New to the site - looking to start a local and need help!

[Psi U MC Vito]

Your best bet would be to either try old year books, or maybe checking out the websites of the individual NPC fraternities/sororities. I think most of them have even inactive chapters listed.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Your best bet would be to either try old year books, or maybe checking out the websites of the individual NPC fraternities/sororities.

Or Baird's, if you can get your hands on one. The school library might have a copy, even if it's an older one, or the local library might even have one. Our's does.

[xxstardust]

Thank you guys for all the advice! We have an older copy - the 1930 edition - of Baird's in our school library, which I'm going to go grab tonight (I have to go and do some archaeology research, so I'll be there for hours anyway ). It's an older one, but since the school's been here since the late 1800s it might have some useful information. I'm trying to track down a more recent copy, too. I'm also going to look through old yearbooks while I'm trolling the library, and I'm trying to find out if we have an archive of old school newspapers anywhere.

Court - we really want to have a rush week, and we have some events planned for when/if we get approved, but it'll probably be pretty informal if only because there are two of us getting this started up and a lot of interested girls, lol! We're also not entirely sure yet what will and won't be allowed by the administration.

[court4short]

Originally Posted by xxstardust

Court - we really want to have a rush week, and we have some events planned for when/if we get approved, but it'll probably be pretty informal if only because there are two of us getting this started up and a lot of interested girls, lol! We're also not entirely sure yet what will and won't be allowed by the administration.

I see...thanks for clearing it up I look foward to hearing what happens so please keep us updated!

[xxstardust]

I checked out the Baird's last night. As of 1930 we had no Greek life on campus - but since that leaves a 61 year span between that and the latest edition, I'm going to try and get the most updated one. The town library has one, so I'm going to go over there at some point today or tomorrow.

On the plus side I heard back from the director of ResLife early this morning, and he is really serious about getting GLOs on campus! He wants to meet with us one day this week, which is very exciting.

[court4short]

Good luck, stardust! Truly inspiring.

I agree with Psi U MC Vito. Also, I have seen some pretty good information on GreekChat. (ie. under certain sororities they might have a roll call sticky with all of their chpaters, past and present - I remember seeing this somewhere on here). It might take some work.

Once again good luck! Are you guys having a "rush"/recruitment or anything? (If you already mentioned this I'm sorry, I could've missed it.)

[ree-Xi]

I wanted to wish you luck on this endeavor. What makes this story interesting and exciting to me is that there are students who also want to bring NPHC groups to campus. Having different groups interested in bringing both NPC and NPHC to campus at the same time can very well work in your favor.

From a PR standpoint for the Administration, it's an opportunity to recognize that Greek life can appeal to multiple cultures, celebrating multiple histories and traditions, etc. The fact that you have a group of women interested in possibly bringing an NPC group to campus, plus a group of (men and women?) bringing NPHC group(s) to campus demonstrates to the Administration that there IS a united interest in Greek life. Lastly, there is so much that your groups can learn from each other in terms of following protocol and process, by going through similar journeys (from an Administrative point of view). You will likely face many similar challenges and work as you proceed, should you be allowed to proceed.

When I was an undergrad member of Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority, we assisted Lambda Theta Phi in their journey to affiliate on campus. It was such a rewarding experience to stand beside them in their process. To me, your story brings back some great memories of working with these young men towards the goal of creating a brotherhood.

I also wanted to add that also as a member of an NPC - Alpha Xi Delta - I have to say that each type of organization (and each group under the various umbrellas) has its own unique culture, traditions, personality, purpose(s) and goals. I feel very fortunate to be a member of two very special alumnae groups as an adult. I just want to suggest that you figure out what you want to represent and work towards, and be open to at least learn about the different types of national umbrella organizations (and each ones under the umbrella(s) as well as unaffiliated national organizations.

Only once you girls firgure out who you already are, will you be able to decide which direction you go. I sincerely wish you the best of luck. If I may offer one last piece of advice - because history seems to have set a precedence at your school - approach every person - admin/interested girls/other interest groups and types of orgnizations/etc. - with the respect you would like to receive back. Realize that change is never easy, and you are proposing making historic changes to your campus. I would love to hear more about your progress as it happens.

[xxstardust]

Ree, thank you so much for your advice and your support - knowing that everyone I've spoken to GC is so support is so great and I love to see that we're not all alone in this!

"Diversity" is a big buzz word on our campus this year, and administration is looking at us a little more positively right now then I think they would have in the past because their goal is to increase the level of diversity on our (in the past, largely homogeneous) campus.

We've also been doing a lot of research on retention rates, which is something I think will absolutely help to bolster our case. Retention rates have traditionally been on the lower side at my university, and the statistical rise in retention among Greek students as opposed to non-Greeks I think will definitely be attractive to our administration.

