How is deactivating viewed on your campus?

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

On our campus some chapters retain better than others, but in general there's little stigma attached to a girl who de-pledged or quit because of financial reasons, extreme personal circumstances, or some sort of emergency. I don't ignore anyone who voluntarily dropped out of any chapter here, but personally I'm in general a little less close to the ones that quit because they didn't give it a chance. To me that makes me wary of them and their dependability. The only people I can think of that have a stigma from many Greeks in general are a small group of girls who were either kicked out or asked to leave. That, though, was extenuating circumstances. And of course, it's a bigger deal when an initiated sister quits than a new member. 9 times out of 10, though, they have a good reason. New members sometimes drop because of financial...and sometimes because they think they made a mistake. Personally, that doesn't bother me much, seeing as how they have four days of recruitment plus limited contact for two weeks before that to make a lifetime commitment. It's understandable if they decide sororities aren't for them during their new member period. Most of our chapters still have good retention rates, though, on new members.

The ones that irritate me the most are the ones that CHOOSE to leave and then continue to wear letters, keep letters on their cars, and refer to themselves as a member of XYZ.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

One of my friends in another fraternity told me that they had a huge problem with this. Members of their chapter would activate and de-activate monthly, depending on their finances. Literally, they would say: "I can't afford dues this month, I'm going inactive. I'll go active again next month."

Our chapter made a rule: If you are going inactive, it's for the whole semester. But, unless you drop out of school, you still owe us the dues for the entire semester. Do you need a payment plan?

Wow, that's not right...membership shouldn't be a semester-to-semester thing. Gamma Phi Beta doesn't have an "inactive" status - all members must be active members. Some girls in my chapter would try to "go inactive" every once in a while and then have to be told, "Sorry, there is no 'inactive,' only active or resigned membership." When forced with that scenario, most chose to stay active rather than completely resign membership, especially seniors who seemed to think they could disappear their last year and get away with it.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Wow, that's not right...membership shouldn't be a semester-to-semester thing.

I agree. Tri Sigma does have an inactive status, but you have to request it through HQ and it is only granted one semester. If you need it for additional semesters, you have to re-apply and you can only be inactive for a total of one year. Girls in my chapter usually request it when they want to study abroad or are doing an internship or student teaching. Once your year is up, you either return to being active, take 5th yr alumna status (if eligible) or terminate. There are no other options.

It helps because girls can't just say "I'm too busy this semester, I'm going inactive" since it's something that needs to be requested in advance and you need to have a valid reason (medical, academic, severe financial hardship etc).

We also have 5th year alumna status, but you of course have to be a 5th year student. That's also totally different from going inactive since you will no longer be a collegian. That also needs to be applied for in advance. Some girls come to school for 5th yr, decide they don't want to be active anymore, and want to go alumna status, but end up VERY MAD when they realize that in order to go 5th yr alumna, you needed to submit the form before September.

[aephi alum]

Deactivating wasn't uncommon at my school. In my freshman year, one sorority took quota in FR, but only half of the class was still active by the end of our senior year. Whether your sisters were friendly or unfriendly to you after deactivation kind of depended on why you deactivated... deactivating for financial reasons = ok, getting terminated for risk management reasons = not ok.

You could also (at least in my chapter) temporarily go inactive for a legitimate reason. One of my pledge sisters went inactive to do a semester abroad; another sister went inactive for a semester because she had major medical problems (she didn't take the semester off school, but she dropped all her extracurricular activities). Those situations were no big deal.

[Leslie Anne]

Kappa Delta works pretty similarly to Tri Sigma, from what KSUViolet posted. Sisters can request inactive status for medical or financial reasons (with documentation) for a semester or two at most, if I remember correctly.

When I was a collegian it was a HUGE deal to resign membership at my campus. It just wasn't done unless there were extreme circumstances. Depledging happened but that really wasn't seen as a big deal at all and didn't carry much of a stigma if the girl went through Rush again.

