italian-Americans.

http://www.apd.org/about/thebeginning.php

I think that there are other NIC groups that began with a specific ethnicity but APD is the only one I know of.

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by PANTHERTEKE

But 50 years from now, if we can imagine an America thats more integrated/tolerant/non-discriminative/whatever (if that ever happens) and more minorities feel at home in IFC/PC and join those orgs, then how will that affect the niche and role of these cultural orgs?

Then again, I'm sure there will always be people who aren't interested in "white" fraternities and sororities.

I think what you have to understand that there is a cultural difference between the two types of Greek systems, not just with regard to the racial makeup, but in how the orgs are run, their aims, and their purposes. I didn't choose an NPHC sorority because of my race, I chose it because of that cultural difference (among other reasons) - what the NPC system has to offer wasn't something that was appealing to me, although that's great that it works out for others.

If you look at each system simply for its merits without thinking about the racial aspect for a minute --- or better yet, taking your own race and GLO-bias out of the equation and just looking at the whole thing objectively that way, it's a pretty interesting perspective. It may help you understand better what I'm talking about.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I think what you have to understand that there is a cultural difference between the two types of Greek systems, not just with regard to the racial makeup, but in how the orgs are run, their aims, and their purposes. I didn't choose an NPHC sorority because of my race, I chose it because of that cultural difference (among other reasons) - what the NPC system has to offer wasn't something that was appealing to me, although that's great that it works out for others.

If you look at each system simply for its merits without thinking about the racial aspect for a minute --- or better yet, taking your own race and GLO-bias out of the equation and just looking at the whole thing objectively that way, it's a pretty interesting perspective. It may help you understand better what I'm talking about.

Great point! In the end, I think people need to not be so critical of other organizations no matter how long they've been around. These groups are not saying that anything is wrong with the existing groups so don't take their existence personally!

[Ch2tf]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I think what you have to understand that there is a cultural difference between the two types of Greek systems, not just with regard to the racial makeup, but in how the orgs are run, their aims, and their purposes. I didn't choose an NPHC sorority because of my race, I chose it because of that cultural difference (among other reasons) - what the NPC system has to offer wasn't something that was appealing to me, although that's great that it works out for others.

If you look at each system simply for its merits without thinking about the racial aspect for a minute --- or better yet, taking your own race and GLO-bias out of the equation and just looking at the whole thing objectively that way, it's a pretty interesting perspective. It may help you understand better what I'm talking about.

Thank you 'Ren!

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I think what you have to understand that there is a cultural difference between the two types of Greek systems, not just with regard to the racial makeup, but in how the orgs are run, their aims, and their purposes. I didn't choose an NPHC sorority because of my race, I chose it because of that cultural difference (among other reasons) - what the NPC system has to offer wasn't something that was appealing to me, although that's great that it works out for others.

If you look at each system simply for its merits without thinking about the racial aspect for a minute --- or better yet, taking your own race and GLO-bias out of the equation and just looking at the whole thing objectively that way, it's a pretty interesting perspective. It may help you understand better what I'm talking about.

I strongly co-sign this, sistergreek. It's what I was trying to hint at when I said:

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

You also have to consider that the internal culture of Latin/Asian/Multicultural orgs is different from that of NPC/IFC or even NPHC. You can't get the multicultural Greek experience in an NPC/IFC group.

It seems as though too many people really have no idea what goes on outside of their own organizational type or they have notions that are false. For instance, I have had to correct my own sorors who had it in their heads that NPC organizations were only about socializing and tea parties. One of the things that I admire most about NPC orgs, particularly where you have larger chapters, is the organization and effort it takes to keep things running smoothly. Those skills will serve the members well in the business world.

On the flipside, NPHC, AGLO, LGLO, MCGLO, etc. org generally operate with few very few members (intentionally) but produce massive programming for their size. Even if you have only two members on a campus, you shouldn't be surprised to see them hosting large-scale events. In most cases, there's a lot of local and regional support where, though you may only see two members, there are really dozens behind the scenes providing assistance in some way.

