Sorority Interest Group

[CutiePie2000]

A colony at University of Victoria just started up in Victoria, BC, Canada. That campus is very anti-Greek and so bringing an NPC group was not easily done. So, they now have a colony of Kappa Beta Gamma, which has several chapters and this is the first one in Canada. Just a little "shout out"....

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by CutiePie2000

A colony at University of Victoria just started up in Victoria, BC, Canada. That campus is very anti-Greek and so bringing an NPC group was not easily done. So, they now have a colony of Kappa Beta Gamma, which has several chapters and this is the first one in Canada. Just a little "shout out"....

Congratulations to Kappa Beta Gamma on becoming an International organization! That is a big leap.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Barbie's_Rush

Something I have always wondered about the expansion process is how the final group is chosen after the presentations. Occasionally on GC I see things alluded to about how a group aligned with values, goals, etc. and the other groups didn't. Strong presentations and impressive presenters aside, it's hard for me to grasp how one group can prevail because it's not like there are groups that don't value scholarship, are self-proclaimed kitten sacrificers, promote hazing and scoff at community service.

Maybe it's because I haven't been involved with or know anyone who has been involved with the expansion process and everything I know about it I read on GC. It just puzzles me how you go about picking just one.

I think "values" is a random catchall word that really often has little to do with actual values of the sorority (unless, as you said, it's a Jewish/Christian thing). The only expansion I knew anything about on our campus, 2 groups came and presented, one larger and one smaller nationally. The girls picked the smaller one, I honestly think mainly because the larger one was talking about things that just weren't commonplace at our campus like house corps and housemothers, very complicated rush strategies etc. It might be that a group has better national resources, but they're also going to ask things from you that might be more than any other group on campus is asking.

This is hands down the best thread ever about what groups think about when picking a national.

Originally Posted by ASAlamb

Our campus is currently undergoing a two-year expansion process, and though we had a strong interest group last year, they didn't exactly get to pick their national sorority and all initiate together. The decision on which nationals to bring to campus will be made by Panhel, the Greek Life Office, reps from other Greek orgs, and we had some input from the interest group.

In the end, a number of the members of the interest group did not end up with a bid to the first new national to come to campus. This happened for a number of reasons. But the important thing to take away from this is that your interest group may not stay together, and you usually have to interview and go through a sort-of recruitment for new national sororities on campus just like you would more established campus chapters. Expansion is crazy, be ready for it.

So in other words you guys were expanding anyway - the expansion process/timeline was already moving forward - and the interest group popped up independently of that? And then wanted to just basically plop themselves down in the colony?

In Hannah's case, it sounds like they've been working w/ the GLC from the beginning and he/she wants a group to be chosen that will take them all.

Like Zillini said - taking all members of an interest group IS something that Panhel or a GA can ask of a national. The trick is making sure they all get initiated. In the case I was talking about above, some of the strongest members of the interest group didn't initiate. I think they were just turned off by the having to get x number of women to charter and other things like that - in other words I think they would have probably gotten annoyed by that with ANY sorority. They'd been, in effect, running a fraternity AND little sis org for quite a while and doing it very well and I don't think they cottoned to someone stepping in and telling them what to do.

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is hands down the best thread ever about what groups think about when picking a national.

Thanks - just spent the last half hour reading this thread. Great story!

[ASAlamb]

Originally Posted by 33girl

So in other words you guys were expanding anyway - the expansion process/timeline was already moving forward - and the interest group popped up independently of that? And then wanted to just basically plop themselves down in the colony?

In Hannah's case, it sounds like they've been working w/ the GLC from the beginning and he/she wants a group to be chosen that will take them all.

The group had been around for about a year prior to the beginning of expansion presentations. They weren't a local sorority, but they were a pretty established group, and most of them knew each other outside of their interest to go Greek. They were one of the reasons we decided to go through expansion.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ASAlamb

The group had been around for about a year prior to the beginning of expansion presentations. They weren't a local sorority, but they were a pretty established group, and most of them knew each other outside of their interest to go Greek. They were one of the reasons we decided to go through expansion.

Did the ones who didn't get initiated - was that by their choice (kind of like the situation I mentioned) or by the sorority's? If the second, then I'm sure that wasn't pretty for a while.

[ASAlamb]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Did the ones who didn't get initiated - was that by their choice (kind of like the situation I mentioned) or by the sorority's? If the second, then I'm sure that wasn't pretty for a while.

Well not to air too much dirty laundry, but I think a lot of the girls from the original interest group didn't like the decisions our campus made in terms of nationals, and the group they were more interested in isn't coming on campus until next fall. I don't know the exact numbers of interest group women going through the extension group's recruitment and accepting a bid.

The extension wasn't the smoothest of processes, let me tell you