Pitt asks NPHC groups to expand

[Lady Pi Phi]

Thankyou for clearing that up for me.

Another question. Wouldn't your HQ help out a chapter should the chapter not be able to send the president to national convention ( to use your example)?

[Rudey]

Originally posted by MeezDiscreet


oh, we do!! and the upfront money to join is VERY costly!! the university doesn't assist with intake fees at all!!! but consider the fees of the student that has only enough time to go to class and work for their sorority. what happens to their fees when their chapter president needs to go to a national convention or face chapter suspension or fines and the chapter can't afford to send them? this is just a VERY realistic example i'm using to convey my point.



well of course, and i'm sure that the black greeks at pitt are waiting for the opportunity to tell the school officials!! i wonder if they were even asked...

and i just want to add that our membership selection process isn't 100% secretive. our national website even address membership intake and selection.

I'd like to see GLOs be as separate an entity from the schools as possible for risk management issues. I also know that many GLOs pay for chapter representatives to come to a convention. If the school is paying, I guess, then perhaps all GLOs should try and get their free money as well.

What else do schools cover for GLOs? My school didn't so I'm wondering. Do other fraternities and sororities get their social events paid for??

-Rudey

[kddani]

The money given to them is to fund the governance groups, NOT the individual groups.

[MeezDiscreet]

Originally posted by Rudey
What else do schools cover for GLOs? My school didn't so I'm wondering. Do other fraternities and sororities get their social events paid for??

-Rudey

the university would fund (not 100%) conferences and conventions, events (big annual events like fashion shows, pageants, tournaments and step shows), and catered affairs (like the annual women's prayer breakfast that my undergrad chapter holds). they would also give us supplies like banner paper and let us use copiers and computers.

but all of this isn't just given away freely. requirements have to be met. orgs have to submit applications, requests, budgets, etc., and go before the academic funding board and the student programming board, both of which have to go before the student fee advisory committee (which i was a member of) to get funding so that they could fund events. it's a very rigorous process and funding was never guaranteed.

[MeezDiscreet]

Originally posted by kddani
The money given to them is to fund the governance groups, NOT the individual groups.

you must mean at pitt because it wasn't/isn't like that at the univ. of houston.

[kddani]

yes, i meant at Pitt. Sorry, should've been more specific.

[MeezDiscreet]

[font=papyrus]

Originally posted by Lady Pi Phi
Thankyou for clearing that up for me.

Another question. Wouldn't your HQ help out a chapter should the chapter not be able to send the president to national convention ( to use your example)?

all chapters are expected to fund delegates for mandatory conventions and conferences. i will say that there is a difference between collegiate and alumnae costs, but all chapters must send the delegates.

[DELTABRAT]

This chaps my hide.

I also attended a PWI and pre-Proposition 209, also known as the ban on affirmative action, I came from what would be considered a large chapter (for a PWI). There were 15 on the line before mine, 18 on my line, 23 on the line after mine, then 10 on the line after. AT any one time, there were 30 Sorors runnin' the campus (and I mean that). There was also a high representation of the other NPHC orgs, of which every one was represented (except for the Bruhs, of which there were consistently like, 4).

Now, my undergrad chapter just had a line come through of 4, the line before that was 6, the line before that 5. There are only 2 members of the chapter that have to do everything. All POST prop 209. For the next school year, the University admitted 175 Black people...INCLUDING ATHLETES!!!

I'm real nervous about what that means for not only the NPHC orgs, but for the state of the Black Union altogether. We are organizations that do major community and public service. Other campus orgs also do (I mean like Afrcian Education or Black Hypertension). With 175 Black folks, all of which will not be involved in community orgs, Sororities and Frats, etc., it looks real bleek. Headquarters already requires certain numbers for Intake to even be possible. If this university made it so that NPHC orgs could not get funding from campus resources, reserve rooms, or anything, we'd be screwed.

I just wish that people would try and understand the difference between the groups and the ways in which low enrollment of Black folks in the first place, affects NPHC orgs ability to have high membership.

I'm sad.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by Intense1920
Also to add, without campus recognition there is no intake at that school on the undergrad level.

I think I need this to be clarified...so you're saying that if a group is not recognized on campus, they should not be pledging students from that campus?

Also, I think this is related. If some of y'all in the NPHC constantly preach that you are no more blacks-only than the NIC/NPC is whites-only, why does the number of black students on campus matter? I attend a school that review.com says is only 5% minority, but due to our size, that's 500 Af-Am students, and I'm fairly sure that there are more and PR's figures are off. Despite that, I think the largest NPHC chapter I've seen here is 4 people, and none of them have a non Af-Am member. Why is this?

[DELTABRAT]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin


Also, I think this is related. If some of y'all in the NPHC constantly preach that you are no more blacks-only than the NIC/NPC is whites-only, why does the number of black students on campus matter? I attend a school that review.com says is only 5% minority, but due to our size, that's 500 Af-Am students, and I'm fairly sure that there are more and PR's figures are off. Despite that, I think the largest NPHC chapter I've seen here is 4 people, and none of them have a non Af-Am member. Why is this?

While I think you know the answer to your own question, I will attempt to answer.

While NPHC orgs are not "blacks-only" it is a common fact that the majority of our members are African American. Why? Because of the foundation of the 9 orgs that represent the NPHC, the histories, the missions, etc. Remember, as I said in my post, the NPHC orgs make service to the community the NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. We are not social organizations. If that were the case then perhaps the "come on come all" attitude would prevail. While we are not discriminatory, we do attract potentials that have a personal mission to do community service primarily in the Black community or in low-income communities or communities that don't have a "voice."