Your comment about respect is one that really hits home for me today and thank you so much for the reminder in that respect. I work in a computer lab on campus and one of the full-time (non-student) employees is an alumni, who I've always been quite friendly with. When he heard about the movement on campus towards Greek life, and knew I was taking an active role in it, he became very cold .. I think the comment he made was that "groups like that would ruin [our campus], and I don't know anyone here who'd want to be a part of that." It really stung, and it took a lot for me to stay positive and pleasant in the conversation (lucky my shift was ending so I could bow out gracefully rather quickly and only let my mom hear my anger!!). Thank you for the positive reminder to also strive to treat everyone I come into contact with with respect, even when they don't do the same for me. I needed it today!

I've been going through threads about colonization, trying to get a feel for exactly how it works so that I'm more knowledgeable about it when the time comes to go before the administration, and when it hopefully comes time for it to actually happen! I'm having trouble finding threads that deal with colonization at a school that has no Greek life at all, and I'm curious how quotas/bids would work when we have no Greek life at all to form a quota against, but quite a large number of girls interested (88 at last count just to my knowledge, and the girls in charge of the NPHC side of things also have a seperate running tally!) They're varied across classes, but I don't know if we could sustain a group that large past colonization. Also, how does having only one organization work on a campus? Would colonizing more than one, to accomodate the very large number of interested women and disproportionately small campus size?

I'm very confused as how to this process works - I've looked up NPC regulations, but it's hard to translate the official, very structured process on paper into the real life situation.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by xxstardust

Ree, thank you so much for your advice and your support - knowing that everyone I've spoken to GC is so support is so great and I love to see that we're not all alone in this!

"Diversity" is a big buzz word on our campus this year, and administration is looking at us a little more positively right now then I think they would have in the past because their goal is to increase the level of diversity on our (in the past, largely homogeneous) campus.

We've also been doing a lot of research on retention rates, which is something I think will absolutely help to bolster our case. Retention rates have traditionally been on the lower side at my university, and the statistical rise in retention among Greek students as opposed to non-Greeks I think will definitely be attractive to our administration.

Your comment about respect is one that really hits home for me today and thank you so much for the reminder in that respect. I work in a computer lab on campus and one of the full-time (non-student) employees is an alumni, who I've always been quite friendly with. When he heard about the movement on campus towards Greek life, and knew I was taking an active role in it, he became very cold .. I think the comment he made was that "groups like that would ruin [our campus], and I don't know anyone here who'd want to be a part of that." It really stung, and it took a lot for me to stay positive and pleasant in the conversation (lucky my shift was ending so I could bow out gracefully rather quickly and only let my mom hear my anger!!). Thank you for the positive reminder to also strive to treat everyone I come into contact with with respect, even when they don't do the same for me. I needed it today!

I've been going through threads about colonization, trying to get a feel for exactly how it works so that I'm more knowledgeable about it when the time comes to go before the administration, and when it hopefully comes time for it to actually happen! I'm having trouble finding threads that deal with colonization at a school that has no Greek life at all, and I'm curious how quotas/bids would work when we have no Greek life at all to form a quota against, but quite a large number of girls interested (88 at last count just to my knowledge, and the girls in charge of the NPHC side of things also have a seperate running tally!) They're varied across classes, but I don't know if we could sustain a group that large past colonization. Also, how does having only one organization work on a campus? Would colonizing more than one, to accomodate the very large number of interested women and disproportionately small campus size?

I'm very confused as how to this process works - I've looked up NPC regulations, but it's hard to translate the official, very structured process on paper into the real life situation.

As I said earlier, I was undergrad and am alumna of both Gamma Sigma Sigma (Service sorority) and a pledge and now alumna member of Alpha Xi Delta (NPC). (I went to two different schools). Recruitment for both were very different.

In AXiD, at the time there were 3 other NPCs on campus, there were quotas, which also effected whether or not there were COB/other semester rush/recruitment (either not enough girls were extended/accepted bids, or pledges dropping out before initiation, or not making grades and having to pledge another semester). FYI pledges are now called "New Members". Each "house" or "chapter" on campus makes decisions based on their group's national standards for membership selection. This information is secret and only privy to initiated members. The campus Panhellenic helps set quotas (based on various reasons - some of which are not necessarily for public consumption, but others which might include a campus with houses that can only accept as many girls as there are empty beds for).

Because you are not gong to be NPC (at least now), you may not have to worry about quotas and limits. However, your campus may have regulations on class/member size, so that is something to make sure you find out. BUT you DO need to be able to scale every process/event/etc. to a bigger or smaller than originally thought candidate class. Example - If there are 16 members now and 60 interested women, think about how you would be able to handle if even only half of them wanted to become members. Each active would have 2 littles (if you have that program). But, the following year, you'd have 46 girls. Remember that even if 60 or 80 people are interested now, many will change their minds before/during recruitment and even on "bid" or "acceptance" day, and some may drop during pledging.

