Why join local vs. national?

[SoCalGirl]

I noticed a little local hating going down on one of the other topics.=(

So I've been wondering, what are the benefits to joining a local greek org vs. a national/regional?

We only have nationals and regional greeks on my campus so I'm clueless when it comes to local sororities and fraternities.

Is your alum support very good? I don't know what my chapter would do without our alumnae group. (We have two in our city! One for each chapter.)

What keeps you from becoming just a clique?

WHY form a local with the sole purpose of becoming a colony for a national? There are colonies established without first being greek. (Here I don't mean forming a local with the intention of one day spreading out and being national.)

I've been wondering about this a lot lately. I just don't see the plus side to locals (besides clicking with the girls on a sisterly level and not clicking with any girls in the national orgs.)

Thanks for your responses!

[PenguinTrax]

Originally posted by SoCalGirl:
So I've been wondering, what are the benefits to joining a local greek org vs. a national/regional?

If your only option to be Greek is to join a local OR if you will never leave the town/area where the local resides, then that's the only benefit I can think of off the top of my head. Locals do not have the benefit of a national organization, a nationwide network of alumnae, etc. In my experience, locals usually have limited support from alumnae because many do not stay in the same town as the college (there are exceptions, of course). In some cases, there is no housing and the chapters must report directly to the college administration, instead of local advisors and a national headquarters. Hazing and other risky behaviors are not managed except by the university. There are no national programs on risk management education, etc.

We only have nationals and regional greeks on my campus so I'm clueless when it comes to local sororities and fraternities.

Regionals are similar to locals, but better organized since there are multiple chapters in a region.

Is your alum support very good? I don't know what my chapter would do without our alumnae group. (We have two in our city! One for each chapter.)

It varies - if the local is in a big city, you have a bigger chance of alumnae staying in the area and forming an alumnae chapter.

What keeps you from becoming just a clique?

The same thing that keeps smaller chapters of national groups from becoming cliques.

WHY form a local with the sole purpose of becoming a colony for a national? There are colonies established without first being greek. (Here I don't mean forming a local with the intention of one day spreading out and being national.)

Some campuses have limits on how many national groups can be on campus. Sometimes you need to form a local sorority or interest group and run indepentdently while you wait for an opening to happen. It is very rare these days for a sorority to colonize on a campus where no interest group exists.



[This message has been edited by PnguinTrax (edited April 14, 2000).]

[33girl]

SoCal:

At some small religious schools, only locals are permitted. I think the reason this is done is so the college can have total governance over them. Some of these locals have been around as long as some nationals.

So why would you join a local if you had a choice between it and a national?

 Money – most locals are WAY cheaper than nationals.
 Self governance – no national organization to mandate pledging practices, etc.
 Tradition – that local has a strong presence (as well as organized alumni) at the school.
 Something different – if a group of people have not found what they want in the present organizations on campus. This is also often why people form a new colony to become national. THAT GROUP wants to be together which is why they form the colony (as opposed to a Panhellenic colonization where the national comes in & recruits).

I hope that answers some questions! – “33”

[equeen]

I think the previous 2 posts just about covered things...here's my personal perspective. If you have a strong family tradition in the area/school you go to, then that can be motivation for getting involved in a local. There are a couple of non-greek letter orgs. at my school that are usually comprised of people whose parents (and often grandparents) went to school here.

Also, when I was looking into GLOs, I decided that I was looking for something other than what the GLOs at my campus had to offer. After doing some research, I found a local sorority that was looking to expand to other schools. It was easier for them to colonize at my school than a NPC or NPHC sorority because they did not have to meet any requirements through the University NPC or NPHC councils, only through the University (that our group be a registered student org.) This meant that we could establish ourselves and evolve solely through our ownn (chapter) governance, plus the influence of our (at the time) newly created National Organization.

[equeen]

I did a bit of browsing just now at http://www.greekpages.com/LocalsOnline/, which lists a lot of local/regional GLOs. I understand even less now why anyone would look down their noses at locals/regionals, some of them have quite a rich, established history of excellence!

This may be redundant but here goes.

The answers to your questions are not cut and dry. A LOT of it depends on the university and its climate. For example, there are many private schools and a few public schools that do not want NPC or NIC GLOs on their campuses. Trinity University in Texas and the Mississippi University for Women are prime examples.

Why do locals form where nationals exist? - Sometimes the existing national groups do not fulfill the needs of the Prospective Members. If that 12th NPC sorority was on campus then perhaps more women could fit there, but there are only 11 NPC sororities. The existing sororities do not offer what the Prospective is seeking.

Alumni support can be just as good or as poor as a national's can. If the alumnus had a good collegiate experience, he will give back in time, money and other resources. If he didn't then he won't. My friend has been trying to start an alumnae chapter of her NPC sorority for years. Headquarters' sent her a list of more than 300 other alumnae in the area. She has phoned and done mass mailings and does get some positive response, but in the end it is she and one other person. Often, it is not that same one other person. There is a lot of "I was an ABC" and not enough "I am an ABC".

Effective chapter programming, just like a national, keeps these groups from becoming cliques. There are many resources that locals can tap into for assistance in these areas.