[GirlNextDoor1]

On my campus all other social greeks are national organizations. Here is why my founding sisters and I started a local:

1. We believe the sisterhood and fraternity can get lost when it gets caught up in the policies & procedures of nationals & npc.
   
2. We believe its easier to communicate and follow ideals, morals, and values as a local organization. Thus, we believe in being a sole, independent, local chapter.
3. We do not believe in recruitment parties. Therefore, how we recruit is alot different.

[PhiMu_Gator]

I'm loving all the responses! I've never heard of a local frat or soror until greekchat since my entire campus has national glos. I think someone pinpointed my frustration earlier with the "founder-itis". I think in a lot of cases we have a few people who want to dyi with a frat and soror. So, they make up traditions, rituals, meanings, everything, but the purpose behind this all was that they themselves maybe are spiting other orgs or they might have missed the point of a glo in the first place. Each one, whether it be social, professional, cultural, academic, or religious has that as a very important part of it. I come from a massive campus that hosts numerous glos, so options are rampant here. I've never had experience with a smaller campus and smaller numbers of glos, so I didn't understand the reasoning behind creating more. I do think that innovation and new ideas are extremely important for progress and encourage people to create a new chapter or new glo all together, but I just worry that many of the founders of new glos don't really research all the options and existing glos available. I'm not insulting anyone who is in a local or newly founded org or looking down upon them, simply wanting a little input in a subject I don't know much about. The posts have been very enlightening and I've enjoyed reading them all! Thanks! =)

ps- one of the most confusing decisions for me was joining an academic glo honor society. there seems to be a bajillion so it's difficult to pick one that you think is prestigious or exclusive. I think some of the alternate academic orgs might have been created because they are shying away from what they are all about - academics - and they don't want to be bothered to follow those national rules like having a high gpa, instead they lower standards to a mid-range gpa and up the social activities. I guess I don't understand where those founders are coming from because I thought the whole point to an academic glo was to keep a high gpa... You can see my confusion, so any input would be lovely!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by GirlNextDoor1

We do not believe in recruitment parties. Therefore, how we recruit is alot different.

NPC recruitment is not exclusive to recruitment parties - I realize it may be this way at your campus, but more and more NPC groups have been impressing on their members that they should "recruit" rather than "rush."

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by PANTHERTEKE

You would think that the Latin fraternties/sororities- like the Lambdas, LTA, LUL, SLG, etc- would be huge at such a school, but actually that's not the case.

One thing to remember here is that these organizations tend to be a lot smaller than NPC/IFC orgs by design. The size of a particular chapter doesn't necessarily indicate the actual interest on that campus. For instance, we have chapters that consistently have a pool of 50+ interests, but we can afford to be uber-selective and end up with lines of 6-10.

You also have to consider that the internal culture of Latin/Asian/Multicultural orgs is different from that of NPC/IFC or even NPHC. You can't get the multicultural Greek experience in an NPC/IFC group.

[33girl]

I don't think that PhiMu_Gator is referring to the 26 NPCs. Rather, I think she means the people that preciousjeni was addressing in this thread - those with rampant "founder-itis." (And I am rolling at the "what not to do.")

Oh, and also, "all the sororities/fraternities rejected me" is not a good reason to start a new one. GLOs have to have desirable members to compete with the other groups on campus. It's one thing to start a group when you've been through rush and didn't like the materialism, or the hazing, or simply that there were only 2 groups to pick from and you want another choice. It's another to make a whole group full of rejects.

[preciousjeni]

An alert came through on e-mail that BabyPiNK_FL had made a comment. I guess she deleted it. But, for the record, I didn't take the comments by PANTHERTEKE as an insult nor am I "throwing things." That was a crazy comment, so I'm glad it was deleted.