With GSS, there is a non-discrimination clause (though Members In Training must reach specific goals and policies to be initiated), and essentially, not a "quota", max or minimum number of class/chapter size (though particular chapters may prefer to keep the chapter a certain size). HOWEVER, there are differences in running a bigger vs smaller sized chapter (doubling up on positions, smaller projects, etc.). We were the only sorority on campus at that time, in additon to co-ed Alpha Phi Omega, another national service group (though the two do not have a formal relationship, on many campuses, they both exist).

My advice at this point is to work on your policies, practices, and procedures. Know your different "reasons to exist" - be it your motto, something in common, etc. This will help you attract girls from different backgrounds or interests, who might be successful members because they are in a similar field of study, agree with your standards (ex: academics, equality, diversity, service).

Many groups have secret handshakes to identify other members they don't know, knocks to enter meetings, etc. think about your symbols and possible pins or other memorabilia.

Come up with meeting procedures (I suggest following Robert's Rules of Order), how to operate a business meeting vs. an event planning meeting, elected positions, committees to support events and processes, a recruitment process (do you vote? what are the cut offs for GPA?), a BID DAY plan, a pledge process (do they learn your chapter's history? do service or hold community events? are they required to attend meetings?), ceremonies/rituals (Bid/induction, initiation, founders day).

Having a lot of this done before you have an official rush will help establish your legitimacy - that is, the things that many girls think of when they think "sorority".

[xxstardust]

Well, to be honest if we are a local sorority without a Greek life system on our campus, we wouldn't be allowed to give out bids. We can have a "rush week" of activities to see who's interested, but in order to be recognized, we must take absolutely everyone who wants to join.

Because of the way our club/organization system is set up (or, at the moment, NOT set up - it's in the process of being overhauled and rules are changing drastically in terms of what clubs can and can not do), we've been advised by the director of ResLife that we may be significantly better off to not go through the student activities approval process, to remain an unrecognized group of students who are interested in Greek life while those of us who are working to get Greek life approved get that process in order, and colonize a national group when that time comes. It's trickled down that the administrators may be more accepting of national groups because of the idea that there are more people watching over what we do, insurance, risk management, etc.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by xxstardust

Well, to be honest if we are a local sorority without a Greek life system on our campus, we wouldn't be allowed to give out bids. We can have a "rush week" of activities to see who's interested, but in order to be recognized, we must take absolutely everyone who wants to join.

Because of the way our club/organization system is set up (or, at the moment, NOT set up - it's in the process of being overhauled and rules are changing drastically in terms of what clubs can and can not do), we've been advised by the director of ResLife that we may be significantly better off to not go through the student activities approval process, to remain an unrecognized group of students who are interested in Greek life while those of us who are working to get Greek life approved get that process in order, and colonize a national group when that time comes. It's trickled down that the administrators may be more accepting of national groups because of the idea that there are more people watching over what we do, insurance, risk management, etc.

Just because you might have to accept every interested person, you CAN set up standards that New Members/Members in Training must adhere to, in order to be initiated. This can weed out people who aren't willing to do the work required to sustain the organization.

This can be learning creeds, history, passing a written test, maintaining GPA, performing study or service hours, attendence at meetings, etc. Just be careful that any requirements that exist support your reason for existing/motto or values/etc., and that they do not humiliate or draw unwanted attention to the pledges/new members/Members in training (ie. scavenger hunts, performing seductive dances for boys, having to interview actives - something that often creates an atmosphere of having to "earn" the interview/signature). For a better list of what might constitute hazing, a google search can come up with a list and examples and explanations as to how the activity is considered hazing or harmful mentally/emotionally/physically.

[CougarGrad]

I just wanted to wish you well! It sounds like you have some determined ladies who really want to make things happen!

[xxstardust]

Thank you Cougar!

So, an update. I had a hunch, having read through the paperwork for the NPC extension process works, that we might not be allowed to invite NPC groups to our Meet the Greeks fair. So I got in touch with the NPC extension chair to double check and she let me know that my hunch was correct! We can have Greek women come and talk about what it means to be Greek, about the Greek system in general, etc, but they can't give information about their own group or push their own group. Kind of like being a Rho Chi, I guess would be a good analogy?

