I want to join a fraternity!

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Swerving, but you allow non-members to get involved with chapter business? I can see an alum coming back in an advisory role, but not a random person coming around.

Interesting.

It's definitely possible.

On a related note… http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh....php?t=100210:

NutBrnHair: How many non-member advisors are out there for NPC groups?

azgz: There's actually a lot. Campus advisors, for one, are often not members of the organization. My chapter's campus advisor is the dean of the humanities college at Gannon. Every semester for midterms and finals she would send a huge spread to the house so we had food to eat while studying. Plus, she would come to (open) events - we even invited her to feast of roses after initiation.

I know another chapter on my campus had my former boss as their campus advisor, a secretary in the new student services office. She was wonderful and extremely active in the chapter, and the chapter appreciated it. Not sure if she was ever extended membership, but honestly I think that chapter would be crazy if they didn't!

ETA: Our campus advisor was also really really helpful in finding a room big enough to do initiation - and very good at keeping it discrete and making sure that there weren't a lot of groups using those buildings when we were initiating a new member class.

ASTalumna06: From what I understand, AST has quite a few non-member advisors. We are also able to have male advisors, one of which is David Stollman, Co-founder of CAMPUSPEAK, who advises the Delta Phi chapter at NYU. LOVE him!

Blondie93:

I think it is more common on rural campuses where recruiting alumnae to serve is difficult. I went to grad school in relatively-rural Virginia, and there were quite a few chapters on that campus that had advisors who were not members of the organization. Most of the advisors were employees of the university in some regard.

There was also the poster recently who advised the ZTA chapter that her sister had been a part of. That chapter then voted to offer her membership as an AI. IIRC it was a similar situation- rural campus with no one else to help the chapter.

groovypq: I was one. The chapter I advise is pretty much geographically isolated - the nearest alumnae chapters are at least an hour away and, this not being a high population area, there just aren't a lot of alumnae nearby. When the chapter's previous advisor moved away, the chapter asked me to be its advisor - my sister was an alumna of the chapter and I also coach one of the current sisters. So I guess I was a little unusual in that I already had a connection to the chapter, but I wasn't a member when I became advisor. I am now, though.

I know that on my campus, the fraternities all had faculty advisors. I think the only one that had an actual member as an advisor was KDR, who had a faculty advisor who was also a brother.

In all of these cases (even with my own organization having non-members serve in advisory roles), I’m not sure what the requirements would be.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

It's definitely possible.

The faculty advisors were often non-members at my alma mater, too. Those advisors were mostly around for signing paperwork, though. That doesn't seem like the same thing that elicampbell brought up. Most (if not all) of the GLOs had organization advisors (who were members) guiding the chapters.

I read that as a "go to the chapter and help them with chapter business" thing. I wouldn't mind a non-member supporting ODPhi events, but if someone (who was ineligible for membership) wanted to come to meetings and get into chapter business, that would be an issue.

ETA: Just re-read some of the quotes you posted. It looks like many of these rural campuses had advisors serving both roles. My alma mater is in the middle of the 4th largest metro in the US, so there were plenty of GLO members to choose from.

[ASTalumna06]

The extent to which he would be welcome to participate will probably weigh heavily on which grad school he attends, what the fraternity's policy is when it comes to advisors, and how open the chapter members are to the idea.

And in all of the examples above, the advisors had SOME connection to the sorority and/or school... above and beyond just being a student there.

In conclusion... I wouldn't put my money on this working out.

[dnall]

To the OP, you really should have considered that before you picked your school. At this point, if you're serious about this, you should transfer. I don't get the grad student user name and what you're asking. If you're in grad school you may have missed your chance, but should still inquire with some chapters at schools you'd be willing to transfer to.

Regarding non-members being involved... while many things are similar about the way an undergraduate chapter operates from one org to another, the advisory/governance side is often very different.

My fraternity is an old major national and we operate with an a board system. It is primarily advisory in practice, but has significant governance powers over the overall local org (chapter, alumni assoc, & liaison function with housing corp). Within that corporate board structure, the majority of are obviously alumni. However, there is no restriction that trustees be initiates. When establishing a new chapter, we routinely pull in parents, faculty, and possibly even someone from the community. With established chapters, the faculty advisor (mostly for signing stuff) sometimes sits on that board, and about half the time they'll have a parent's club rep as a trustee. Male non-initiates who make a solid contribution after serving on such boards for a while are often honorary initiated. Obviously that is not the greek experience that everyone else had though.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by dnall

Regarding non-members being involved... while many things are similar about the way an undergraduate chapter operates from one org to another, the advisory/governance side is often very different.

My fraternity is an old major national and we operate with an a board system. It is primarily advisory in practice, but has significant governance powers over the overall local org (chapter, alumni assoc, & liaison function with housing corp). Within that corporate board structure, the majority of are obviously alumni. However, there is no restriction that trustees be initiates. When establishing a new chapter, we routinely pull in parents, faculty, and possibly even someone from the community. With established chapters, the faculty advisor (mostly for signing stuff) sometimes sits on that board, and about half the time they'll have a parent's club rep as a trustee. Male non-initiates who make a solid contribution after serving on such boards for a while are often honorary initiated. Obviously that is not the greek experience that everyone else had though.

That's interesting.

To the OP, you really should have considered that before you picked your school. At this point, if you're serious about this, you should transfer. I don't get the grad student user name and what you're asking. If you're in grad school you may have missed your chance, but should still inquire with some chapters at schools you'd be willing to transfer to.

I disagree. There are ways of getting involved in your community and being social without being in a fraternity. I wouldn't transfer unless it was for academic reasons.

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

That's interesting.



I disagree. There are ways of getting involved in your community and being social without being in a fraternity. I wouldn't transfer unless it was for academic reasons.

There are lots of great schools out there with great programs, some of which have everything one wants including a greek system and one that has the organization that one's mom/dad was/is part of. Why not choose one of them and get the entire college experience that one seeks? There is nothing wrong with this. To some people, this is important. To others, not so much and that's okay too.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest

There are lots of great schools out there with great programs, some of which have everything one wants including a greek system and one that has the organization that one's mom/dad was/is part of. Why not choose one of them and get the entire college experience that one seeks? There is nothing wrong with this. To some people, this is important. To others, not so much and that's okay too.

I don't see transferring exclusively because of Greek Life. Just as I wouldn't get transferring for any student organization. Particularly for more life-long oriented organziations, there are ways to join later, or for others fill the desire for a social or service life in other ways. Sure, include Greek Life in your considerations when choosing a school, but transferring in/for graduate school purely for Greek Life? Nuh uh.