Back to what Honey said about the new, shorter new member periods, I remember talking to Kappa Delta's National President about this a few years back. She said that since the shortened periods resignations had gone up something crazy like 700% across the board Panhellenically. (one of the reasons the shortened time-frame irritates me.)

Whether it was the shortened period, just a different campus culture or the fact that this was nearly 18 years after I was a collegian I don't know. But when I worked with another KD chapter at a different campus resignations were rampant. I'd say about 20 a year. The girls thought nothing of it. I was baffled....and annoyed.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Wow, that's not right...membership shouldn't be a semester-to-semester thing. Gamma Phi Beta doesn't have an "inactive" status - all members must be active members. Some girls in my chapter would try to "go inactive" every once in a while and then have to be told, "Sorry, there is no 'inactive,' only active or resigned membership." When forced with that scenario, most chose to stay active rather than completely resign membership, especially seniors who seemed to think they could disappear their last year and get away with it.

Wow indeed!

With all due respect, why should your or any other GLO policies be applicable to others GLOs? If it works for Sigma Chi Fraternity - and works well I might add - who are you to question it?

For what it is worth, Sigma Chi Fraternity believes that membership is for life. As such, we don't believe in terminating a membership "right off the bat" simply because someone may not be able to pay their dues for a semester.

[als463]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Kappa Delta works pretty similarly to Tri Sigma, from what KSUViolet posted. Sisters can request inactive status for medical or financial reasons (with documentation) for a semester or two at most, if I remember correctly.

When I was a collegian it was a HUGE deal to resign membership at my campus. It just wasn't done unless there were extreme circumstances. Depledging happened but that really wasn't seen as a big deal at all and didn't carry much of a stigma if the girl went through Rush again.

Back to what Honey said about the new, shorter new member periods, I remember talking to Kappa Delta's National President about this a few years back. She said that since the shortened periods resignations had gone up something crazy like 700% across the board Panhellenically. (one of the reasons the shortened time-frame irritates me.)

Whether it was the shortened period, just a different campus culture or the fact that this was nearly 18 years after I was a collegian I don't know. But when I worked with another KD chapter at a different campus resignations were rampant. I'd say about 20 a year. The girls thought nothing of it. I was baffled....and annoyed.

I agree with KSUViolet and Leslie Anne. In Phi Mu we are able to take inactive status for sisters going abroad or if they have medical problems. I'd be willing to bet that both Tri-Sig and Kappa Delta work the same in that they have to be voted on. For instance, before we had a sister go abroad to London the one year she had to send in a sheet and have it signed off by Nationals and then voted on. If she waited too long to send in that paper-then oh well on her....When you go inactive for that semester you don't have to pay dues. I can understand this because if you are abroad in another country you aren't exactly participating in recruitment, formals, socials, etc. That I understand. Girls that just want to drop membership and regain it every other semester would not fly with pretty much ANY PHC org. I would assume. I also agree with Leslie Anne that it's frustrating when girls drop or depledge. I remember a girl I was friends with dropped a PHC org. and the girls of that Org. harrassed her continuously because then she joined a local service sorority and just ditched them. Was harrassment the right thing to do-No, however, I can see how those girls were hurt and it upset them. It wasn't my sorority, however, I can honestly say when a girl dropped my chapter after either pledging or initiating-I stopped talking to them (not harrass them). It was a tough pill to swallow that these girls had no respect for the organization I love so much. There were certain orgs. on campus that each semester they would lose ALOT of pledges or new initiates. I feel for them because personally I think that sucks! Can't we go back to longer pledge periods???

[RaggedyAnn]

We had two categories on my campus-inactive and terminated.

Sisters who went inactive went on alumnae status with their Nationals. They were still sisters, but had no vote. They were invited to Formal and Homecoming and other events that alum were traditionally invited to. They wore their letters and still were on their chapters lists at fraternity parties, etc. This was pretty common on my campus. Usually this involved sisters in their senior year and the reasons for it varied.

