2019/2020 Colonies/Expansions/Charters/Closures

[carnation]

??? The chapter was closed due to low numbers. I have 3 children there.

[chi-o_cat]

Originally Posted by mlanderson

Racism. Pure and simple.

Are you implying that PNMs avoided this chapter due to its diversity? if so, that's a shame. Their loss, I guess.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

Are you implying that PNMs avoided this chapter due to its diversity? if so, that's a shame. Their loss, I guess.

No,PNMs avoided it because it was the newest and by the time another group came on, everyone was used to avoiding DPhiE. They were hardly diverse at all when they opened.

[mlanderson]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

Are you implying that PNMs avoided this chapter due to its diversity? if so, that's a shame. Their loss, I guess.

💯 the chapter was full of beautiful diverse women and but many PNMs would not go there because of the campus’s perception. The local Panhellenic did not do much to help break that culture. The house was beautiful but sadly it will go to someone else. This makes me so angry. There is no shortage of people who wanted to join there.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by mlanderson

💯 the chapter was full of beautiful diverse women and but many PNMs would not go there because of the campus’s perception. The local Panhellenic did not do much to help break that culture. The house was beautiful but sadly it will go to someone else. This makes me so angry. There is no shortage of people who wanted to join there.

Six of my kids and many more of their friends have gone there or graduated from there. The problem was no different from that of the so-called "most struggling" sororities on many campuses. PNMs didn't avoid them because they had women of color; several sororities there do. They avoided them because they felt their women were the ones that no one else would take--the ones with low GPAs, the awkward ones, the very overweight ones, the "unusual" ones. Plus it didn't help that a lot of DPhiEs dropped and spread it all around about how they had had a subpar experience. A whole lot.

Now note that this isn't my judgement; I have watched this unfold for years and alums of various groups in the state have talked about the problems. I feel that the final nail in the coffin was when Panhellenic on campus called a new sorority to colonize (I hear they did it without publicizing it to other groups) right in the middle of DPhiE's troubles.

But to blame it on racism--no. We Greeks in Georgia have heard about this for many years.

[MSKKG]

Originally Posted by mlanderson

💯 the chapter was full of beautiful diverse women and but many PNMs would not go there because of the campus’s perception. The local Panhellenic did not do much to help break that culture. The house was beautiful but sadly it will go to someone else. This makes me so angry. There is no shortage of people who wanted to join there.

Your post confused me. If there were many PNMs who CHOSE not to return because of campus perception, then that's on the PNMs. If there were no shortage of people who wanted to join, then the chapter wouldn't have had to close because of low numbers.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by mlanderson

There is no shortage of people who wanted to join there.

What do you mean?? If there is a chapter that is not meeting quota on a regular basis, then it is the better option for it to close. If there is no shortage of people wanting to join the chapter, they will meet quota. If there are many women who want to be Greek, but choose not to join a specific chapter then another chapter will be invited to fill that demand. Simple.

[KSUViolet06]

Forgot to post this because all the things, but Tri Sigma installed its Theta Mu chapter at Randolph Macon College this semester.

[shadokat]

so sad for the women at Georgia Southern. Especially with that beautiful house they built. Hopefully they'll get to come back at some point.

[AZTheta]

^^^ what they said. Your post is contradicting itself. Care to explain? ETA: mlanderson is who I'm asking, not thetalady/carnation/MSKKG

[mlanderson]

The perception is that they were the chapter who takes blacks. Only a campus culture will change that. A PNM will make a decision based on perception.

Clutch your pearls. I said what I said.

[carnation]

There are several chapters at Southern with black women, as well as other women of color. It is not a big deal. DPhiE had issues that made PNMs not want them (not including members' races).

And if you look at their past recruitments, there were not unlimited women who wanted them. There weren't many women at all. I think most of their members came from COB.

When you market yourself as the un-sorority, you will turn off a lot of Southerners.

[navane]

Originally Posted by carnation

There are several chapters at Southern with black women, as well as other women of color. It is not a big deal. DPhiE had issues that made PNMs not want them (not including members' races).

And if you look at their past recruitments, there were not unlimited women who wanted them. There weren't many women at all. I think most of their members came from COB.

When you market yourself as the un-sorority, you will turn off a lot of Southerners.

As a neutral outside observer, I have no dog in this fight (I'm not from the south, no GPhiB chapter at GSU, etc). My perception as a 3rd party observer is of what carnation said [my emphasis in bold]. DPhiE at Georgia Southern seemed to have issues right out of the gate. The chapter's very first Instagram post in 2014 was of a bathroom scale that had been smashed to pieces with the words "Count What Matters" written on it. I agree with that sentiment in concept; but, it made for an odd first post on Insta for a chapter that was already struggling and had already been reorganized once in it's first 2-3 years. That's a rather bold way to come out.....implying that they're "real" and aren't superficial like other sororities. The "un-sorority", as carnation put it. The GSU sororities may indeed be looks or wealth oriented (I wouldn't know); but, marketing yourself against the grain, no matter what the grain is, is a risky endeavor.

I even went all the way back on GR to see what was being said and people were actually being relatively kind about DPhiE. Wishing them luck, reminding PNMs to be open minded etc. The main complaint was that the chapter wasn't offering a traditional sorority experience. I even saw posts asking about diversity which received positive and supportive responses. That's uncommon for GR where people usually say awful things.

It just seems like they never quite offered the experience that the GSU PNMs were looking for. The truth is, people want to be liked. They want to be beautiful. They want to be accepted. They want to be winners. That's human nature. Marketing yourselves as the "un-sorority" puts a chapter behind the power curve.

[SWTXBelle]

If there is literally no shortage of women who want to join, then a chapter won't be caught in the death spiral of not enough members. Being the newest chapter wouldn't help.

I know of Carnation's involvement in Georgia alumnae panhellenics and Georgia Southern specifically, so I'm going to go with her analysis, no pearl clutching needed.