However, she did say we could definitely have an NPC representative come to the fair ... which would be awesome if the date the other interest group didn't fall right smack dab in the middle of the NPC national convention! She did give me the name of a woman who lives right near my campus, has taken classes there, and is part of her organization's NPC delegation. She's also served as the Chairman of the College Panhellenics Committee for NPC, and as she's willing to help us in any way she can that's a HUGE benefit! She's out of town until Monday, so I'm going to be giving her a call to set up a meeting ASAP.

We're also meeting next week with the Dean of Judicial Affairs at the university down the road. Sarah (my partner in all this) is friends with his son, who is president of one of the fraternities at the school, so that's how we got in touch and in for a meeting so quickly. He's agreed to talk to us about the different types of issues that arise from Greek life, and advise us on ways they can be dealt with. He's also going to help us brainstorm questiosn about Greek life our own administrators could potentially have to deal with, so that we're preparded to answer them as accurately and eloquently as possible when we give our presentation (which will be an HOUR LONG we were just told, eeep!).

So the ball is still rolling, which makes me happy. I really think that we're determined enough to make this happen through sheer hard work, and the (unofficial) responses we've gotten from the admins so far have been positive. I'm staying optimistic!

[xxstardust]

Hey guys .. just an update to let you all know what's been going on. (It's more for me I guess .. it's kind of cool to have a record of this!)

We met with the Dean at the other university, and he was SO helpful. He talked to us about policies, statistically how often Greeks come across his desk as opposed to other students, how we could set up policies to keep Greek life on the up-and-up, etc. He was also so supportive and proud of what we're doing, and it was a real boost to see that support from someone who doesn't know me from Jack, you know? He even offered to come and speak at our meeting with our administration, both as someone knowledgeable of the policy side and as a parent of two Greeks, who's seen a benefit in his own children. So we're really happy with how that met.

We're FINALLY getting a meeting together with the reslife director, Sarah and myself, and the girl who is part of the other interest group on campus. I am trying my best to keep a smile on my face in that regard, but I'm really starting to get a nervous feeling in my stomach in terms of working with her. She's a really nice girl, but she doesn't seem to really be serious about this, and it worries me. We've been trying for two, almost three WEEKS to get a meeting together, all four of us, so we can touch base and really move forward if we're all presenting together. But she is ALWAYS too busy to meet! I understand being busy, I really do. I take more credits then the average courseload, I work on campus, and I'm on the executive board of two other campus organizations in addition to working on this project. Trust me, I know busy! Sarah's just as busy too - and she works TWO jobs, and has to commute to campus so getting here for meetings involves travel time. And yet we still manage to find time to meet and talk. It's even more irratating when I see this girl's facebook statuses about how she's going to have a great crazy weekend ... really? You can't take a half an hour out of your partying on the weekends to meet with us??

Ugh, sorry to vent, but I had to get that out. It really does make me nervous - it seems like Sarah and I are putting SO much work into this and I don't want someone who's underprepared or not as serious about it hurt our chances of the administration approving Greek life. We've even pushed back the meeting with the Deans because she's just too busy! And it's not fair. If we wait too long we'll miss the Board of Trustees meeting and then we'll have to wait an entire semester for this to even be discussed.

Anyway, we're meeting tonight and hopefully it's a productive meeting. Sarah and I have gotten a good deal of the presentation powerpoint done and are getting binders full of complimentary information (academic journal articles, surveys we've taken, info from NPC/NIC websites, etc) ready to give to the Deans for review one week before our presentation. We're so close to being ready to present and make our case to the adminstration, and get the ball rolling on this .. and I hate being held back by someone else who's not willing to do their share. If in the end of this, the administration tells us no, Greek life isn't an option, I'll be sad but I'll know I worked my absolute hardest and gave it every ounce of passion that I had, and I can't do anything more than that. If it doesn't happen because of someone else ... I'll be even unhappier.

If anyone's still reading, I'm sorry for the melancholy sort of tone of this post. It's just frustrating to work so hard and feel like someone's holding you back by the hem of your shirt. Regardless, I AM still excited about this and I AM still working hard to make this a reality. There are so many girls here interested in this .. all we have to do is open the door in the minds of the administration, and we can prove how much of a benefit we could be to the campus.

ETA: Is there any way I can change the name of the thread/the board where it's located, as the focus has shifted away from starting a local?

[xxstardust]

Let me be the first to eat my words. I was completely off base - she is JUST as devoted and passionate about this as we are, and I have no worries about working as a united front.

We have three meetings this week to finish our presentation and information binders. On the 12th, we're delivering the binders of information that accompany our presentation to the 3 deans we'll be presenting to, in order to give them a week's time to review the material and come up with any questions they have for us. Then we're having a practice for the presentation the 16th and a formal dress rehearsal that we're going to invite parents, some faculty, and the Dean from the other school to, so that they can critique us and make sure that we are as prepared as humanly possible. Then we presenting during the week of the 19th!