What’s it like to be in a Huge Chapter?

[Tom Earp]

I often wonder no matter what GLO, he or she is in that when does one just become a number and not a close knit Brother or Sister?

When we had a super old house, we had guys who paid the fees just to be members and not live there. Now we have a very new house set up to have two man rooms with a jack and jack bathroom. Yet we cannot get more guys to live in the house. Guess the reason why is they want privacy.

But the problem the cost for paying house bills is having people live in it! Cannot pay the bills ergo no house at all.
Then if they do not agree to live in the house at least one year, then they do not want to be true members.Hard choices right? Then you have to make them!! Numbers of members does not make a GLO, but the people who are members who care enough to do the very best for the GLO!

[NWguy]

For members not living in the house, are they still required to attend chapter meetings and participate in special events (Initiation ceremony, etc.)?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by NWguy

For members not living in the house, are they still required to attend chapter meetings and participate in special events (Initiation ceremony, etc.)?

This question is the crux of why it sets my teeth on edge when people talk about what "house" they belong to. If every Greek house -the physical plant - in the USA vanished tomorrow, the Greek system would still exist.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by NWguy

For members not living in the house, are they still required to attend chapter meetings and participate in special events (Initiation ceremony, etc.)?

And that is the crux of the problem.

There are so many others going on that just be there meetings. How About late night jaw sessions, watching T V with pop corn?

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by NWguy

For members not living in the house, are they still required to attend chapter meetings and participate in special events (Initiation ceremony, etc.)?

Of course!

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

And that is the crux of the problem. There are so many others going on that just be there meetings. How About late night jaw sessions, watching T V with pop corn?

Members who don't live in are welcome any time. Some houses have extra beds, sometimes you can use the bed of someone who went home for the weekend, sometimes you can just roll out a sleeping bag on someone's floor, or in a common room.
If you come to eat a meal in the house (many require members to take meals, or at least some meals there), it's natural to hang out for studying, card playing, watching a movie etc.

[ColdInCanada11]

Originally Posted by NWguy

For members not living in the house, are they still required to attend chapter meetings and participate in special events (Initiation ceremony, etc.)?

None of the chapters on my campus have a house- we all participate in everything just the same

[Titchou]

Certainly! Those are chapter events - not live in events!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Jen

The biggest difference I can see is that there is far less of a reputation to all the groups when they get really large. It's hard to peg one group as the sporty group or the studious one or something, because there are just so many personality types in each sorority.

This is why I get slightly annoyed when PNMs from these big Southern schools say things like "I dropped out of recruitment because I couldn't see myself fitting in with those groups."

Um, every group on your campus has 150 women. How does one "not fit in" with 150 people?

The more women a chapter has, the less you can look at a chapter and say you "don't fit it." If a chapter has like 30 girls and you said that, I would argue that you might not fit. But not when they are all nearing 200.

I also feel like the bigger groups get, the more similar they become. In a sense that whether you join ABC or XYZ, you're still going to have a comparable Greek experience.

I have this crazy idea that we could randomly place PNMs in chapters at some large schools in it would work out just fine.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

This is why I get slightly annoyed when PNMs from these big Southern schools say things like "I dropped out of recruitment because I couldn't see myself fitting in with those groups."

Um, every group on your campus has 150 women. How does one "not fit in" with 150 people?

The more women a chapter has, the less you can look at a chapter and say you "don't fit it." If a chapter has like 30 girls and you said that, I would argue that you might not fit. But not when they are all nearing 200.

I also feel like the bigger groups get, the more similar they become. In a sense that whether you join ABC or XYZ, you're still going to have a comparable Greek experience.

I have this crazy idea that we could randomly place PNMs in chapters at some large schools in it would work out just fine.

I think I disagree with this - to a degree.

Chapters have personalities. If you have a chapter of 200, and 40-50 of them are involved in athletics, and most are fans of/cheerleaders for a nearby team, it stands to reason the chapter will do things to support their sisters, and the programming is going to be slanted toward sports/athletics. Likewise with other endeavors; it needn't be sports.

Will you find friends? Of course. Will the symbols and ritual be meaningful? Of course. But chapter personalities may not fit, though the sorority certainly would.

These things are certainly more pronounced with a smaller group, but they exist in all organizations. Like begets like - that's how humans associate.

Which is why I have problems with those who castigate women who say a chapter "just isn't a fit". It may not be as common as using that phrase for "it's not one I wanted", and I can certainly be convinced by those who have experienced it significantly more than I that it happens, but I cannot make myself jump to that conclusion.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by DGTess

I think I disagree with this - to a degree.

Chapters have personalities. If you have a chapter of 200, and 40-50 of them are involved in athletics, and most are fans of/cheerleaders for a nearby team, it stands to reason the chapter will do things to support their sisters, and the programming is going to be slanted toward sports/athletics. Likewise with other endeavors; it needn't be sports.

There is no way that, in a chapter of 200 women, enough are going to be cheerleaders, or in athletics, or band members, or campus crusade, or any single activity to pull the entire chapter in that direction. Sure, women involved in an activity may attract other women in that activity, but often the hardcore members of X activity are too busy to be part of the chapter's leadership as well.

Now, obviously the historically Jewish chapters attract mostly Jewish women at certain schools, but that has a) a long history of discrimination behind it and b) a lot to do with Jewish social networks in high school. That said, I think a non-Jewish woman could be perfectly happy in most of those chapters anyway.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Are there any schools with very large chapters, but no housing? I would love to hear what THAT experience is like.

Originally Posted by Jen

I think Chapman University has a total of 140 and chapters have no housing.

I'm looking at "140" and thinking "that's not that many."
LOL!

[Mevara]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Do they have housing at FGCU? UCF has very large NPC chapters and some of those are unhoused.

How big are the chapters at UCSD and Pepperdine? No Greek housing there.

according the irishpipes thread pepperdine total is 67

[33girl]

Doesn't Auburn have dorm suites? I assume for this discussion we're classifying that as "unhoused."