Bitchy post,sorry

[alphaiota]

as sad as it may seem, i totally understand what alphasiglana is saying. that was how my sorority was branded on my campus. a lot of the girls in my chapter felt the exact same way. some of them did chose to leave, but that just made the numbers issue that much worse. we were called the sigma kows point blank by other members of the greek system. so i totally understand where you're coming from. having a couple of make over nights or whatever isn't going to do it. in my case we basically ended up being the outcasts and were eventually pushed off campus.
as for the whole new members thing, i agree with pbear. my own little said the same thing, that if we make our new members feel like they are just numbers and not really sisters then we have completely defeated out purpose of being a sisterhood.
regardless of how you feel about the new members looks or whatever, you need to make them feel welcome and wanted. otherwise you will have even more of a numbers problem on your hands when they chose to leave.

shelley j
sigma k

[phisigsigchic]

I totally feel what your saying girl. I mean my sorority is the same way. Like I think we are too quick to let everyone through out door. And you do have to somewhat selective and I don't mean you have to recruit drop dead gorgeous girls but QUALITY girls who are involved in the school and community, are smart and have good GPA's and show qualities of leadership and seem dedicated to upholdiong your sororities's standards. And sometimes it feels like people let themselves go not only with their looks but their grades and the way they conduct themselves. Its like they don't care what people think about them and while its true to a certain extent you shouldn't care too much, you are not only representing yourself, but your are representing your whole organization. Trust me I am going through the same thing right now.

[OPAGal]

I totally agree with phisigsigchic. My sorority had let itself go over the years, and even gained the reputation as the alcholic sorority. Over the past few years though our sorority has turned around. I'm not saying that I'm not proud of my alumni because they all turned out to be excellent girls in the end, but I'm even prouder of the girls I call my sisters today. It has been a never ending project though to regain and keep our excellent repuation we have today. Also as far as anything Shine has to say. How can anyone give out sisterhood advise when she walked away from her own sorority. Everyone please practice what you preach.

[alphaiota]

i have to say i agree with opagal on that one shine.

shelley j
sigma k

[texas*princess]

wow I'm not feeling the Greek love

Firstly, I think it was kinda rude to bash Shine (or anyone) like that. No one knows why she decided to leave her sorority, and rightly so, that is her business and is not obligated to tell everyone what might have happened to cause her to make a decision. And her sisters even made her feel terrible about it.

Secondly, I think it's kind of sad that other members of the greek community outcast GLO's because they are "alcoholics" or "fat" or whatever. I have read SO many posts on this board that show how much Greek love there is in the world, and how all greek systems should stick together. And they should. Many schools have terrible anti-greek sentiments and so they need to stick together to help the system survive. I think maybe sometimes under some circumstances, GLO's forget why their organizations were founded. Some just focus way too much on having numbers, or having the most beautiful members, or being the most popular on campus.

[alphaiota]

well, it's not always a matter of the schools having an anti greek sentiment. my school is about 75% - 85% greek and no i'm not exaggerating. we have 5 alpha chapters (beta theta pi, delta zeta, phi kappa tau, phi delta theta, and sigma chi)and we currently boast approximately 26 fraternities (all NIC) and 18 sororities (all NPC). each sorority claims anywhere from 60-150 members each. also we are supposed to be the model/leading greek system for all other's to go by. now i don't mean to sound pompus or anything, but those are the facts. either way we are ultra greek, yet this is still happening. we have problems of fraternities and sororities simply not making the grade and essentially being pushed off campus b/c they can't keep up with the "big dawgs" per say. like i mentioned earlier, my chapter was a perfect example. so were two others that have gone off campus. once your numbers get below about 60, you are considered weak and not worth keeping up as far as most are concerned.
i'm sorry to rant, but this is a very valid concern for a lot of people. sorry if i don't seem very lovey dovey for the greek system at times, but i was very burned when i was an undergrad.

shelley j
sigma k

[texas*princess]

alphaiota,
in my previous post, one of the main points was just sticking together as a greek system.. whether or not there was an anti-greek sentiment on campus. why alienate a chapter? maybe i just don't understand beacuse i'm from a small school, and even though the school i attend is bigger, i have seen the social GLO's on this campus, and they stick together no matter what.

