Gamma Chi Membership Requirements....PAY ATTENTION!

[FuzzieAlum]

"When I said that we should spend time on our own chapters, I certainly would not mean stepping down from Panhellenic or IFC or not participating in the Greek Communities on your campuses. What I meant is people are spending an awful lot of time on something that in reality isn't all that real."

(sorry, quoting isn't working for me for some reason.)

I think you're right, in that GX isn't anything - yet. There have been a lot of orgs started in this world that didn't go anywhere and faded away, and at its inception, no organization is real. But I think that most of the people involved in GX are hoping to make something permanent and valuable of it. I think it's maybe not quite fair to criticize for not being big and powerful yet: If in ten years people are still futzing around about crests, that will be different.

Still, I think there is a danger in that we're spending more time worrying about crests and conventions than what Gamma Chi is truly about. It isn't meant to be a general Greek letter fraternity, and it isn't an honor society, and it isn't an interfraternal organization. What do we hope to accomplish and how? I can see how the focus on the externals has turned a lot of people off.

...

However, I do believe that there is nothing wrong whatsoever with Greek Chat being our forum and platform. I don't hear anyone arguing that the threads on hair, why boys/girls suck, what kind of purses we like, or anything else not specfically Greek are out of place, and they are even less directly related to Greek life. Now perhaps GX should have its own category on the site, but some folks are working on that, and suggesting it again won't make it happen any faster.

P.S. I hope I didn't offend anyone by picking Tri-Sigma as an example. I wanted to illustrate how much it hurts people to see their org insulted, and didn't think that making up Mu Phi Mu Chi would have the same effect. I don't personally know any Tri-Sigmas but what I know about their organization has impressed me very much.

[navane]

Hi there!


I can completely understand and respect those who disagree with Gamma Chi. I can understand and respect that some people don't understand what Gamma Chi's purpose is, don't feel that it's a place for them etc. And you know what? That's OK! Really! It would be foolish to think that everyone is going to like everything.

However, when a couple of people posted that they thought Gamma Chi was stupid, I didn't think that was very nice. For example, when AXWoah said that Gamma Chi was, "...the supidest thing ever", that hurt my feelings. Believe me, I agree that people can have the right to an opinion, and I am more than glad to hear out reasonable discussions. But, as someone else pointed out earlier, it's just not nice to name an organization and effectively say, "you suck."

If I went onto the Greek Life forum and posted a message like, "I visited suchandsuch university today and boy, let me tell ya, XYZ sorority is the lamest chapter I ever saw!" there would be an uproar about it. Yet, some think its ok to say something like that about Gamma Chi.

Respectfully, a more appropriate post would have been something like "I just can't see myself signing up for something like Gamma Chi. I feel that it takes away from my GLO...it doesn't have a strong mission etc." A couple people did that and I appreciate that very much. Thank you. However, a few people said things that I thought were mean. Does everyone understand what I am trying to say here?

Also, I do not agree with the people who have been saying that Gamma Chi is not a "real" organization. That's an unfair thing to say. How does an organization become "real"? Is it by your standards? Is it only "real" when a trademark is filed with the US government? In that case, many of the locals on Greek Chat would not be allowed to discuss their organizations here either. Gamma Chi is very real.

As for the whole argument that crests, rituals and stuff should be ignored. I both agree and disagree. Things like that are fun to have and important too. However, it shouldn't have been a top priority. Setting a mission and writing a constitution should have been a top priority. But, as I've mentioned before, everyone wanted to help out so badly that we created the various committees to help people get involved. Just as I predicted, too many cooks spoiled the broth. Now, that's not saying that these people were foolish for wanting to have that committee, but that many people did their own thing without communicating it to the rest of the group. In case no one noticed, I did try my best to get things organized in an orderly fashion. However, people just got a little too carried away with it all.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I agree that some of the Gamma Chi people have made some negative posts. However, I think I can understand why. Everyone got excited about the idea of Gamma Chi and started taking off in different directions instead of letting the committees do their jobs. The membership committee in particular was under additional strain from people asking over and over and over and over about how they can join Gamma Chi. Frankly, the information had been posted several times - it just that people weren't reading it. Then they'd get upset when no one PM'd them to personally explain how to go about it. That's when the membership committee posted this "pay attention" post. Was it the nicest post ever? Nope. But, as someone who has had experiences very similar to this, I can understand why the membership committee felt that they were tired of explaining this to people.

Even though I am not a member of the membership committee, I have been one of the people working on Gamma Chi. I wish to extend my personal apologies to those who feel that they have been excluded, or that their opinions haven't been properly received. I hope you can take some consolation in knowing that I have heard and registered your opinions.

