Former members & drop outs hanging on

[knight_shadow]

To the OP - I don't think you are being a bitch here. It sounds like these individuals didn't fulfill their end of the organizational deal but are trying to reap the benefits. I understand that frustration both from an undergrad perspective and from a national officer perspective. When I served on our national board, our insurance covered active members and alumni, so when rogue members dropped by it was a clusterfuck for us.

Check your organization's policies (or your regional/national HQ if you have one) to see what the rules are regarding alumni status and/or what happens when members aren't upholding required standards. If there aren't rules and your chapter is still concerned, consider laying out some ground rules about when/where non-active members can show up. If there are rules, then present those to the non-members and their member friends.

Good luck.

[33girl]

They ARE alumni. They became alumni when they left school in good standing with the fraternity. They don’t have unpaid dues so they DID fulfill their end of the bargain.

[shadokat]

So I think policies are different in different organizations, so consulting our national organization would be your first step.

In DPhiE, if you fail out of school or transfer out to a campus that does not have a DPhiE chapter, you do not automatically become an alumnae member. Based off of the semester you were a new member, the year in school that you pledged and what your anticipated graduation year would be (so if I pledged in Fall 2019 as a freshman and my anticipated graduation year is 2023, I'd be active for four years), that determines your status.

In my example, let's say I transferred after spring 2020. So I was active for one year, and if I had stayed at my university, I would have three more active years. Our national organization requires that you pay national dues for the years you would have been active, and THEN you can become an alum. The national organization bills these transfer/non-continuing status folks, and you pay directly to national.

Reasoning behind this is you may apply to and be accepted at a new school that has a chapter of the sorority and you'll be active again OR you may transfer to another school that has DPhiE and you could be active again. That's how it is SUPPOSED TO work. Of the roughly 20 women who took transfer/non-continuing status when I advised my last chapter, there were three women who definitely left school for a year, and then transferred to another school where there was a DPhiE chapter.

Just a real-life perspective...take it for what you will