Expansion - evening things out?

[FSUZeta]

typically, npc sororities expanding on a certain campus will have their events after the formal recruitment period and some of their expansion team will be present during part of the formal recruitment to briefly speak to the pnms about their groups colonization and to observe how that campus does formal recruitment. that is standard procedure. if pnms chose to drop out of formal recruitment, it was their decision to make, just as signing or not signing a bid card would be. i think that maybe you were misinformed about the colonizing sorority's national officers going around telling pnms to drop out and join them. the women who serve our groups as national officers have had many years of training to reach the offices they hold, and are well versed in national panhellenic recruitment rules. heck, most of them have helped write those rules! the reputation of their particular group and promoting greek life in a positive way is uppermost in their minds. instead of resenting the new group, try to get to know these women. maybe your chapter could throw a party to welcome them . you will probably have a lot in common and make some new friends. the success of this new colony is good for all the sororities on your campus as it makes the panhellenic system stronger.

[CarolinaDG]

Originally posted by FSUZeta
typically, npc sororities expanding on a certain campus will have their events after the formal recruitment period and some of their expansion team will be present during part of the formal recruitment to briefly speak to the pnms about their groups colonization and to observe how that campus does formal recruitment. that is standard procedure. if pnms chose to drop out of formal recruitment, it was their decision to make, just as signing or not signing a bid card would be. i think that maybe you were misinformed about the colonizing sorority's national officers going around telling pnms to drop out and join them. the women who serve our groups as national officers have had many years of training to reach the offices they hold, and are well versed in national panhellenic recruitment rules. heck, most of them have helped write those rules! the reputation of their particular group and promoting greek life in a positive way is uppermost in their minds. instead of resenting the new group, try to get to know these women. maybe your chapter could throw a party to welcome them . you will probably have a lot in common and make some new friends. the success of this new colony is good for all the sororities on your campus as it makes the panhellenic system stronger.

As hard as it is to lose girls to another chapter, please realize that everyone needs to look at what is the best for Panhellenic. I served as a delegate on Panhellenic the year my chapter closed, and it was the hardest thing to have a positive attitude and not be bitter, but I knew that as a delegate I wasn't looking at what was best for my chapter, necessarily, but what was best for Panhellenic as a whole. Executive Council meetings (in Delta Gamma called CMT) was where I needed to be concerned with what was best for our chapter.

I know that it's hard to go through and see people "campaigning" to have girls drop out, but that's not what they're there for... They're there to get the girls that wouldn't truly be happy in any chapter at the school already. If you didn't have a market for a new chapter, why expand?

At USC (and probably many other SEC schools as well), there are different chapters for everyone. Rho Chi's usually tell girls to "go where is comfortable." I went DG, because that's where I felt like I fit in. If I rushed now, since DG is not on campus, I have no clue where I'd go, because I felt like no other sorority matched me as perfectly as DG. THAT'S where the expanding chapter comes in. They grab those girls who don't feel a perfect fit with the other sororities. Otherwise, every school would just have one big chapter. Granted, it would promote a lot of diversity within a chapter, but it would kind of miss the point of unity.

[KSUViolet06]

I have a question, please feel free to tell me if this isn't appropriate:

Which sororities are the ones that typically get pigeon-holed as the "small NPC's who don't do well at expansion"?

I know mine probably is one. We tend to colonize @ smaller schools with smaller or newly formed Greek systems. We have just as many colonizations every year as any of the larger sororities- but most of them are @ schools no one has heard of.

[CarolinaDG]

Originally posted by JocelynC
I have a question, please feel free to tell me if this isn't appropriate:

Which sororities are the ones that typically get pigeon-holed as the "small NPC's who don't do well at expansion"?

I know mine probably is one. We tend to colonize @ smaller schools with smaller or newly formed Greek systems. We have just as many colonizations every year as any of the larger sororities- but most of them are @ schools no one has heard of.

I don't want to say any specific sororities, but sometimes it's an area thing, and it's to protect your organization as well as the school. Tri-Sig used to be at USC, but when it's a sorority that only has two chapters in South Carolina--both small schools--it was hard for y'all to compete against chapters like ZTA, that have a huge alumnae base and the most chapters in South Carolina.

Truthfully, there are organizations that aren't going to get invited into the larger schools, unless they have a significant alumnae base in the area. Say sorority XYZ had a chapter at C of C, Winthrop, Newberry, Wofford, and Furman, and all of their chapters are thriving and they have three or four alumnae associations in South Carolina, THEN they might get invited to colonize at Clemson or USC. But without that, I'm afraid the chapter would close in a matter of a few years, because it would be too hard to compete against the powerhouses.

On the flip side, if a "larger" organization has no base in an area, they aren't going to do well, either. If a larger organization is huge in California, huge in Mississippi and Alabama, and has no chapters or alumnae groups in South Carolina, they would also find it hard to compete.

[FSUZeta]

hit it on the head. i think that it has a lot to do with the regional reputation of the organization. not just if they are a top group on campuses in that region, but how much alumnae support and national support they would have. as carolina dg states. zta has the most chapters of any sororities in south carolina, andmany, many chapters in florida, georgia, n. carolina, alabama, texas and virginia. we are a traditionally strong sorority in the south, and in parts of the northeast. but we are woefully underrepresented in the west, with just a few chapters in california, oregon and washington and one in colorado. we market the same package everytime we are invited to make a presentation for expansion, so what's the deal? it has to be the regional reputation .if no one has heard of a particular group, it might be harder to become established in that particular region. when i think of other sororities nationally, i really don't think,"oh that group is only on smaller campuses." i draw on my personal experience with that group. there is nothing wrong with a sorority who has found that their niche is to expand on smaller campuses. untimately, it is the strength of the colony, the fact that they establish their own reputation and achievements that will make or break them.

[kappaloo]

Also, I think a lot of sororities are going to only submit applications to schools where they know a colony could survive. For instance - alumnae of XYZ are rare|nonexistant in the Yukon (eg). Let's say a university (cough) in the Yukon opens up for expansion. Will XYZ even bother to apply knowing that they are creating a chapter that will have minimal advisor support? Maybe once in awhile, but that's a risk that I doubt any organization wants to take on a regular basis.

[RUASTgrrl]

AST is typically a smaller organization comparatively speaking, we've been around as long as some really large GLOs but have always charteres at smaller schools. ie: Radford. Back here in Texas no one has ever heard of Radford or AST. But we do have a new colony here as UT Pan America, again, a smaller school. And there is a chapter at St. Mary's yet another small school.