Ok, question, and it's kind of related...
Are there policies stating BGLOs can't do intake every semester???
A lot of times people see Asian Greeks are are like "they have so many numbers, so they must do things the same way as White Greeks" which is a myth. We do intake almost every semester. By doing this, it keeps the lines down and ensures a tighter class.
Now, I know there are a lot of rules governing NPHC orgs, but I feel like, especially at non-HBCUs intake every semester would help for a few reasons:
1) You are always thinking about potential new members because you will be having a class that semester
2) You have to prepare every semester for events, GIMs, etc.
3) It keeps smaller lines
4) It creates a culture of always striving
5) You are less likely to die out
6) Current members will always want to be involved because there is a new class
I know some Nationals (I think) and specific chapters have only Spring intake and possibly only Fall intake (not sure on this though).
Drawbacks of every semester intake:
1) You get mad tired
2) It's time consuming
One thing I see at my campus, which has very few minorities in general is that all Multicultural Greek Orgs struggle for membership. Grant it, we are a city chapter, but we have only 19 people in our NPHC orgs (NPHC is breaking off from MGC and forming it's own council, much to my chagrin
). There are roughly 500 black students at GW, and only one of them is in a NPHC Fraternity.
The thing is, at an institution like GW, a lot of the black people don't know much about NPHC orgs. Many have no family members who were greek. So, the name recognition isn't there as much. Yes, we do get moms who come to the Freshman Orientation Org Fair and make their daughters only sign on one info list (
), but this isn't common.
Every university has a different culture. I personally feel that a rush of some sorts would be more effective at a campus like GW.
We do a rush every semester. One or two weeks of events, in addition to previous semesters of getting to know the people and making sure they meet our requirements. Regardless of whether or not people decide to go through with intake, our name is still out there on flyers and on our websites. We hand them out at Asian student organizations general body meetings, we do mentorship programs, etc.
Yes, I know there are rules governing NPHC orgs about rush and some Latino greeks too, but it really bothers me when the numbers are so few. I mean, you can't live your ideals out if you don't have anyone to live them out. Publicity is so important to an organizations success, and the culture of an HBCU vs. a PWI is vastly different. Add on to that the city aspect, and you get a fractured black community.
I guess what I am trying to say through all this rambling that if a rule is too inflexible, some chapters will suffer because of their university culture. Nothing makes me sadder than seeing a chapter die out.
Grant it, no one knows about Asian Greeks (Kimbrough didn't even discuss them really in Black Greek 101 when he did discuss Latino Greeks), so our organizations have a culture now that publicity is so important to success and that we have to show people we are there or else people won't notice. I feel like all minority greeks have to do that at PWIs in order to really succeed.
Ok, done.
-Nate
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