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I accepted my bid 40 years ago on 2/15!
Do you keep in touch with your chapter brothers or sisters? Yes! Many of them are on Facebook and a few are still pretty close friends. One is my ride or die bestie.
Do you belong to an Alumnae Association? Yes! I've been in the same Alumnae Club since the early 90's. They are the group of women who have really been through life together. Marriages, babies, divorces, kid graduations, parent illnesses and losses- they are an incredible group of women who I love dearly. We had a meeting the night of 9/11 and I was so glad to be with people I loved that night instead of at home scared and shaken.
Do you hold any offices? President of my alumnae club now. I was an advisor for 5 years when I first graduated. Then I joined our volunteer services team at the international level and was active that way for 30 years before "retiring" and focusing on local activities instead.
Do you keep track of your National's policies? Yes, very much so. I retired from our volunteer team because it was restructured and volunteers lost of a lot of autonomy as staff took over more and more. I didn't feel like my talents were being utilized at that point so I moved into more involvement with another organization where I have more ability to make an impact. But I'm still on top of our policies, still a voting member as an Alumnae Club President and our current International President is one of my favorite people in the world.
Have you ever considered deactivating due to a change in any of these? No. I wouldn't request suspension of my membership ever. I bleed red, buff and green so ...
All that said, I'm probably one of the rarities of the women my age who get more upset about us not doing enough rather than those of you who feel changes have gone too far. I see no reason at all for religion to be part of sorority in any way. I think recs are antiquated and ridiculous. Most schools around me have never seen a rec and don't know what to do with it when they get it. I write recs all the time for people who are rushing in the south because I know it's necessary. But I know a ton of women from our local high school who became Alpha Gams simply because they are great women and they didn't need recs to do it. They seem like a box checking activity for those huge schools down south. In my 35 years working with collegiate chapters, I've only seen 2 or 3 "no recs" so I don't see that as a reason to continue them.
I also think we should accept membership from anybody who identifies as a woman because we are all about supporting women. I see a significant difference between sex and gender.
If anything, I get upset about other things like what IHQ is prioritizing spending money on. I think having actual headquarters buildings is an unnecessary expense in a world where we can do work remotely. I think the groups who have ditched their headquarters, moved their historic archive types of items into a flagship collegiate house are the smartest. There is absolutely no activity occurring in a building that couldn't happen virtually or in a temporary rented location at a much lower cost.
At least in Michigan, we have two flagship schools with growing membership and strong chapters. Everywhere else, greek life is hurting bad- with quotas of 3, 4 or 5. Schools where chapter totals used to be 55, it's now 35. There are fewer Gen Zs to begin with and even fewer going to college in a traditional way. Gen Zs do not do ANYTHING that they don't see significant value in. We won't exist if we don't adapt what we offer and how we offer it.
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