Locals absorbed/colonized by NPC Sororities

[gatordeltapgh]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

The thread about New Delta at UTEP made me think a bit. Instead of hijacking that thread, I decided to start a new one. The quote is from that thread.

I checked New Delta's website and it does say this: "Local Organization that will be affiliated with a National Organization this March. They are currently a member of the Panhelenic Council."

I have a few general questions about local affiliating with national organizations (if anyone has been in this situation, I'd love to hear your personal experiences).

- Especially for organizations that have been around awhile, and/or groups that were founded in the hopes of becoming a new chapter of ABC, what is it like to have new "everything", including letters, ideals, history, symbols and colors?

- In general, do all the girls in the current local automatically become charter members, or do they still have to go through that organization's colonization process? In other words, is it the same process to absorb a local sorority or existing interest group, as if the sorority was invited to colonize on campus?

- Similarly, I have read about some I/National orgs offering membership to graduated alumnae of the absorbed local (sometimes for a limited time afterward). Is this common?


PS I don't know why my font is wacky. I apologize.

It really all depends on which NPC member group is absorbing the local. Each group has its own process and sometimes decisions are made on a case by case basis depending on that specific situation. Sorry to have to say that it depends.

The same thing goes for the local history, colors, etc. From my experience it is best to move on and to fully adopt the symbols, culture, colors of the NPC group quickly. This is especially important for recruitment and chapter identity. The affiliation process can be confusing for those outside of greek life and confusion is the last thing a colonizing group needs.

I do think that affiliating locals can find some tasteful way of honoring their local heritage if allowed by the NPC and if appropriate. Moving on can be hard at the beginning but over time it makes more sense and is very easy. Chapters at FSU are a great example. Many were originally locals that formed to become a chapter of XYZ. Decades later they are very proud to be XYZ but have found some small way of honoring their local heritage where appropriate.