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Clemson University (South Carolina)
Hi all! Roses to everyone!
I wasn't sure whether to post this on AOII InCircle (and where on InCircle) or here, but would appreciate some info! :-)
I just got back from vacationing in South Carolina, where my family is from, and visited while there with a young family member who just started school this year at Clemson University. She would make a lovely AOII and be such an asset for us, but of course we don't currently have a chapter there.
In fact when she was preparing to go to college, I really wanted to do an MIF for her -- but sadly we really are not at this time a big presence in South Carolina despite our numerous strong chapters elsewhere across the South (Georgis, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc.) and just now opened USC-Aiken, which is really a small branch campus of USC-Columbia (main campus), our only chapter in South Carolina; so I didn't have the opportunity. Clemson has a thriving Greek community (and a TON of school spirit besides -- Go Tigers!!!) and just added another sorority, but did not choose AOII.
Anyway, she rushed this fall, was extended bids, and socializes with girls in one of the sororities -- but she also declined all the sororities' membership invitations. She talked to me a lot about AOII -- our origins, symbols, charitable work, values, overall what it means to be an AOII, as well as how I chose AOII (as well as why others have chosen AOII). The thing is, she is now VERY interested in starting (with other women) an AOII chapter on campus and is seeking information about this.
What I know, and shared with her, is that while recently it has seemed that we are colonizing at schools that have specifically sought to expand their Greek community and therefore invited different sororities to "present" at their campuses, I also am aware that in past years groups of women at universities have sometimes started "local" sororities and then reached out to apply for membership to one of the NPC national/international sororities and been granted that membership and "absorbed" by these sororities, including AOII. And, of course, this IS how in fact our founders began AOII at Barnard, not in going from local sorority to absorption, but in declining to accept invitations to join the already present sororities and instead founding AOII.
Obviously, I'm thrilled she'd like to be an AOII -- even if it involves the hard work of colonization as a founding member (and I told her this is a lot of work and responsibility!) -- and seemed to strongly identify with what AOII represents. She loved everything I told her about AOII -- and I know that she would love our ritual even more.
I don't want either of us to get to overly excited over a long shot, but can anyone tell me if this is a possibility, that she could start a chapter with friends (becoming a local sorority) and apply to AOII for absorption? And what would she need to do for this to happen? Does anyone here know?
And if a group of women choose to contact an NPC group not already present on campus seeking membership/absorption, could the Greek community there really still say no to the women based on the fact that they've already just selected another sorority to colonize on campus by invitation and turned AOII down?
Anyway, I'd appreciate any info you could share! :-)
I'm honestly thinking about advising her just to start a local sorority anyway -- regardless of whether absorption is available to her as a possibility -- because she just did not feel that any of the NPC sororities already on campus were right for her or what she was looking for. I didn't say anything negative about the sororities she mentioned to me, just listened to her experiences and why she hadn't joined any of them, but I understood where she was coming from.
(And I've already experienced and regretted a very close friend, whom I encouraged to rush and pledge an NPC sorority at a school that did not have an AOII chapter, joining a sorority for life that she really now does not want to be a part of, simply because they offered a bid to her and she expected things to different, for her sorority to offer the same type of experience AOII has to offer.)
P.S. I placed a call to headquarters & left a message, but everyone was away for LI/A.
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