Small School Colonies?

dzandiloo · #1 10-26-2002, 11:26 PM

This question is for the NPC sororities out there...what is your sorority's take on small school expansion?

For example, a school with less than 6,000 students & 3 NPC sororities currently (average size about 75 members each), no housing. Everyone is at total, recruitment numbers this year were record-breaking. School is in a small town, so most likely, the majority of alum support would be from alum initiates, but within 1.5 hours of a metro area.

I'm just curious...does your organization shun schools that are smaller than a certain size? Is your organization in "expansion mode" right now? Any other thoughts you have on the subject would be interesting to hear.

*edited to say by "shun" I do not mean "snub," I just mean, is your sorority not likely to colonize at a school this size?

shadokat · #2 10-27-2002, 12:22 AM

I often times think the larger sororities will avoid colonization at smaller schools, but that is not always the case. D Phi E looks carefully at ALL colonization opportunities and analyze them based on their merits individually. Also, smaller groups like us, we don't have the millions and millions to open chapters at huge schools every year, so a smaller school may be more attractive.

KappaKittyCat · #3 10-27-2002, 01:12 PM

I'm at a small school, less than 1200 students, and we have chapters of Kappa, Theta, and DG, three of the largest and most well-known NPC organizations. We used to have chapters of Pi Phi, Alpha Chi, ADPi, and KD (all four now closed due to shrinking Greek interest). However, my school has never been above 1200 students and they don't want to get above 1500. To add to that, Kappa was colonized here back in 1981. We were not at all shunned because of our school size.

Just my 400 Lire.

Optimist Prime · #4 10-27-2002, 01:45 PM

I was in a small school colony. For a semester.

33girl · #5 10-27-2002, 10:27 PM

I think it has less to do with the size of the school per se, than with the school's academic standing, the amount of $$$ flowing about (from the school, students and alumni), and the amount of interest in Greek life.

Take DePauw as a basic example. There are under 2500 students there, but if they ever open for expansion, I can't think of a sorority that wouldn't love to have a chapter there. It's because they are very high up in the 3 things I mentioned.

Kevin · #6 10-27-2002, 10:33 PM

My school is about 15-16 thousand.. a small school by many standards. NPC sororities are practically banging down the doors to colonize. AZD just founded here in 2000 and I'm pretty sure another group will be here either this year or the next.

rbggal · #7 10-28-2002, 03:58 AM

There are many things that are taken into consideration regarding colonization at smaller schools. Such as, alumnae support, administrative/campus support and the organizations ability support a chapter on that campus. Most organizations have some of their strongest chapters on the smaller campus.

ALSO, just wondering....When did Kappa, Theta and DG become the "largest and best known" sororities? Matter of opinion...which could easily be proved incorrect.

DeltaBetaBaby · #8 10-28-2002, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by KappaKittyCat
I'm at a small school, less than 1200 students, and we have chapters of Kappa, Theta, and DG, three of the largest and most well-known NPC organizations. We used to have chapters of Pi Phi, Alpha Chi, ADPi, and KD (all four now closed due to shrinking Greek interest). However, my school has never been above 1200 students and they don't want to get above 1500. To add to that, Kappa was colonized here back in 1981. We were not at all shunned because of our school size.

Just my 400 Lire.

Wow, more girls came through rush this year at my school than there are students at yours.

carnation · #9 10-28-2002, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rbggal
There are many things that are taken into consideration regarding colonization at smaller schools. Such as, alumnae support, administrative/campus support and the organizations ability support a chapter on that campus. Most organizations have some of their strongest chapters on the smaller campus.

ALSO, just wondering....When did Kappa, Theta and DG become the "largest and best known" sororities? Matter of opinion...which could easily be proved incorrect.

She didn't say "the 3 largest and best known", she said "3 of the largest and best known". Big difference.

KappaKittyCat · #10 10-28-2002, 09:45 AM

Thanks, Carnation. You typed the words right out from under my fingertips. I really didn't mean to offend anybody out there.

The only other thing I have to add to this is that right now, in the situation my "small school" is at, no NPC group would touch us. There's no way we'd ever open for colonization, firstly, and secondly, if we did, NPC would shudder when they saw our Panhel bylaws and operating structure, the general campus anti-Greek attitude, etc. Just goes to show you how much things can change.

shadokat · #11 10-28-2002, 01:57 PM

When you said small school, I meant small greek community, not small population wise. My bad. Anyways, as 33girl said, it's all about the G's. If you get your cash from alums who are greek, you're more likely to open there.

Denise_DPhiE · #12 10-28-2002, 02:01 PM

I think, as a rule, all 26 of our NPC groups look at every opportunity individually. As Director of Expansion, I "weigh" each of the characteristics about a school i.e. not just # of students, but % of students who affiliate with GLO's, support from university for greek system, alums in area, academic standing of university, proximity of nearest chapters etc.

I'm not sure if you are looking to add a new chapter to your campus but the best way to find out how much interest our 26 NPC groups have is to get permission from the panhellenic (vote) to add a new group (the existing groups would need to vote) and then to send a letter to the NPC Expansion Chairman who would then notify the groups in her monthyl newsletter. If there is no panhellenic, then the university would be the proper authority to send the letter to NPC. The NPC officers just changed so if you need to know who to contact, please PM me.

Smaller scholls may take less resources (financial AND human) to establish new chapters so it may be hard to tell who is in "expansion mode" based on their # of colonies. We currently have two colonies in Texas and one in Indiana. Another group may only have one colony but need and equal amount of staff and volunteers to recruit and establish the colony (I'm thinking DZ at UF must have had dozens of alums working on that effort to fill 150 slots!!).

Denise_DPhiE

dzandiloo · #13 10-28-2002, 04:25 PM

Thanks for your responses...this was really just out of curiosity. I am not working on expanding a campus...I went to undergrad at a school like the one I described, but as far as I know, they are not considering expansion, although I think it is conceivable that they may in the next 2-5 years (they only recently got to a point where everyone is at total, but I wouldn't say they are ready to get a colony--my personal opinion is that they should all be at total for at least one year before something like this, but that is only based on my opinion of this particular campus--not others in similar situations).

I was just curious, b/c some of the people on such campuses seem to think that "big name" sororities won't consider them, and I just didn't have anything to go by, other than I was once told by a friend who was a PiPhi that they would never consider colonizing at my school (which I didn't understand b/c she was a member of a chapter at a school that is no bigger--only has a bigger name and is in a metropolitan area). By big-name, I mean well known in this region-not necessarily most famous, largest or any of the other terms bandied about on GC, so please don't get offended by that term.

Anyway, I happen to agree that most of the NPC groups would be hesitant to colonize there b/c the school has not had the best track record--of 4 national orgs that have ever been installed, one folded after only about 4 years, and another took 10 years to get total (and we are very, very excited about that, by the way). While there is a great deal of interest in GLOs at this school (more than ever before), I just think that groups will be wary of the history. On the other hand, with the right national support I think that a new group would be extremely successful.

Anyway, just looking for everyone's two cents.

AlphaSigLana · #14 10-28-2002, 06:48 PM

My chapter seems to be primariy at smaller universities(correct me if I'm wrong 33girl). We don't have any famous, rich alum either so that may be why.
I think ASA would have a very hard time getting started at a big university espcecially bc newer chapters never seem to get as many numbers as other houses the first few years.