Mutual selection?

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

^^^Agreed.

It's not like just because PNAMs are discouraged from contacting XYZ HQ that EVERYONE GETS TURNED AWAY. There are still women who get initiated into XYZ because well, members SEE how good of a fit they'd be.

If Patti PNAM is dedicated to XYZ and would make a good sister, alumnae will take notice, without her having to approach HQ.

I know that if my bff had the time (and there was a need where she lived) and Alpha Gam needed help, I would send my sisters her information, but I wouldn't say OMG! I know she'd be the best potential Alpha Gam ever initiate her! If they were open to AI they'd probably suggest it on their own, but I know it wouldn't cross her mind to ask for membership. She'd do it because a) she works with students and likes to mentor b) Alpha Gam is important to me and she sees the value in it, even without membership and c) she has Type I diabetes and knows that's our international philanthropy.

I plan to be in higher ed. and I can easily see myself PMing you (KSUViolet) to send my information on to whoever the chapter advisor is in Fairbanks and offering to help them while I work on my PhD and being panhellenic because we don't have a chapter there, yet I value and support other groups. I really see AI being more frequent in rural and isolated areas due to lack of advisors than I see it in urban areas (que mad dash of women who want AI to fulfill their dreams to land grant colleges in the boonies).

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I plan to be in higher ed. and I can easily see myself PMing you (KSUViolet) to send my information on to whoever the chapter advisor is in Fairbanks and offering to help them while I work on my PhD and being panhellenic because we don't have a chapter there, yet I value and support other groups. I really see AI being more frequent in rural and isolated areas due to lack of advisors than I see it in urban areas (que mad dash of women who want AI to fulfill their dreams to land grant colleges in the boonies).

Cool. I am not certain if Sigma allows non-member advisors at this time though, but I would need to check on that. That's so nice of you to offer!

Honestly, I think that that's part of the reason that my sorority offers AI, because they want to provide chapters with qualified advisors where there are none. I personally think that's great.

However, I am not sure it exists to fulfill middle-aged women's dreams of being in sorority. If you're willing to SERVE Sigma, great. I'm all for it. But if all you can tell me is that it hsas been your "dream" to be a Sigma since undergrad, I tend to think you're a little suspect. It's not about what Sigma can do for you, but what YOU can do for Sigma.

[SWTXBelle]

To further clarify - are those groups with AI information on their website directing that information to their members (who would then be able to make use of the information) or to random non-members? That would indicate whether or not the group welcomed inquiries from those interested.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

To further clarify - are those groups with AI information on their website directing that information to their members (who would then be able to make use of the information) or to random non-members? That would indicate whether or not the group welcomed inquiries from those interested.

I think there are a few.

FYI: There were quite a few who USED to have this type of stuff available on their sites but took it down because they were getting WAY too many inquiries and people were mistakenly thinking things like I apply = I get to be an XYZ.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I think there are a few.

FYI: There were quite a few who USED to have this type of stuff available on their sites but took it down because they were getting WAY too many inquiries and people were mistakenly thinking things like I apply = I get to be an XYZ.

I wonder if the information is now in the "members only" section.

[AGDee]

I think AI is so special and unique to each group that you can't really make any blanket statements about it. I really see AI approached as a case by case basis, depending on the merit of each case, the needs of the geographic area and the ties the person to has to the organization already. And, I like it that way, personally. Each AI that I know personally ended being an AI in a different way but each was determined appropriate based on the individual situation.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

If you're willing to SERVE Sigma, great. I'm all for it. But if all you can tell me is that it hsas been your "dream" to be a Sigma since undergrad, I tend to think you're a little suspect. It's not about what Sigma can do for you, but what YOU can do for Sigma.

And this is the difference. We recruit and have an elaborate mutual selection process for the undergraduate experience because believe in what the all the groups offer undergraduate women.

AI is about serving a particular group and the interest of the group. There's no general experience that we think women should select among.

(I mean any of the NPCs that offer AI, not that I'm speaking for Sigma.)

[honeychile]

For the most part, AI is still a fairly new phenomenom. Talk to fifty NPC alumnas and you'll probably get at least 40 different answers. I can only speak for Alpha Delta Pi, and wouldn't begin to comment on other NPC sororities.

For us, we had an Honorary Initiate catagory for decades. It was for Housemothers, Deans, and Super-ADPi-Women. My chapter tried to sponsor someone for Honorary Initiation, but it was a no-go - but our Housemother was initiated without a snag.

That said, the biggest problem I see is that there just isn't the necessary information about how each GLO participates - or does not participate - in Alumnae Initiation. Even with an article in our Adelphean, there is still an air of confusion about AI, and until it's made clear to every alumnae association, and the alumnae accept each AI on her own accreditation & not by her college experience, I don't see it becoming the "wave of the future" that some would like to see.

Finally, I'm personally old school about this: any woman who is an ADPi is a sister of mine, whether she pledged at a top chapter as a freshman, or was initiated by an alumnae association at the age of sixty. I love our ideals, and if our EO deems a woman respectable enough to wear our pin, I will respect her as a sister.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Cool. I am not certain if Sigma allows non-member advisors at this time though, but I would need to check on that. That's so nice of you to offer!

Honestly, I think that that's part of the reason that my sorority offers AI, because they want to provide chapters with qualified advisors where there are none. I personally think that's great.

