Advice on bringing a new sorority (colony?) to my Midwesten university campus

[sigmagirl2000]

Not to mention, there would be no guarantee that you and your friend would be selected to be colony members even if this did all happen. The new colony members would be chosen by the national organization that would be colonizing -if it got to that point.

Is it a NPC group you were hoping to bring to campus or another type of sorority? That would change the answers you've gotten if you are talking about a non-NPC sorority.

[jejunestar]

Originally Posted by sigmagirl2000

Not to mention, there would be no guarantee that you and your friend would be selected to be colony members even if this did all happen. The new colony members would be chosen by the national organization that would be colonizing -if it got to that point.

Is it a NPC group you were hoping to bring to campus or another type of sorority? That would change the answers you've gotten if you are talking about a non-NPC sorority.

It is an NPC group that we're wanting to bring to campus- but thank you for clarifying this; we were under the impression that if we were involved with petitioning the school for expansion and such, we would also get to be a part of the process in some way.

So it sounds like as much as we want to be part of a NPC group, maybe we should look into starting some sort of local sorority instead? Those work a bit differently, right, and we would have more control over the process, right?

[33girl]

Well, no. The sorority has to want to come to your campus in the first place. If it decides your campus is not somewhere it wants to be, you can't do anything about that.

How large are the chapters on your campus? What is total? Where in the social pecking order does the chapter you left fall? Did you leave on good terms?

we have seen various other chapters of this sorority and they seem to embody our values really well. (I don't know if I should mention which sorority is that we are looking at or not, will that help with answering questions?)

This is an often used fallacy/excuse for trying to bring on a new chapter. The women in those chapters at other schools aren't going to be at your school. Unless interest in sororities has plummeted due to hazing or other issues across all the chapters, a new group is not going to radically change who rushes - and even if it does initially, it's not a sustainable model. It doesn't matter if the ABC chapter at Other U. is full of Reese Witherspoons if your campus is solely comprised of Kat Von Ds. Reese Witherspoons are not going to magically appear because a new sorority is there.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Reese Witherspoons are not going to magically appear because a new sorority is there.

This just cracked me up. I needed a good laugh this morning. Thanks!

[jejunestar]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, no. The sorority has to want to come to your campus in the first place. If it decides your campus is not somewhere it wants to be, you can't do anything about that.

How large are the chapters on your campus? What is total? Where in the social pecking order does the chapter you left fall? Did you leave on good terms?



This is an often used fallacy/excuse for trying to bring on a new chapter. The women in those chapters at other schools aren't going to be at your school. Unless interest in sororities has plummeted due to hazing or other issues across all the chapters, a new group is not going to radically change who rushes - and even if it does initially, it's not a sustainable model. It doesn't matter if the ABC chapter at Other U. is full of Reese Witherspoons if your campus is solely comprised of Kat Von Ds. Reese Witherspoons are not going to magically appear because a new sorority is there.

Most chapters are around 100-150-ish members. The sorority I rushed was lower-top/upper-middle tier (3rd out of the 7). I did leave on good terms- I still have a good relationship with a lot of girls in the sorority and hang out with a lot of them regularly.

I know that obviously the people who are at my school will not change, but considering the number of girls who rush and drop during the pledging process (which is quite a few) because they're looking for something different, as well as a big decline in the top two houses due to repeated hazing issues, plus the fact that there is a pretty big difference between even upper middle and lower middle tier sororities, i feel like there is definitely a niche where a new sorority could fit in and have plenty of interest, especially with the upper tier sororities losing their reputations a bit.

I mean basically, we know the girls who would be interested in this, it's not like we're hoping our campus will magically have a different kind of girl there. we just want a place for those of us who would fall somewhere between the upper and middle tier sororities that currently don't have a fit (because the previous sorority i pledged would be that bridge, except that they are basically the stoner house, that's their thing, and they're not doing much to bridge the gap between the tiers at all)

[33girl]

If there are a lot of people not completing rush and dropping out during pledgeship, and this is happening to ALL the groups, then adding a new sorority would be like having a baby to try and save a bad marriage. Quit thinking about things like tiers (saying "upper middle tier in a system with 7 groups is ridiculous) and take a good look at how you conduct rush and how you interact with the pledges and with each other. In other words, BE PANHELLENIC.

[33girl]

QFP.

Originally Posted by jejunestar

So my best friend and I are interested in trying to bring a new sorority to our campus (if I'm correct, that would be a colony? Sorry, I'm not 100% sure on terminology), but we are not 100% positive on how the process works.

We attend a large university in the northern Midwest, where greek life is a lot more laid back then in the South, but is still a pretty big part of our campus' social culture. We have 7 sororities and...I wanna say 13 or 14 fraternities, but I'm not positive.*

We both went through formal recruitment last fall, and accepted bids from sororoities...and while we both enjoyed the pledging experience, we both chose to drop before initiation, and ended up taking a year off school. Although we both love the girls in the sororities we pledged, they just didn't feel quite right in the end.

We are returning to our university in the spring as sophomores, and we both still really want to be a part of greek life- but we discussed it and we really feel like, although all of the sororities already at our school are great, none of them are right for us- so we thought bringing a new sorority (colony?) to our school might be the answer.

