Choosing a new group to colonize

[33girl]

Originally Posted by glittergal1985

If a presenting group appears to be very strong and well prepared, couldn't that also be seen as a threat to the success of the current sororities? What are the benefits of choosing the "best" group to colonize? While I have attended extension presentations before, the purpose was to select a group that my local would affiliate with, rather than a group that would be separate from us. Thanks for any input.

I've heard this before, and in my experience at least, I think it's bullpuckey.

The last sorority that colonized on my campus, two groups came and presented. ABC had most of their chapters at schools similar to ours - JKL was appreciably larger and most of their chapters were at larger schools or private colleges. The first group was the one chosen. I don't think this was because anyone was "afraid" of JKL, but because JKL was probably talking about things we simply didn't have or do on our campus. I'm also pretty sure the interest group showed a preference for ABC. These weren't spring chickens - the interest group had started from a VERY organized little sister org, many of the members who had been around Greek life for years. They didn't want to be asked to do things they knew were not possible on our campus.

[KDCat]

I just attended an expansion presentation.

The reason that a sorority is expanding at this campus is because the recruitment numbers just keep going up and up. The campus Panhel wants the new chapter to be successful because they need to have some of the pressure taken off of them in dealing with huge numbers of PNM. They chose the sorority that they thought would be a good match for the campus culture and which seemed to have a lot of national and local support.

They aren't threatened by the strength of a new chapter because they know that every chapter on campus is successful and has its own history and (good) reputation. If the current chapters weren't successful, they wouldn't be considering expansion. The "new kid on the row" won't damage that and will need time to establish themselves, no matter how strong the presentation was or the nationals are.

There is absolutely no reason for the current chapters to be threatened.

[SWTXBelle]

If you are going to be threatened by a new group you are not going to vote to expand.

[OneHeartOneWay]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

If you are going to be threatened by a new group you are not going to vote to expand.

But if expansion has already passed even if your group was opposed to it, then you still have to vote for one of the presentation groups to come to campus (well, I guess you could abstain).

In the example I cited in the other thread, there were 6 groups already on campus. The vote for to expand passed either 5-1 or 4-2 (sorry, I don't remember. I remember one group was back and forth the whole time, and I dont' honestly remember where they ultimately came down). But, when it came time to select the group to come to campus, the "stalemate" came when the top RRS chapter joined with the bottom two in selecting what was, in their minds, the weakest presentation, or the least threat. So, even though the top RRS chapter was in favor of expansion, they still voted for a chapter with whom they thought they could easily compete.