colonization

[thomaskat]

hi everyone,

I was just wondering what the deal with colonization is, are members initiated? or does that depend on the GLO, what privelidges(sp?) does a member of a colony have, or not have, that differ from a chapter?

thanks for taking the time to read my question

tom

[33girl]

Members of a colony have to be initiated, or there won't be a chapter.

Or do you mean people who were in the local before it colonized?

[MysticCat]

I think it will vary from GLO to GLO. If there is a specific fraternity you are interested in, you might want to post a question in that group's forum.

[Kevin]

Thomas:

Each group does it a little differntly (at least from the NIC side of things). I can only speak for my own group, Sigma Nu. When we colonized, our headquarters sent an expansion officail to our school where he recruited us to start the colony (I was in that group). We then did our own recruitment, found our own house, etc.

I won't get into the particulars of our 'privileges' within the organization, I'll just hit the high/low points. It took us three years to get from colony status to chapter status (this process has since changed, and there's a lot more guidance). During those three years, we were essentially pledges; however, we didn't have any initiates around, so the internal political workings of the colony didn't really differ that much from those of a fully initiated chapter. To answer your question, we were not initiated until we had finished proving to our HQ that we could properly represent them on our campus. I understand that different organizations handle this differently though.

I can tell you that the colony experience was an awesome one. In retrospect, it was absolutely the right decision for me. I don't want to talk down to people who join existing chapters because that's a great experience as well. Joining a colony is just different. It was a real learning experience where I got to help steer the organization as we learned what to do (and what not to do) in order to succeed. Instead of having an established history of success, we had to create one from scratch.

[NebraskaDelt]

The issue of initiating colony members came up at our International Convention earlier this month. While our Arch Chapter (Executive Council) can allow the initiation of colony members, the voting body turned down a proposal to allow the initiation of colony members after a specified period.

The arguments for the proposal was that we lose some of the colony guys who are seniors the first year of the colony and then never come back when the colony is installed and that allowing the more senior members of the colony to be initiated would get newer members desirous of the same.

Also, it was said that many universities are beginning not to allow a colonization effort unless the central office/headquarters can state that they will initiate the colony members within the 6, 8, 12, 16 weeks that the university requires for initiating members. Since we do not initiate colony members until charter, then we would not be allowed to colonize at certain schools.

The argument against was only "chapters" should be allowed to initiate. There would be a problem with logistics. If a colony member was initiated, obviously, he couldn't be initiated by his colony, he would need to be initiated by another chapter and would be considered a member of that chapter. He would have no ties to the initiating chapter except it would be a Delt initiation.

Also, it is believed that once initiated, you lose the focus to have your colony chartered. ktsnake may have a better perspective or thought on this. From what was said, the colony goal is to work together to become a chapter. Everyone is on the same footing, when there are some initiated and others not, the goal to becoming a chapter is a tad strained.

It's an interesting argument. I actually argue for a change in chartering policies. There are some colonies that take years to become a chapter. I believe these days that the time can be considerably shortened with the watchful eye of the central office/headquarter staff.

[Kevin]

My chapter did face a few of the concerns you express Delt.

First, the seniors who did not come back. This did actually happen. When our charter was approved, we were asked to submit a list to IHQ of men to be initiated. I compiled the list, on it placing all the names of the men I knew of who had been active in the colony and had not resigned or faded away for whatever reason (I actually came up with a point system as a means to this end here because there was some dispute over who would get the lower badge numbers, the system awarded points for amount of time active in the chapter, then by offices held).

I became active in the second semester of the colony's life (I sat out the first one because of work/class conflicts with mandatory meetings). In that first semester, there were two seniors who graduated. One of those seniors moved (I think) to Indiana, and was never heard from again. Another stayed local, and occasionally attended meetings, or loaned us some land for a party, etc. They were friends.

Until this came up, I had never even heard of the existance of the first alumnus. The second one, however, refused to initiate since we didn't contact his buddy. We ended up not initiating either of the two.

We did have other men who graduated, but in all cases, they remained involved on some level (some at a very high level) with the chapter's affairs. ALL of those alums were invited back, and they all showed up, some from out of state.

As for my take on that policy, I really like it. When you join a colony, you're not just joining an established chapter. You're making a promise to the men who are joining with you to do everything you can to make sure that the colony becomes a chapter. Moving away and not taking steps to stay involved or informed? Sorry, but your letting your fellow colony members down. Men who join colonies do not deserve anything but what they earn. I'm a big fan of the system (at least with my group) staying the way it is.

**

As for your proposal that being initiated would put a damper in our efforts at building a chapter, I completely agree. In Sigma Nu, when we are initiated, we are given a badge number. Our badge number is designated by our chapter name (mine is Mu Tau), and then our badge number (I'm #5). If there's no chapter, I have a hard time understanding how they're going to be able to claim initiates and award badge numbers. I can't really get any more in-depth than that.

The colony experience for me was really enhanced by finally being initiated into my own chapter. Being initiated by someone else's chapter seems to defeat the purpose a little. This goes back to my feeling that colony members are not owed anything -- they need to prove themselves to IHQ first.

[thomaskat]

hi, thanks all for the replies

the only reason I ask is because this upcoming fall my friends and I are members of an interest group that will begin colonizing Pi Kappa Alpha on our campus

I honestly have no idea what to expect or what Im in for, but am extremely excited for the upcoming semester

[Kevin]

PKA colonized on my campus right after we did. They are an extremely efficient and supportive organization for their colonies. Expect lots of help once they grant you colony status.