I will do my best to help clarify some of the issues with Gamma Chi, starting with:

1) Finding a way to get the Gamma Chi discussions off of the Greek Life forum

2) Setting a solid and definite mission statement.

I do not feel that anyone's posts have been a personal attack against me. I hope that everyone receives my words today in the respectful and gentle manner in which I wrote them.

Hugs to everyone!

......Kelly

[AXWhoah]

Okay people need to chill and get a life! This whole Gamma Chi thing is stupid. How dare you compare it to my org which is more than a hundred years old. Everyone is gettting all upity about a virtual fraternity that is only like a month old and will probably disolve within another couple of months anyway. Seriously you guys....maybe you need to spend a little less time in front of your computers and more time in the real world. I'm gonna get blasted for this but oh well, this needed to be said. All that I meant by my post was that maybe instead of planning these elaborate ceremonies for Gamma Chi you should invest your time into your own fraternity. Sorry if I offended anyone. And seriously, stop lampooning Alpha Chi!

Again, I reiterate what I said in my post above.

[Dionysus]

Take it to chat you all!

There's no reason to be disturbing our TRANQUILITY here on these bulletin boards.

[Thrillhouse]

Originally posted by shadokat


I hope greekchat can go back to the pleasant place it was before a lot of this crap started.

Exactly

[maggieaxid]

I have to laugh. This is turning into a regular sorority chapter meeting.

[AXO Alum]

Thank you, for leaving out the "my personal opinion" from these two quotes that Cash & AXWhoah made. Thank you for assuming that because these two disagree with the IDEA of Gamma Chi, that they must be therefore disagreeing with you as a person and as a member of any greek org.

And thank you for taking out of context (AGAIN) AXWhoah's statement when she said her org is the best where she immediately followed with "as we all think ours is" -- quoting is a wonderful thing when you INCLUDE all the essential elements.

If your stake in GX and your own personal self-esteem is such that two opinions could make you jump into the black hole of these conclusions, then I guess I should say thank you for thinking that much of yourself.

WOW - people have differing opinions?? I am TRULY stunned.

Originally posted by brooklineu




Thank you, for the subtle hint that since I am interested in Gamma Chi, that I am interested in "a waste of time" and "a stupid concept" which is "the stupidest thing ever". I guess it goes to reason that *I* must be stupid if I think it's a good idea.

Thank you, for making the ideas and thoughts that so many had into trivial things of unimportance.

Thank you for knowing your own organization is better than anything I, as a non-Greek college grad, could ever hope to be in, or hope to be part of the creation of.

I am truly stunned.

[Dionysus]

You all are entitled to your own opinion.
But, come on, is it really neccessary to use that word? There are 101 and other words you can use to express your discontent besides that...well, "stupid" word.

[KarenC725]

Originally posted by maggieaxid
I have to laugh. This is turning into a regular sorority chapter meeting.

How true is that! Gosh, can this just stop? People have different opinions, face it deal with it, GET OVER IT. There is no need for this thread to be going on (go ahead, flame me for responding, I admit its hypocritical.)

I'm stuck asking what this has to go with "Greek Life" anymore...

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by navane
Does everyone understand what I am trying to say here?

Apparently not since this arguement is still raging.

[KillarneyRose]

First off, Gamma Chi simply wasn't something I was ever interested in, so this is the first time I've read any thread pertaining to it.

That said, I cannot believe some of the things that have been said on here. Calling something people are interested in "stupid"? When my six year old says that about something, I remind her that it isn't polite to say that. If people aren't interested, why can't they just ignore it? There is simply no reason to be mean. And I'm not talking about resident troublemakers here, I am talking about people I whose posts I have enjoyed immensely in the past, good, normal people who contribute lots of good things to GreekChat.

The people who are taking the time to put together the different aspects of Gamma Chi are doing it for positive reasons; I don't see even a hint of megalomania in their posts. Any start-up is bound to be confusing, so can't people just give them credit for trying and leave it at that?

Forgive me, I'm not normally Miss Mary Sunshine trying to blow sunshine. But please everyone step back and take a deep breath, ok?

[maggieaxid]

I have something really obnoxious to say, but I won't say it here bc i will get blasted. but pm me if you want to hear it.

[Thrillhouse]

Originally posted by brooklineu

The fact remains, you were calling things stupid, which was unneccesary.

Yeah axoalum, what were you thinking? Your opinion isn't right therefore it is unnecessary.

[KarenC725]

I'm all for free speech, opinions and ideas, but can someone please shut this thread down before people get even more pissed off and divided than they already are.