We know plenty of other students who are also interested in a potential new colony at our school, who like us are interested in greek life but don't fit into any of our current houses (which all have very distinct qualities). We have good friends in pretty much all of the sororities and fraternities on our campus who are willing to support our efforts, so it's not like we'd be going into it as a new sorority that no one would want to mix with. We also have pretty solid knowledge of the greek system and we know what we want in a greek organization.

We also have a sorority in mind that we would specifically like to colonize on our campus, especially because that sorority has a philanthropy that is incredibly important to us both personally, but also because we have seen various other chapters of this sorority and they seem to embody our values really well. (I don't know if I should mention which sorority ut is that we are looking at or not, will that help with answering questions?)

We do know that we will have to talk to our school first to allow another sorority colony on campus, but can anyone tell me if there is a way to ask for this sorority specifically to be the one we bring on campus, or will it be out of our control? What do we need to do to get this all started, how long does the process take, and what will it be like? I'm interested in hearing if anyone has experience with this!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by jejunestar

Most chapters are around 100-150-ish members. The sorority I rushed was lower-top/upper-middle tier (3rd out of the 7). I did leave on good terms- I still have a good relationship with a lot of girls in the sorority and hang out with a lot of them regularly.

I know that obviously the people who are at my school will not change, but considering the number of girls who rush and drop during the pledging process (which is quite a few) because they're looking for something different, as well as a big decline in the top two houses due to repeated hazing issues, plus the fact that there is a pretty big difference between even upper middle and lower middle tier sororities, i feel like there is definitely a niche where a new sorority could fit in and have plenty of interest, especially with the upper tier sororities losing their reputations a bit.

I mean basically, we know the girls who would be interested in this, it's not like we're hoping our campus will magically have a different kind of girl there. we just want a place for those of us who would fall somewhere between the upper and middle tier sororities that currently don't have a fit (because the previous sorority i pledged would be that bridge, except that they are basically the stoner house, that's their thing, and they're not doing much to bridge the gap between the tiers at all)

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by jejunestar

Most chapters are around 100-150-ish members. The sorority I rushed was lower-top/upper-middle tier (3rd out of the 7). I did leave on good terms- I still have a good relationship with a lot of girls in the sorority and hang out with a lot of them regularly.

I know that obviously the people who are at my school will not change, but considering the number of girls who rush and drop during the pledging process (which is quite a few) because they're looking for something different, as well as a big decline in the top two houses due to repeated hazing issues, plus the fact that there is a pretty big difference between even upper middle and lower middle tier sororities, i feel like there is definitely a niche where a new sorority could fit in and have plenty of interest, especially with the upper tier sororities losing their reputations a bit.

I mean basically, we know the girls who would be interested in this, it's not like we're hoping our campus will magically have a different kind of girl there. we just want a place for those of us who would fall somewhere between the upper and middle tier sororities that currently don't have a fit (because the previous sorority i pledged would be that bridge, except that they are basically the stoner house, that's their thing, and they're not doing much to bridge the gap between the tiers at all)

This entire post made me cringe.

Please re-read what you wrote, especially the last sentence I emphasized. Your entire argument for bringing a new sorority on campus is because you need a group to fit into a certain made up, superficial tier? I hope you didn't plan on using that argument to petition the school to bring a new sorority to campus.

For your own sake, drop the tier mentality and look at these women for who and what they are. I know you're still in school, so this may not be obvious now, but tiers are stupid and meaningless. Each of those women in the chapters at your school have found sisterhood, and the "tier system" can't touch that.

Why do you truly want to bring a new sorority on campus? Are you looking to fit into a certain rank, or are you looking for sisterhood? If it's the latter, it already exists on your campus. And if you think that bringing a new sorority to school will automatically make that chapter loved by all and at the top of the pecking order, then you obviously haven't done enough research.

Please reevaluate your reasons for wanting to take this on. I'm sure you don't have any ill intentions, but you may be a little misguided. Clearly you now know that bringing a new NPC to campus is a huge undertaking. And starting a local sorority isn't going to have the same "feel" as an NPC (so if that's what you're going for, don't move forward on this, either). If you truly want to be a part of a sisterhood while in school, your best bet is taking a second look at the existing sororities on campus. But please, if you do so, give them all a fair chance and don't think about tiers.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by jejunestar

It is an NPC group that we're wanting to bring to campus- but thank you for clarifying this; we were under the impression that if we were involved with petitioning the school for expansion and such, we would also get to be a part of the process in some way.

No, I'm sorry but I need to disabuse you of that notion. That's not at all how it typically works. Although the search function here on GC isn't ideal, you should be able to skim and search enough to read about some colonizations and about NPC expansion/extension. The NPC website also has some information as do individual sororities' websites. That may help you understand a little better.

sigmagirl2000 and 33girl asked you some pertinent questions; answering those may clarify your situation.

Originally Posted by jejunestar

So it sounds like as much as we want to be part of a NPC group, maybe we should look into starting some sort of local sorority instead? Those work a bit differently, right, and we would have more control over the process, right?

That's entirely up to you. Your answers thus far have come from NPC alumnae.