[KEPike]

Tom,

Where are you joining Pike at?

I am the Chapter (formerly Colony) Advisor at the University of Texas at Arlington. The group here took 17 months to go from expansion to chartering, with this being achieved this past April. So, I may be able to tell you more specifically about Pike and the process. Please let me know.

[thomaskat]

KEpike, check your private messages

[sdbeta1]

Originally Posted by ktsnake

As for your proposal that being initiated would put a damper in our efforts at building a chapter, I completely agree. In Sigma Nu, when we are initiated, we are given a badge number. Our badge number is designated by our chapter name (mine is Mu Tau), and then our badge number (I'm #5). If there's no chapter, I have a hard time understanding how they're going to be able to claim initiates and award badge numbers. I can't really get any more in-depth than that.

The colony experience for me was really enhanced by finally being initiated into my own chapter. Being initiated by someone else's chapter seems to defeat the purpose a little. This goes back to my feeling that colony members are not owed anything -- they need to prove themselves to IHQ first.

I am going to disagree on this thought. The chapter exists without a greek lettered designation if it is a new colonization. Re-colonizations obviously have the old chapter designation. So the chapter designation until a charter arrives is simply the name of your school. Once a colony charters, all previously initiated members are still a part of that chapter. For the time being, my badge doesn't have greek letters indicating a chapter but it has my roll number for the chapter I joined. I don't look at it as being initiated into another chapter, but rather as being initiated by another chapter. The normal pledge period is performed but with a lot more responsibility. At the end of the semester, a visiting chapter will conduct the initiation. Not initiating the class is unjust to older members (Seniors, and Juniors) who move far away after graduation or go into active duty. The enhancement of the colony experience is completed upon chartering.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by sdbeta1

I am going to disagree on this thought. The chapter exists without a greek lettered designation if it is a new colonization. Re-colonizations obviously have the old chapter designation. So the chapter designation until a charter arrives is simply the name of your school. Once a colony charters, all previously initiated members are still a part of that chapter. For the time being, my badge doesn't have greek letters indicating a chapter but it has my roll number for the chapter I joined. I don't look at it as being initiated into another chapter, but rather as being initiated by another chapter. The normal pledge period is performed but with a lot more responsibility. At the end of the semester, a visiting chapter will conduct the initiation. Not initiating the class is unjust to older members (Seniors, and Juniors) who move far away after graduation or go into active duty. The enhancement of the colony experience is completed upon chartering.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Our alums had no trouble coming back to be initiated. Some were not initiated when we received our charter. One was on active military duty in Alaska and didn't make it back for at least a year. No problem initiating him though. We reserved his badge number and everything.

Also, your organization's scroll number probably works different than ours. My younger brother is an ATO (yes, I know). His scroll number was not from his chapter, but from his national. He was like the 112415th person initiated (or something like that, I have no idea). That would work for colonies.

I also philosophically believe that we ought to treat recharters and colonizations in exactly the same way. Awarding a scroll/badge number to a recharter while not doing so for a colony is unjust in my opinion.

Beta, don't get me wrong, I'm not here to tell you that I think Beta is doing it wrong. There's no doubt that a lot of thought and planning goes into the colonization process for any group. I'm just telling you that I'm glad Sigma Nu does it the way I described for the reasons above.

[JonoBN41]

This is an interesting topic because I didn't realize (or even consider) that various groups do it differently until last week when a senior member of Phi Sigma Kappa told me he recently helped install a colony and it took all weekend. It was then that I realized their colony members are not initiated until installation (and there were a bunch!).

In Lambda Chi Alpha, a nearby chapter initiates all members of a local fraternity or interest group immediately upon colonization, who are then numbered beginning with 1. Thereafter, the colony initiates its own new members. Installation as a chapter is essentially just a banquet to celebrate the satisfaction of requirements and the new chapter's Greek-letter designation.

I was initiated simply as #41 in the colony and only became BN 41 a few weeks later.

Tom Earp once gave me a badge marked "2". Undoubtedly it belonged to a chapter founder, but from where I will never know.

Jono

[AUDeltaGam]

Fraternities seem to do colonizations differently than sororities. I was a charter member of my sorority and from pledging to initiation/installation of the chapter took 2 months.

[aephi alum]

It varies depending on the GLO.

My chapter originated as a local sorority. I was not a founder of the local, but I was a member of the only pledge class aside from the founders. When the local Panhel did finally give us permission to seek NPC affiliation, fortunately AEPhi was still interested in colonizing. At the time there were 10 active sisters of the local. We also extended a bid to one additional woman, who pledged in time to join our class. The 11 of us were initiated after the 8-week new member period, as the Alpha new member class.

At the time of our initiation, we had met all requirements for chartering except one: We were required to have 25 members. That fall, we extended bids to 11 new members, who became our Beta new member class. The decision was made to charter the chapter despite the fact that we had only 22 members, not 25, as we had just doubled our membership. All 22 are considered founders.

My initiation certificate reads "MIT Colony" instead of "Beta Epsilon" as the chapter designation. I was allowed to order a chapter guard for my badge only after our chartering.

A colony designates officers and operates much as a regular chapter does. Chapter business that might normally be closed to new members has to be disclosed to the new members within a colony simply because there are no initiates - everyone is a new member.

Tom, good luck with your pursuit of PKA.