Collegiate chapter question

rileykae · #1 06-02-2016, 05:22 PM

Does anyone know of any chapters on college campuses where the Beta Sigma Phi chapter is considered with the Panhellenic council?

I'm trying to friendly venture one at my campus and we'd like to go phc instead of multicultural in terms of the governance body and our advisor of the phc is requesting examples of other PHC Beta Sigma Phi chapters.

Thanks in advance.

misscherrypie · #2 06-02-2016, 05:50 PM

There are perhaps five active collegiate recognized chapters of Beta Sigma Phi in the country. One is in Texas, one is in Tennessee and one is in North Carolina. There are apparently two others, and I've been unable to figure out where either of them are.

Beta Sigma Phi is recognized as part of the Local Panhellenic Council at one school: Methodist University. I have no idea under what form the chapter that I'm thinking of in Tennessee (Tusculum?) is recognized. The chapter at St. Mary's University in Texas is recognized as a student organization, not as a member of the Panhellenic Council there.

I hope that this information helps. Please reach out to me if I can assist you in any way.

rileykae · #3 06-02-2016, 11:13 PM

thank you so much. On the other hand, do you think we'd have any luck if we went to the multicultural council? The sororities in the MGC are typical Latinx-founded and are smaller than the PHC ones at my school.

Xidelt · #4 06-03-2016, 11:23 AM

Please pardon the crash! I believe Epsilon Sigma Alpha also has some collegiate chapters. Perhaps you could look at those as well and share those examples with your Greek Life director. Could you be a registered student organization at your school and not have to be on a council? I'm an alum of a local sorority and we were a student organization, not affiliated with any greek life council. It worked for us on our campus.

Xidelt · #5 06-03-2016, 01:01 PM

http://www.epsilonsigmaalpha.org/col...a/chapter-list

33girl · #6 06-03-2016, 04:35 PM

If you don't have a multicultural focus, it wouldn't really be appropriate for you to try and get on the multicultural council just because it's "easier. "

Alpha O · #7 06-03-2016, 11:17 PM

I know of a former Beta Sigma Phi (BSP) chapter. I believe that that BSP chapter was established in 1998 at the University of Missouri--Kansas City (UMKC) and they ultimately decided to affiliate with a Panhellenic group, which they did in 2011 when they were absorbed by Alpha Sigma Alpha. My guess is that BSP at UMKC was not a part of their Panhellenic Council (PHC), because the current local sorority on that campus, Delta Rho, does not appear to be a member of their PHC.

Having said that, there are campuses where local sororities are considered members of their school's PHC, and I think that can help illustrate how BSP would function as a member of your school's PHC. If you already have a local sorority on campus that is associated with your school's PHC, then there is precedent for organizations that are not part of NPC being associated with your local PHC.

It seems your strongest example would be the BSP chapter at Methodist University that a previous poster mentioned. Perhaps you could even get in touch with them. The Methodist U sorority website says that BSP was established there in 2009, so it's possible that there is someone in the current chapter, who could help connect you with one of their founding sisters, who may be able to recall how they handled the process at their school. It's a long shot, but one that I would pursue.

Ultimately, though, it will depend on how much interest you can gather to get this organization up and running.

rileykae · #8 06-05-2016, 03:18 AM

Thanks so much for the advice and suggestions!

My school requires ALL greek chapters to join a council, and we do have one local sorority on our PHC (in addition to the NPC groups). If we wanted to join the PHC, we would be given what is called 'associate member status' in it.

I'm actually in talks with the PHC president right now to determine if BSP would meet the guidelines to join should the school approve the chapter. Forms from international have arrived, and it seems like it's as easy process through them to ratify and establish the chapter.

The challenge now will be gaining interest at school and having it recognized as an organization- I already have atleast four girls plus myself that are willing to become a part of something bigger, but minimum is seven to be recognized by international.

I'm confident through word of mouth and some events we can get all the interest we'd need to get started.

Once again, thank you for all the helpful advice!

