Alumnae/Alumni Initiation

[oceanphi01]

I've seen several people in organizations other than mine post that they do alum initiations. I'm just curious as to who all does do this. (I'm starting to get in to this whole getting more information on other organizations thing...can you tell?) I know Alpha Phi does, but I'm not sure who else.

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Gamma Phi Beta does but not all alumnae chapters are versed on the process.

[sugar and spice]

I believe, at this time, almost all NPC sororities offer some form of it, except for Kappa Kappa Gamma and Alpha Epsilon Phi (and possibly SDT and Theta Phi Alpha -- I don't know anything about their alum initiate policies). However, Kappa is working a program to implement it in the future . . . I am not sure if AEPhi is or not. Still, each sorority has different standards for who they will allow to become an alumnae initiate -- some will ONLY initiate women who have done a lot of good for the sorority, such as a member's mother who's done years of charity work for her daughter's chapter, things like that. Others will initiate any woman who seems to be a good addition to the sorority but didn't have the chance to go Greek in college.

DG, Alpha Phi, Gamma Phi Beta and AOPi seem to be popular choices for alum initiates, at least those on this board; I am not sure if there is any reason for this or not.

See CutiePie2000's GREAT thread on this subject here:

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=20287

[pialpha92]

I think the biggest obstacle to more alumnae initiations is lack of education. Unless their chapter has happened have one I don't think most members are even aware that it is in option. Which is too bad, I think we would see a lot more of them in all our organizations if more people knew it was possible.

[aephi alum]

AFAIK, AEPhi is not working on an alum initiation program.

[shadokat]

D Phi E has alumnae initiation, but it's normally not done on the chapter level, but rather on the international level. For instance, we have a woman who works in our HQs for the past year who has done amazing things for our sorority, and she will be initiated as an alumnae at our DLC. I would guess that if a chapter has a faculty advisor and she was NOT initiated into another NPC group, and did a lot for the chapter, the chapter could request that she be offered alumnae initiation. I think it's great in those situations.

[WhiteDaisy128]

Delta Gamma has AI. We had the Director of Greek Life's wife AIed with my pledge class! It was awesome!

[phisigduchesscv]

Phi Sigma Sigma does Alumna Initiation as well. I'm not sure of the whole process but I'm assuming Central Office would have to approve any of them.

[KappaKittyCat]

KKG is currently piloting a program which allows chapters in areas where there are no Kappa alumnae for advisory support to initiate up to four qualified college graduates to serve as mentors, advisors, and (of course) sisters. Before this program began in August of 2002, the only way a college graduate could be initiated into Kappa was if she were an alumna member of a local sorority that had become a Kappa chapter, and even then it is not an initiation, but an affiliation. DF Chapter (Bucknell University in Pennsylvania) will be initiating Kappa's first alumna member on March 23rd! We're very excited to have her join our family.

[DGMarie]

See the alumni board for a link to the Chicago Tribune article that just ran on Wednesday on AI.

Marie

link

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by oceanphi01
I've seen several people in organizations other than mine post that they do alum initiations. I'm just curious as to who all does do this.

An excerpt from my thread called My Advice to Prospective Alumnae Initiates

Where do I find information on alumnae initiation for NPC groups?
(Note: If you know of information below to be different or you have updated information to share, please PM me so that I can update this list and we can all benefit from this sharing of information. This is information that I have gleaned from websites and other GCers. If you have further questions that have not been answered here, please contact the NPC group that you are interested in directly.)

The 26 members of the National Panhellenic Conference:
"Yes, they will under certain circumstances initiate non-collegiate women" or
"No, they do not do this practice"
Where the National websites contain information explicitly addressing alumnae initiation, I have included the link to those webpages.