Therefore, it matters a great deal the number of Blacks on a campus. Is it not ironic that NPC and IFC orgs don't have the same push to increase numbers on the PWIs as NPHC orgs? No. Why? because there are a majority of people to represent the predominant group of people representative in those orgs.

IF (let's use our imaginations here) Tri Delts (as an example) tried to establish something on say Howard's campus, I can assure you that they'd have a time trying to get huge membership on that campus.

Also,since we don't recruit it matters that there aren't huge numbers of Black folks on campus because Black folks tend to be the people interested in membership.

[abaici]

This upsets me. The administration made no attempt to understand NPHC organizations.

@GP Yes, our organizations do not discriminate. However, we tend to appeal to African-Americans moreso than other groups. It's a matter of why and where we were founded.

[Intense1920]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
I think I need this to be clarified...so you're saying that if a group is not recognized on campus, they should not be pledging students from that campus?

Ok, let's see if this helps. Let's say that at Broadway College there was ABC chapter, an undergrad chapter, of XYZ Sorority. If Broadyway College pulls the recoginition then ABC chapter can not initiate new members. With Zeta it could be possible for undergraduate women to become members but they would be associate members of a GRADUATE chapter. This does not always happen though. Most of the time they just have to wait until after they graduate to become members.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by Intense1920
Ok, let's see if this helps. Let's say that at Broadway College there was ABC chapter, an undergrad chapter, of XYZ Sorority. If Broadyway College pulls the recoginition then ABC chapter can not initiate new members. With Zeta it could be possible for undergraduate women to become members but they would be associate members of a GRADUATE chapter. This does not always happen though. Most of the time they just have to wait until after they graduate to become members.

Okay, that does help - because I know some people here are members of a citywide chapter rather than one at the school. Thank you!

[Intense1920]

City-wide is a whole different ball game. I've never been in a city-wide chapter so my knowledge is limited. Most city-wide chapters don't have enough participation on any single campus to hold a charter individually. Or groups of schools won't allow GLOs on campus. If the charter references specific schools and one of those schools pulls recognition then the members can't hold events on campus.

[SigEp42]

Hey I just finished reading the article and I have a few things to say I’m going to try to stay factual but I don’t think it will work.

#1 reason Bernie Harrigan is a moron.

At Pitt, fraternities and sororities receive their recognition from their governing body (IFC, Panhel, and NPHC) not from the university; they are in fact the only true “umbrella organizations” at Pitt. The university allows the governance groups to make the calls as to who is recognized. It is the governance group that decides on standards. This is why individual chapters can not request funds. They are not recognized through student life, but through IFC/PH/NPHC. The university can only take recognition away from a chapter when they break the student code of conduct. By mandating a set number of members the NPHC chapters must have, the administration is in effect taking decision making away from students and governance groups—it’s their favorite past time.

#2 Reason why Bernie Harrigan is a moron

This is the second time in a year and a half that she has tried to make a sweeping change to Greek Life at Pitt while we have not had an advisor. The first time was a few weeks after Sharon left; it was called the Greek review and was again done under the banner of helping chapters to shine through. I believe two fraternities were put on suspension directly after the review, and the reasons were never made public. No fraternity, sorority or governing council was aloud to see the review. The entire review was completed by Harrigan (who has no sense of Greek Life) and the ex chief of police who knew nothing about the inner workings of fraternities and sororities. Students are smart enough to realize that she is trying to pull something that shouldn’t happen.

#3 reason why Bernie is a moron

She doesn’t do research into how things work. I had a few friends who were rushing different NPHC chapters and I know how involved and hard it is on both sides of the decision. It takes a lot to be chosen $, time, experience, ect. It is a very involved process. For as active as our Black Action Society (BAS) is the numbers of involved NPHC students is low. Why? Some say its money, some say it’s the selective nature of the groups, others say its because of the atmosphere at Pitt. What ever the reason simply telling a group of people to change over night will not happen. More so telling a national student organization, like NPHC groups, that what they are doing is not working even though they are thriving everywhere else is a dumb move. Obviously it’s not their policies that are at fault.

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Now some clarifications about Pitt.

NPHC will most likely not lose its governance status. They have about 50 members from all the groups put together. That puts them well above the 10 members needed.

As for funding; they receive the second lowest amount of funding any governance group receives, mostly due to their size. They can put on programs for 50 people at a fraction of the cost it takes IFC/Panhel. The amount they recieve is larger than most student groups.

Of course everyone wants them to grow and succeed but that has to be a choice of the chapter or a product of circumstance, not something the administration is forcing down their throats.

The only perks the governance groups get are (If I remember correctly):

1. No funding cap for programs. (Usually $2,000)

2. They can request money to send more than one delegate to a convention (usually it’s caped at cost for one delegate or $600) the convention must be related to the group as a whole NPHC convention in this case.

3. They receive a liaison to the Student Government Board. It is one of the eight board members.

4. The usually claim to represent a large number of students from a variety of clubs and they receive information on many of the “big decisions” in student life.

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In closing I think the bigger issue that not only this article but the previous ones touched on is the current administrations lack of knowledge in student affairs. They do not have a background in student life. Our residence life director is the old chief of police. Students at Pitt are losing their voice and their choice in how to run their organizations. Of our student activity fee students are only capable of spending about half of it. The rest is distributed to different people and departments.

For further reading here is an opinion piece on the article. http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/displa.../405fc85527508

My views on the administration are fairly clear through my posts here. I tried to stay as close to the facts as I could stomach, but as you read it didn’t work. I hope that I gave you more information that you had before reading this post. I would just like to say its hard to stay calm and silent when each week the administration is making decisions that affect you while refusing to meet with you.

I am trying to stay optimistic. I try to think that the administration believes they are doing the right thing and simply is not doing their homework. My optimism fades every time Harrigan speaks.