Expansion - evening things out?

[33girl]

Weeeeellllllll......a lot of people when you mention SDT or AEPhi still say "Jewish sorority." I don't think I can ever remember anyone calling TPA a "Catholic sorority."

I feel a tangent coming on

[sugar and spice]

Full speed ahead with the tangent: I think it's because many of their chapters that were established earlier continue to be pretty Jewish. We have both AEPhi and SDT at my school and both chapters tend to be primarily Jewish -- though they don't discriminate on that factor by any means, their Jewish composition tends to attract a lot of the Jewish girls.

Of course my school has a large Jewish population, especially within the Greek system, so I could name a couple other sororities besides SDT and AEPhi that have substantially large Jewish populations as well.

I'm not sure why the same label has never been applied to TPA despite their Catholic heritage.

[Rudey]

The fact is that more than likely your general population interested in general Greek Life will not change. The niche market works because you are picking up people who had nothing to interest them before. So if an Asian fraternity comes to campus and rushes many Asian men who would not have joined the Greek system because there wasn't enough appeal to it, then that Asian house has not hurt other houses.

I can speak for my fraternity and filling a niche - 20% increase in chapters by my count in the last 4 years. We are still members of the NIC and local IFC at schools but we fill the niche. Our technique has worked to the extent that certain houses are starting to adopt some of our partners in the community to achieve the same results.

-Rudey
--But then again sororities are run by fascists and fraternities are not.

[Tippiechick]

Rudey,


What is up with the fascist remark? And, to be technical, are you speaking of sororities and women's fraternities or just sororities only??? lol

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by Tippiechick
Rudey,


What is up with the fascist remark? And, to be technical, are you speaking of sororities and women's fraternities or just sororities only??? lol

Rudey was wrong. NPC groups are not run by fascists. They are run by communists.

[Tippiechick]

We were trying to keep the Communist thing under wraps. Alas, you found us out, Russell

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Tippiechick
Rudey,


What is up with the fascist remark? And, to be technical, are you speaking of sororities and women's fraternities or just sororities only??? lol

It means your leaders are fascist. You have grouped together and come up with such strict rules that it makes maneuvering around them very difficult. I don't claim that what the rules support or discourage are right or wrong - just that the rules hinder you in a way that fraternities don't have to deal with. It's basically the natural thing that happens when you have rules in any situation - red tape, bureacracy, etc. So whether it's rush, expansion, some strong direction your national office is heading in, it's all laid down pretty hard. This applies to women's fraternities as well as Panhell on the whole.

Men don't understand the need for these rules, but being men we don't care as long as it doesn't apply to us. We don't like rules that hinder your rush and expansion. It doesn't mean there should be no rules at all. It's a very different environment.

So here are some anecdotal things to think about. Surgery vs pharmaceuticals. The advances in surgery dwarf pharmaceutical advances. The reason being is that there isn't a large rule making board like the FDA restricting the research you do and the level of risk you take. That doesn't mean there are no rules - these advancements are made ethically in an environment to help protect everyone's interests. The analogy in Greek Life is a fraternity that isn't limited in expansion, is rewarded for its efforts, and can take certain risks and not others (ie is prevented from hazing but is allowed to go to a school which hasn't invited it) will do very well if it can find a target market and has the resources for its venture.

-Rudey

[AEPhiSierra]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
I do agree with this to an extent. I think that from a marketing standpoint, it may have been a mistake for SDT and AEPhi to try to distance themselves from their "historically Jewish" roots.

I can't speak for SDT but I can speak for AEPhi. AEPhi has never tried to distance itself from it's "historically Jewish" roots. While we are sure to mention that we welcome women of all religions it is mentioned alongside our founding by 7 Jewish women. From what I have seen chapters are often founded by interest groups of mostly jewish women.

I find, for my members, the appeal is not finding a chapter where everyone is jewish but finding a place where it is ok to be jewish. We don't have events on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays and kosher food is always available. Our holiday party celebrates Christmas and Chanukah. For the non-Jewish members this isn't a big deal because most of have always grown up with Jewish and non-jewish friends. I find that our chapters consideration for one religion extends to others. Just as wouldn't have an event on Yom Kippur, we wouldn't have an event on Good Friday.

This, I believe, is AEPhi's niche and I think it will always factor into where our chapters are established. So we may never have a chapter at Ole Miss or more than couple of chapters in the South and Midwest. While it would be great to have chapters at every school under the sun, its not important. We're small but we're respected and that's all I need.

And I don't want extension caps, we don't need structured NPC pity. If any of these small NPC's end up on the large side I am sure they wouldn't like the idea then.

[shadokat]

Originally posted by AEPhiSierra
And I don't want extension caps, we don't need structured NPC pity. If any of these small NPC's end up on the large side I am sure they wouldn't like the idea then.

I couldn't agree more with this!!! D Phi E is also smaller, but strong and respected.

AEPhiSierra, one of my best friend's sisters was an AEPhi at Pitt, and while she was one of only a few non-Jewish women, she absolutely loved it, and they were very proud of their Jewish heritage, etc. I think it's great that your sorority stays close to its roots.

[Glitter650]

While I don't want "NPC pity"... I do want some recognition for my sorority... just because we have only 113 (maybe 114, I think I heard about a colony chartering this past semester) chapters DOESN'T mean that we are a substandard organization... I dislike feeling like people are looking down their nose at my sorority, I feel like that reading some of these threads.

[g41965]

I've said it before and I'll say it again I'd bet most men are amazed at how strict the rules are for NPC groups and I personally believe the rules are overbearing but NPC surely have not suffered losses like mens groups they are more more stable and the agreements are unanimous.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by g41965
I've said it before and I'll say it again I'd bet most men are amazed at how strict the rules are for NPC groups and I personally believe the rules are overbearing but NPC surely have not suffered losses like mens groups they are more more stable and the agreements are unanimous.

Where is that coming from? What losses?

-Rudey

[Firehouse]

Yes, sorority systems are more stable and that's one of the goals of NPC, Panhellenic, etc. The downside is that the more stable the system the less chance there is of any real upward movement on the part of an ambitious sorority. The men are much more entrepreneural and willing to go around the rules. I hope I don't catch hell for this, but it appears that - generally - when women confront chaos they seek to impose order. When men confront chaos, they seek the advantage of opportunity.

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by Firehouse
I hope I don't catch hell for this, but it appears that - generally - when women confront chaos they seek to impose order. When men confront chaos, they seek the advantage of opportunity.

If I didn't catch hell for calling sororities a bunch of communists earlier in this thread, you shouldn't catch any either.

[Firehouse]

Did you get the message I PM'd you a few days ago?