Terminated sisters were just that. They were no longer part of the sorority and had their pictures blacked out on composites. Generally these sisters were terminated by the chapter for disciplinary action, such as hazing or nonpayment of dues.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Back to what Honey said about the new, shorter new member periods, I remember talking to Kappa Delta's National President about this a few years back. She said that since the shortened periods resignations had gone up something crazy like 700% across the board Panhellenically. (one of the reasons the shortened time-frame irritates me.)

Whether it was the shortened period, just a different campus culture or the fact that this was nearly 18 years after I was a collegian I don't know. But when I worked with another KD chapter at a different campus resignations were rampant. I'd say about 20 a year. The girls thought nothing of it. I was baffled....and annoyed.

Wow! I had no idea that the resignation rate was 700%!!! That little factoid is going into my arsenal of "Why I Don't Think That The Shortened New Member Period Works"!! I really appreciate having that in my arsenal!

FWIW, I made a donation to our Clasped Hands Fund recently, and got a very nice handwritten thank you with the form receipt. I was baffled by how effusive the thanks was - IMHO, Alpha Delta Pi has done so much for me, shame on me if I don't give back!

ETA: We also allow inactive status for medical or reasons similar to that of Kappa Delta & Phi Mu. We also allow Fifth Year Seniors to take alulmnae status. New Members can drop without too much stigma.

[adpiucf]

When I was in school, the sorority chapters were fairly large. People who voluntarily cancelled their membership or who were kicked out often had already burned their bridges and/or cut ties with the organization at the time of cancellation. They retained the friends they wished. No one went out of their way to hate the person or to strike up friendship anymore than would be normal.

For members who went financially inactive for the school year, it was the same.

If you quit your sorority, chances are you weren't terribly involved in the first place and you quit because you weren't getting anything out of it. I can't imagine you'd be missed too much because no one knew you or you dropped off the radar.


We called it membership cancellation if you were no longer a member, and inactivity if you were temporarily on financial leave due to emergency or study abroad. The inactive members were still members, but not entitled to partake in membership activities for the remainder of the school year. Deactivation sounds like something you can flip on and off at will. Membership cancellation is permanent.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Wow! I had no idea that the resignation rate was 700%!!! That little factoid is going into my arsenal of "Why I Don't Think That The Shortened New Member Period Works"!! I really appreciate having that in my arsenal!

For real - that blows my mind. I'm not sure it's all due to shortened NM periods, but I think it's definitely a factor, especially in larger chapters.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

Terminated sisters were just that. They were no longer part of the sorority and had their pictures blacked out on composites.

Wow, really? Now THAT is final! Come to think of it, there were a couple of sisters that left our chapter back in my day whose pictures I would have liked to take a black sharpie to...

[Low C Sharp]

At a couple of the campuses I know best, there is actually a stigma attached to STAYING with a sorority after sophomore year. At one, the sororities would take pledge classes of 50+ freshmen each year, but they might only graduate 8 seniors. Rush is a huge deal for freshmen, but it's like you must be a loser if you're still relying on your sorority as an upperclassman. The attitude was, don't you have anything better to do? You're dressing up to go to a MIXER? To a large extent, this applied to the "cool" sororities too.

This didn't apply to fraternities; it was considered legit for guys to be living in the house as seniors, etc.
________
NIGHTDREAMS

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

At a couple of the campuses I know best, there is actually a stigma attached to STAYING with a sorority after sophomore year. At one, the sororities would take pledge classes of 50+ freshmen each year, but they might only graduate 8 seniors. Rush is a huge deal for freshmen, but it's like you must be a loser if you're still relying on your sorority as an upperclassman. The attitude was, don't you have anything better to do? You're dressing up to go to a MIXER? To a large extent, this applied to the "cool" sororities too.

This didn't apply to fraternities; it was considered legit for guys to be living in the house as seniors, etc.

That is really sad. Some people have the misconception that your sorority is not for life, but just for the four years you're in college... now some folks are cutting that down to two? Your initiation oath kind of rings hollow if you plan on deaffiliating in less than two years.

[TriDPrincess]

From what I see deactivation at our school is uncommon for initiated members. New members are a different story I personally know of four who dropped out.