Scriptwriter looking for help

[MikeEllis]

My, but you people love your acronyms!

NIC - "The North-American Interfraternity Conference (or NIC), (formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference) is an association of 74 collegiate men's fraternities "
NPC - "The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 (inter)national women's sororities."
NPHC - "The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. "
MGC - I couldn't find this one. Could it be the same as NMGC -- "The National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC) is an umbrella council for ten Multicultural Greek Letter Organizations established in 1998."?

I though at first, based on the way some people mentioned these things, that a university would have houses from only one of these organizations, but after some research I know that's not true. At my own school, we had house affiliated with NIC, NPC, and NPHC.

I'm guessing now that this is relevant mostly because each organization has different rules regarding recruitment, daily operations, etc. This won't help me determine how things are done at Fictional University, but it will help in writing about what goes on within the fictional fraternity.



SEC - Again, nothing specific found, but I would guess it to be South Eastern Conference. If so and if I "can't write in a tiny Greek system," then I'm guessing that all South Eastern Conference universities have a large Green system. Did I guess correctly?

I like the idea of modeling this fictional school after a real one. I'll choose some Texas university of moderate size and investigate their Greek population.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by MikeEllis

My, but you people love your acronyms!

NIC - "The North-American Interfraternity Conference (or NIC), (formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference) is an association of 74 collegiate men's fraternities "

Just an additional note: At the campus-level, the equivalent is (usually) the IFC -- Inter-Fraternity Council. Chapters of NIC fraternities will typically belong to the campus IFC, but chapters of non-NIC fraternities might also belong to IFC.

NPHC - "The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. "

Also known as The Divine Nine.

I though at first, based on the way some people mentioned these things, that a university would have houses from only one of these organizations, but after some research I know that's not true. At my own school, we had house affiliated with NIC, NPC, and NPHC.

Right, but just a nit to pick -- using "house" for "chapter" is a colloquialism. One hears it on some campuses, but not on others. Not all chapters have houses, even at some very Greek schools. They might have halls/floors in dorms. They might have lodges. They might not have dedicated housing of any kind. As a general rule, houses are more common in NIC and NPC orgs.

I'm guessing now that this is relevant mostly because each organization has different rules regarding recruitment, daily operations, etc. This won't help me determine how things are done at Fictional University, but it will help in writing about what goes on within the fictional fraternity.

FYI, I think you'll find the NIC doesn't set rules for rush/recruitment like the NPC does. That sort of thing is more likely to be set by the campus IFC. As for things like daily operations, that would be set a fraternity or sorority's national office and/or national governing bady, not by an umbrella organization like the NIC.

SEC - Again, nothing specific found, but I would guess it to be South Eastern Conference. If so and if I "can't write in a tiny Greek system," then I'm guessing that all South Eastern Conference universities have a large Green system. Did I guess correctly?

You did.

[Mevara]

Originally Posted by MikeEllis

MGC - I couldn't find this one. Could it be the same as NMGC -- "The National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC) is an umbrella council for ten Multicultural Greek Letter Organizations established in 1998."?

On my campus this is the council that is a catch all for the other greek organizations that are not part of NIC, NPC, or NPHC. So it does include orgs from NMGC but not exclusively from that council.

[Barbie's_Rush]

Here are some of the types of things I thought you should be considering:

-Is your school public or private?
-Are the chapters housed in their own houses? (With fraternities they can run from grand mansions to one inspection away from being condemned, often all on the same campus. from my experience, sorority houses are almost always well maintained, even if the chapter is failing.) Are they housed in dorms on floors?
-Are the fraternity houses wet or dry? Are they able to have epic theme parties on campus? Do they have parties off campus instead? Do they do away parties?
-Do the students come to your school from all parts of the country or mostly regionally/locally? (so there is lots of spring and summer recruitment of nearby incoming freshmen or it's mostly a commuter school.)
-How traditional and old is the Greek system? Do legacy relationships play a big part? Are the tiers fluid or set in stone since God was a freshman?
-The percentage of Greeks is less important than the influence of Greeks on the campus. Many schools have relatively small Greek populations when compared to the entire population, but the Greeks run the campus and are very high profile (your own UT is a good example of this.) Some schools have much larger Greek populations but it isn't such a big deal if you aren't. And of course there are those schools where an overwhelming percentage is Greek and not being Greek is odd.

What was said about the number and sizes of fraternities versus sororities is true almost everywhere I know of. There are almost always small socially awkward fraternity chapters all the way up to large and elitist chapters. From my experience, most guys tend to understand where they fit best, but the girls sometimes have a harder time realizing it themselves. (Just read some stories on GC!)

[MikeEllis]

I did some checking on five schools in Texas so far. Check out the first one, the one I graduated from. It has 8 fraternities and 8 sororities, just like I remembered (though they're not all the same ones that I remember).

Texas A&M Commerce
enrollment: 10,647 8 fraternities 8 sororities

Tarleton State University (A&M System)
enrollment: 10,500 6 fraternities 3 sororities

University of North Texas
enrollment: 28,548 22 fraternities 16 sororities

Austin College (private college)
enrollment: 1,350 8 fraternities 6 sororities
Stephen F Austin

enrollment: 12,954 25 fraternities 12 sororities

A&M Commerce is an anomaly though. All of the others have fewer sororities than fraternities, just like you guys described. It's hard to get numbers on the membership of each organization, so I can't estimate what percentage of the student body is involved in each. I'll keep looking, though.

[MikeEllis]

Thanks to Barbie's_Rush for some great points. It will help to pull this together.

Originally Posted by Barbie's_Rush

Are the fraternity houses wet or dry?

There are dry fraternity houses?! Quelle horreur! Things really have changed since I was an undergrad.

Originally Posted by Barbie's_Rush

Are the tiers fluid or set in stone since God was a freshman?

Time to reveal my ignorance again. What are these "tiers" I keep hearing about?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by MikeEllis

Quelle horreur!

I love you for using this phrase.

Marry me?