"Why form a local with the sole purpose of becoming a colony for a national?" These types of locals want what a national organization can provide, but there is no opportunity at the time. They wait until the time is right for a national to come to campus and are very often the reason that a Panhellenic opens for an expansion opportunity.

"There are colonies established without first being Greek." This is very true. When a national seeks to expand on a particular campus or a campus is thinking about adding another group, it looks at a variety of issues. The most important issue is "Is there a NEED?" A local can provide a good answer to that question rather quickly. Yes. If the current organizations met the needs of those students, the local would not have formed. A local shows that there are students with an interest in Greek Life, who can function as cohesive group.

The benefit to joining a local Greek org vs. a national/regional depends on the individual. It depends on what they are seeking. The same thought process is used when deciding to Preference Sorority "C" over Sorority "A".

In the interest of establishing termonology, what is the generally accepted use national, local, regional, sororites?

Local, to me, is a single chapter. Regional would be two or more chapters of the same sorority with in close proximity but with out strong centralized national governing core. National would be a multi-chapter sorority organized with a national governing body.

The reason I ask is some define National as only a group that is a member of a National greek council such as NPC, NPHC, NIC/IFC, and they consider all others locals even if they are multi-chaptered and organized with a National governing body.

My sisterhood is 3 chapters strong and growing, has had a governing National body since 1996, and is far from being regional or local. I've always consider us National (I'm from the second chapter), but find it at times dishearting to see us considered "not National" just because we're not part of NPC.

jenn

[charlotte]

All the greek organizations on our campus are local... all 6 of them. And for being a small, private school in the middle of nowhere, that is pretty good. We don't have houses, we have suites. No one lives there... they are simply renovated "dorm rooms." We don't have alumni support groups; we have yearly newsletters to the sorority alumni. We don't have the high dues to pay to a national council. We do, though, have the one thing that unites us with all other sororities, national or not... sisterhood.
We make our own regulations, overseen by an Inter-Greek Council. Dues go to rent on the suite and sorority projects. All of the greek organizations but one on this campus are social, but that doesn's stop us from being prominent volunteers both on campus and in the community.
What keeps us from being a clique? I really don't know. Just because we are part of a certain organization doesn't mean we reject the rest of the campus. Yes, my closest friends are my sisters, but I still hold very dear friendships with those outside my sorority. Our organization is incredibly small compared to any national organization, but I feel that has more to do with the size of our school (very small), the amount of organizations to choose from, and the negative stereotypes of greeks. Every year during freshman orientation the greeks have to battle this negative view. This is why most of our pledges are sophomores. (They are not allowed to pledge until second semester of freshman year, anyway)
Probably the top reason for not being national, though, is that WE DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE! There had been one organization on this campus that was allowed to go national (this was quite a few years back), and within two years had lost their charter and were thrown off campus. So, you see, even if we wanted to be national, it would not be passed by the Head of Greek Affairs, who also happens to be the Dean of Students.
I don't mind being local. I would love to have some of the privleges of being national, though... the thought of having sisters across the country. But, my local sisters are still sisters for life.

Charlotte
Phi Delta Omega Sorority
Lakeland College


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[equeen]

Originally posted by charlotte:
I don't mind being local. I would love to have some of the privleges of being national, though... the thought of having sisters across the country. But, my local sisters are still sisters for life.

That's an awesome spirit! My sorority started out as a local (in fact Artimis and I are sisters from the same chapter), so occasionally we have identity crises about whether we're national or local. But like you, I don't think the question really matters, as long as the sisterhood-spirit is there.



[This message has been edited by equeen (edited April 17, 2000).]

[charlotte]

Exactly... thank you.

[theXgirl]

Originally posted by localsororities:
I forgot to mention that chapter total here is 150, so the houses are huge, and can't take more than about 60 new members at a time to saty at a mangable size. One of them is over 200 members.

LocalSorities,
I was just curious, what school do you attend?

localsorority, I had a quick question. Aren't there rules about how many times a national can start over on one campus? In my sorority and my campus I was pretty sure you only get two chances. Seems ridiculous for them to be allowed to keep going. (One last thing - have you guys considered Alpha Phi? We kick ass.)

Beth, alumna

[33girl]

One of our oldest chapters has been recolonized AT LEAST 3 times, and had expansion rushes and other stuff in between. I think the reason Nationals won't let it die is because they are at a very big Greek school with lots o' $$$$. (it's considered a "public Ivy") Meanwhile, while national officers are flying in and spending tons of $$$$ there, other chapters are floundering and need help. Grrr. Not going there...

Oh hell, what was my point? Oh, my point was that how many "chances" a chapter gets usually depends on the national, unless they do something heinous and the school kicks them out.

[theXgirl]

localsororty,

two questions:

1.For a campus like yours, don't you have to have a house just to "compete" in pan- hel
and...
2. Of the 3 NPC houses you mentioned, do they have a local alumnae base that is willing to support your chapter should you pick them?

[33girl]

Local,

I can't believe DZ doesn't/has never had a chapter there - they are so huge!

They also have 2 alum chapters here in my city, not counting the alum associations that every chapter has.