Xidelt · #9 06-05-2016, 04:13 AM

Sounds like you have a good start! Best wishes to you as you organize and continue to grow!

PacificOtter · #10 06-13-2016, 12:22 AM

Hi everyone, I was actually browsing to see if anyone was in an MGC sorority, and I wanted to seek some advice in this thread? I will be starting as a freshman this fall in a state school in California and they similarly only have MGC sororities. I really want to rush and participate in Greek life the next two years, but I will be transferring out to a different state school in my junior year which has all NPC sororities. So, if I rush and join an MGC sorority for these next two years, will I not be allowed to join an NPC one once I transfer out? I've been unable to find any rules clarifying this anywhere and I most definitely want to be in Greek life all four years. Also, how would this affect me in the eyes of the NPC sororities? Would they think it was, for lack of a better word, disrespectful to drop the sorority from a different school? Thank you so much!

rileykae · #11 06-14-2016, 01:11 PM

Well at my school, the multiculturals and NPCs were different, but you couldn't be in both. You were either in one of the four MGC groups, or one of the three (two NPC, one local) on our PHC.

Since you're transferring anyways after those two years I would really look into which groups are on the MGC at the school you're currently at, if they have any local I'd say go ahead and give it a shot, as most schools I think would allow a local member at her previous university to join a national one at the new school. (Again, I'm new to all this stuff so someone can correct me if they need.)

If they're national like Gamma Alpha Omega or Zeta Sigma Chi I'm not sure how it would work if you join them (again, I don't know who you have on your campus, I'm just throwing examples of multicultural sororities out there) and than transfer to go through recruitment for a NPC.

33girl · #12 06-14-2016, 06:21 PM

You would technically be able to rush NPC groups if you joined a MGC group first. However, as you guessed, whether women in the NPC groups at your new school will feel ok with it is another story.

Are you planning on transferring to a school that is appreciably larger or had stricter admission standards? Do you know for a fact that you'll be able to get into the second school?

PacificOtter · #13 06-15-2016, 12:47 AM

My fear is that if I wait to rush until junior year, I will have a much harder time receiving a bid as an upperclassmen and I will miss out on the opportunity to have joined. The school I'll be attending for the next two years is very small with around 4,000 students with about 2% of the school participating in Greek life. It isn't prominent at all and the school I plan on transferring to is about 20,000 students with a quite large Greek system. I do know that I will be admitted to it as well.

TAPchica09 · #14 06-22-2016, 07:17 AM

It's been a long while since I've been on the chat. Pacific Otter, pm me which school you're currently attending (I'm also in California), and perhaps I'll be able to provide some assistance policy wise. Your school sounds like my Alma Mater, although I could be wrong since you mentioned a state school in your post (mine was not) - but I know of some state schools nearby me and a few of their policies.

navane · #15 06-22-2016, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TAPchica09

It's been a long while since I've been on the chat. Pacific Otter, pm me which school you're currently attending (I'm also in California), and perhaps I'll be able to provide some assistance policy wise. Your school sounds like my Alma Mater, although I could be wrong since you mentioned a state school in your post (mine was not) - but I know of some state schools nearby me and a few of their policies.

I know which university she attends. Her first post was accurate - her campus only offers locals/MCG. I may not be understanding your post correctly, but the issue is not with the policies of her current campus, but rather, the policies of the NPC Panhellenic at the campus to which she intends to transfer junior year. As other people have already pointed out, it is the transfer school's policies and campus culture which come into play.

If she joins a MCG organization, yes, she generally is eligible to pledge an NPC. However, she needs to find out if the transfer school campus culture would support that idea. Just because she can, doesn't mean she should or that it would be accepted. Also, she might want to find out what kind of pledge/vow her MGC GLO asks of her on initiation. I've heard of some MGC groups being ok with initiating with an NPC later. However, it may very well be that the GLO might ask a candidate to pledge that she will never join another GLO ever again. She needs to consider that before taking the final step of initiation.