Mutual selection?

[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.