Alpha Chi Omega - yes

Alpha Delta Pi - yes
IMPORTANT: Alpha Delta Pi does not accept members on their own recommendation. Either three alumnae members, a collegiate chapter, or an alumnae association may choose to approach a woman they know to see if she is interested in alumnae membership. Individuals may not approach the chapters or associations and request that they be proposed for membership. This puts the chapter or association in the awkward position of having to refuse someone if they do not wish to sponsor them. From Alpha Delta Pi's founding, their membership policy has been supportive of this philosophy
http://www.alphadeltapi.org/adelphea...cle4_body.html

Alpha Epsilon Phi - no

Alpha Gamma Delta - yes

Alpha Omicron Pi - yes
http://www.alphaomicronpi.org/conten.../aluminit.html

Alpha Phi - yes
http://www.alphaphi.org/alumnae_info/initiate.html

Alpha Sigma Alpha - yes

Alpha Sigma Tau - yes http://www.alphasigmatau.org/html/al...nitiates.shtml

Alpha Xi Delta - yes

Chi Omega - yes (under specific circumstances)

Delta Delta Delta - yes

Delta Gamma - yes
http://www.deltagamma.org/alumnae_initiates.html

Delta Phi Epsilon - yes

Delta Zeta - yes

Gamma Phi Beta - yes
http://www.gammaphibeta.org/services/initiates.html

Kappa Alpha Theta - yes

Kappa Delta - (sort of....under specific circumstances)
Kappa Delta does not have a specific alumnae initiate program although they do, under specific circumstances alumnae initate women. Normally these women are working with one of KD's college chapters as perhaps a faculty advisor or have had contact with an alumnae association who then nominates them for alumnae initiation.)


Kappa Kappa Gamma – Many thanks to KappaKittyCat for this information....
Currently, only alumnae members of a local sorority that has become a chapter of Kappa may be initiated into alumnae membership in the Fraternity.

At Kappa Kappa Gamma's 2002 Convention, a bylaw change was proposed that would allow selective alumnae initiation. The details of this bylaw change can be found in the link which appear immediately following. The proposal was defeated. Instead, a resolution was passed that established a 2-year pilot program allowing four of the chapters with the most need for chapter advisors to initiate women (usually professors or local businesswomen) who were already serving in a mentoring capacity. This would allow them to become full chapter advisors. The results of the pilot program will be presented and the proposed bylaw change reconsidered at the 2004 Convention.

Contact any of the women on the Task Force (contact information provided on the link) for more information about the status of Kappa's alumnae initiation program.
http://64.225.193.138/alum_init_criteria.htm
http://64.225.193.138/alum_init.htm

Phi Mu - yes With thanks to pinkyphimu for this information....

Phi Sigma Sigma - yes

Pi Beta Phi – yes
http://www.pibetaphi.org/pub/focarch2.htm

Sigma Delta Tau - don't know

Sigma Kappa - yes

Sigma Sigma Sigma - yes

Theta Phi Alpha - don't know (probably yes, though)

Zeta Tau Alpha - yes
"A ZTA alumnae may recommend outstanding women from their communities for membership in ZTA. A four year period must have elapsed between the time she left college and the time she would be initiated. The unanimous vote of National Council is required. It is desirable the woman has attended an institute of higher learning, although not required to be a graduate. She should bring to the membership the attributes hoped for in each new member. Approval of the recommendation is not automatic. If you are interested in becoming an alumnae initiate, it is important to show sincere interest in our organization. Alumnae who do recommend women to become alumna initiates usually do so because the unaffiliated woman becomes involved with a collegiate or alumnae chapter, supports our programs, reflects our values and demonstrated a commitment to lifelong membership. There is a definite relationship formed with the members of ZTA prior to becoming recommended for membership. Women do not generally "seek out" becoming an alumna initiate. It usually happens because the collegiate or alumnae members feel the woman would be an asset to our organization. If you are interested in sorority membership and have no special group attachment, perhaps there are other groups whose programs operates differently than ZTAs. But, if you do have an ongoing relationship with ZTA, you can inform the members that you are interested in becoming an alumna initiate. Again, there are no guarantees they will start the process or that National Council will approve the recommendation. ZTA typically approves under ten women a year for this honor."
----------------------

Originally posted by sugar and spice
See CutiePie2000's GREAT thread on this subject here:

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=20287

Thanks to sugar and spice for your kind words....I hope that that thread will help women out!

Originally posted by pialpha92
I think the biggest obstacle to more alumnae initiations is lack of education. Unless their chapter has happened have one I don't think most members are even aware that it is in option. Which is too bad, I think we would see a lot more of them in all our organizations if more people knew it was possible.

Yes, I think that is definitely the case. A lot of collegians and alumnae alike think that you can ONLY be initiated while a collegian and I can tell you (as an alumna initiate myself!) that that is just not so!