However, I am not sure it exists to fulfill middle-aged women's dreams of being in sorority. If you're willing to SERVE Sigma, great. I'm all for it. But if all you can tell me is that it hsas been your "dream" to be a Sigma since undergrad, I tend to think you're a little suspect. It's not about what Sigma can do for you, but what YOU can do for Sigma.

I was thinking more along the lines of if I was working for the University, advising that way, holding time management and research skills workshops, help write cover letters, dress for and do mock interviews, etiquette dinners not internal Sigma operations but more general stuff. Events that could also be open to campus women, so it serves a greater good for women, and Sigma could be the sponsoring group. Raise awareness of Sigma, women's groups, women's issues, and promote a positive sorority image and experience. Volunteering with an organization other than my own has been real eye opening, and if I'm somewhere Alpha Gam isn't, why not offer my time and talents inter-fraternally to my NPC sisters?

Of course that will be right after I get the Alpha Gam Arctic Junior Circle going, and buy a house.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

I would love it if my NPC group (since if I attempt to say ALL I'd have my arm bitten off) had something similar to NPHC alumni intake process. I do feel that there are people of value who may find an organization interesting. I don't think it's right to hold it against some people that they did not go through recruitment. To me that is a lame excuse.

Not everyone is cut out for that, no everyone has the opportunity. Some people couldn't afford it, some people didn't make the cut for pathetic reasons based on an 19 year old's opinion, some people had other activities that demanded far too much of their time, some people didn't have the grades, some people didn't see the value in it at the time but have seen the light and regret it, etc. Who am I to hold the past against them (with the exception of those "special" situations [ie. crazy people]).

Also, I think it would encourage alumna associations to play an even more active role in their groups.

NPHC manages to do it and does it very successfully. While I don't think every org. should be required to, I think it has the potential to really change the scope of an organization for the better. There are so many people who aren't Greek - and while they don't all have to be Greek I must admit they would make very good candidates and eventually members.

Why should they be denied simply because in the past it has "been that way"? Things/people/companies/organizations/policies, can and do change all the time. Why should teenagers and young adults be the only ones building membership in our organizations?

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

I would love it if my NPC group (since if I attempt to say ALL I'd have my arm bitten off) had something similar to NPHC alumni intake process. I do feel that there are people of value who may find an organization interesting. I don't think it's right to hold it against some people that they did not go through recruitment. To me that is a lame excuse.

Not everyone is cut out for that, no everyone has the opportunity. Some people couldn't afford it, some people didn't make the cut for pathetic reasons based on an 19 year old's opinion, some people had other activities that demanded far too much of their time, some people didn't have the grades, some people didn't see the value in it at the time but have seen the light and regret it, etc. Who am I to hold the past against them (with the exception of those "special" situations [ie. crazy people]).

Also, I think it would encourage alumna associations to play an even more active role in their groups.

NPHC manages to do it and does it very successfully. While I don't think every org. should be required to, I think it has the potential to really change the scope of an organization for the better. There are so many people who aren't Greek - and while they don't all have to be Greek I must admit they would make very good candidates and eventually members.

Why should they be denied simply because in the past it has "been that way"? Things/people/companies/organizations/policies, can and do change all the time. Why should teenagers and young adults be the only ones building membership in our organizations?

But don't you think that NPHCs offer an much richer and involved alumnae membership in general? I don't intend to slight NPC groups, but we didn't generally communicate to women their obligation to join and pay dues to a alumnae/grad chapter upon graduation when I was an undergraduate.

I think my own group does a better job with this now, but I think the idea that the sorority involved a lifelong commitment to involvement and service is something that maybe 10% of NPCers took to heart but that 90% of NPHCers did.

I think most NPC members think alumnae status is about rec. writing and legacies.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I think most NPC members think alumnae status is about rec. writing and legacies.

Maybe it's a regional thing but I certainly don't think this. Never have.

I also joined my sorority late-ish in college so it was just a natural next step.

I didn't have the "4 year burnout" that people get.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Maybe it's a regional thing but I certainly don't think this.

Ditto. We don't do recs up here and there are hardly any legacies either.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Maybe it's a regional thing but I certainly don't think this. Never have.

I also joined my sorority late-ish in college so it was just a natural next step.

I didn't have the "4 year burnout" that people get.

Originally Posted by AGDee

Ditto. We don't do recs up here and there are hardly any legacies either.

What percentage of graduates are active in alumnae groups 10 years out of college? I think my 10% may have been low, but I don't really know. When I look at the size of the group at alumnae events vs. the number of undergraduates at chapters in the area, it looks like a tiny number of involved alumnae.

I didn't mean that alumnae are all concerned with those two issues, but I think they pretty much only think about their memberships as alumnae when they know a PNM or when they have kids. I think that most graduates think about their own memberships in a backwards kind of memories-of-college kind of way.

I'm not saying this is the way they should think, but I don't think NPC alumnae membership is typically comparable to NPHC alumnae membership.

You could work with an NPC alumna for years and suddenly find out she was greek. You're probably going to know of NPHC membership pretty early on, even if the signs are subtle. What's up with the African Violets or all the Ivy?

[SWTXBelle]

Oh, I think NPCs are doing a better job of informing new members about the concept of lifetime membership, but we still have a fair amount of work to do. I don't know that a more open AI program is the answer.