[Shark_in_Skirt]

Shine SAID:
Why would you WANT the freshman girls that come to rush only to be in a superficial popular group? Don't you want women of better stock than that that come to rush to find a true sisterhood, not just a social life?

I agree with Shine, although I'd like to clarify that I don't think that the girls who are considered more attractive by society should also be condemned by that same society to the lackluster virtues of shallowness and superficiality (of course, I understand Shine would never and did not ever imply this).

I hope that all of these girls found the best home for themselves.

XOXO,
Annie.

[Shine]

[Shark_in_Skirt]

Editted:



XOXO,
Annie.

[Shine]

Originally posted by OPAGal
Also as far as anything Shine has to say. How can anyone give out sisterhood advise when she walked away from her own sorority. Everyone please practice what you preach.

All I am going to say to you in the public forums is this:

You don't know why I left OPA. It was hardly "walking away".

The things I was stating to Lana are nothing but common sense. Anyone that has been through life knows these things. It was almost like she was saying. "I'm depressed because my friends are not cool enough. All the cool people hang out with other cool people because my friends are fat bitches and don't dress well." That's something any person can understand, greek or not.

I do know very well what sisterhood means. Not only do I have a real sister that I cherish, but I am still close with many women from OPA.

Best of luck to your chapter of OPA. I hear you do some wonderful things down there.

Note: If I am wrong, Lana, please correct me. Because that is how you came off in your first post, at least to me.

[Shark_in_Skirt]

Also as far as anything Shine has to say. How can anyone give out sisterhood advise when she walked away from her own sorority. Everyone please practice what you preach.

Wow, way to make random judgements without knowing any of the facts!

We have no idea why Shine decided to leave her sorority, so let's just give her the benefit of a doubt that she did indeed do the RIGHT THING for the RIGHT REASONS.

XOXO,
Annie.

[33girl]

I have no idea what it's like to be in a Greek system as big as Miami's, but considering one of the fraternity brothers on here from Miami didn't even know ASA was an NPC group on his campus, I would wager it is a heck of a lot different than a campus w/ under 10 of each.

I think what Lana is trying to say has gotten twisted, but let me tell you that when you are under constant pressure to increase numbers it doesn't give you a shiny happy feeling overall.

Shine, I don't know why you left OPA, that's your business and you did what you felt was best. But on the other hand, you can't be completely shocked when someone questions your fitness to offer an opinion. With what you have given us, it could look to some like you just walked away and are saying to Lana "well if you think it sucks, just quit like I did." I AM NOT saying that's the situation, but remember all we have to go on are a couple of posts.

[sassykd]

Lana,

I come from a small school with only 4 NPCs. This means that reputations can take over a house and haunt them for years. It is up to the chapter to make the decision that they want to improve. I don't know about the practices of your GLO, but I assume that there is some sort of national program that is geared towards membership improvement and recruitment. How to find, keep and make better "GLO" ladies. Contact your HQ and request a consultant come spend a weekend with the chapter and really work on improving the chapter from the inside.

I understand what you are saying about appearances. It doesn't seem to me that you are saying that you want the house with the "perfect" and gorgeous girls necessarily, but a house full of sisters who take pride in themselves and their GLO. On my campus, it was an unwritten law that you don't wear your letters or pin unless you are presentable- hair combed, teeth brushed, no sweats, etc. You can't sell your organization if others do not percieve you as taking pride in it.

Hope those ideas help

Melissa

[alphaiota]

shine, i want to apologize for saying you didn't have a place to talk about sisterhood. i was wrong. i guess i spoke before i thought.
33girl - asa is no longer at miami's campus which could be a reason that guy doesn't know who they are. they went dormant almost 2 years ago now, dec. my chapter followed in may of 2001.
in miami's ultra greek system it doesn't surprise me that some frats don't know certain sororities and vice verse b/c of size factors. if you didn't have over 60 members or so (for a sorority) you didn't get invited to party with almost any of the frats. do you think my chapter ever partied with one of the alpha's? hell no, they were too big and bad for us.
i guess what i'm trying to say is being frustrated about numbers is typical and believe it or not can put so much stress on someone that they have to make the choice to either push through or get out. by the time we closed our chapter at miami, most of my sisters had some sort of stress induces illness from mono to depression. so i know it can seriously effect your personal well being.

shelley j
sigma k