Merging

[rhosigmazeta]

So what happens exactly when sororities/fraternities merge...someone told me they have heard of this happening before and I was just curious...

[33girl]

Do you mean two national groups, or two individual chapters (say 2 locals) deciding to do so?

[rhosigmazeta]

i'm not sure...i'm just curious...both i guess?

[33girl]

Okay nice brothers of Phi Sigma Kappa and sisters of Delta Zeta...y'all both have some experience with this and I am too lazy to search the web.

[AchtungBaby80]

A long time ago, Delta Zeta merged with several other sororities, and they all became DZ chapters. I suppose that when two sororities merge, one takes the name of the other...at least, that's what happened in that case. Can anyone help me out with any other examples?

[lifesaver]

In 1939 Lambda Chi Alpha and Theta Kappa Nu merged. LXA was mcuh larger and effectively absorbed TKN. LXA adopted TKN's ritual as its new member ceremony and took several items for its coat of arms.

As for the process, it was voted on by both groups national governign bodies. Once it passed, a process for merging was drawn up, consisting primarily of how it woul dhappen and what to do on campuses where there were both chapters present. I think this was the case in our merger at about 14 campuses. Of those, the TKN brothers were instantly recognized as LXA's and did nto go through the LXA ritual. ALumni brothers were encouraged to attend a LXA ritual at their earliest convienience. I think there were only 2 TKN chapters that chose not to go along with the merger and opt out. Both went local. One was closed becasue of WWII and never re-opened. The other went local and then joined the group that eventually merged with the Betas some time later. The rest is history. Hope this helps.

[PSK480]

Originally posted by rhosigmazeta
So what happens exactly when sororities/fraternities merge...someone told me they have heard of this happening before and I was just curious...

There is alot that goes into a merger. I won't go into the details of the PSK/PSE merger, I just got a brainful of new info after going to convention. But, the basic steps we went through are as follows.
The National Presidents discussed it.
They presented it to the councils.
The councils work out details such as which name, ritual, symbols, etc to use.
The councils passed it on to the conventions.
The conventions vote on it if it passes then continue to the next step.
Both orgs begin the work of becoming one.
They work on what to use from who.
A date is set on when they become one org.
They eventually become one org and usually incorporate parts of rituals, symbols, names, etc.

[moe.ron]

In 1938, a major development took place… a merger between Sigma Phi Epsilon and the Theta Upsilon Omega national fraternity. Four chapters of TUW merged with four of SigEps existing chapters, and seven others became Sigma Phi Epsilon chapters. With the merger, scores of dedicated TUW alumni became members in the Fraternity, and many became important leaders in Sigma Phi Epsilon.

[dzrose93]

With the Delta Zeta mergers, all of the collegiates and alumnae of the other sororities had the option to be initiated into Delta Zeta. Some chose to do so, and became full-fledged Delta Zeta sisters. Others chose to remain sisters of the original GLO's of which they were a part and stayed separate from DZ.

[rhosigmazeta]

so if a small local merges with a small national that is already on campus what kind of steps need to be taken?

[Optimist Prime]

Beta Kappa merged with Theta Chi. Theta Chi had more members, and Beta Kappa had more money. I think that gave us like 16 new chapters. All undergraduate members of Beta Kappa whose chapters joined Theta Chi were initiated. Many alumni were also.

[mylife]

I think it depends on the circumstance. I'm not sure if you are asking for yourself, but since there are only two members (I'm not sure if you have more. I'm just going by your website) you two could probably just pledge the other sorority and then once you are a member you can try to incorporate your purpose of your sorority with the other sorority's chapter.

[aopirose]

I think that this is an excellent question for shadokat because this happened with her chapter. I am not saying that D Phi E is a small national but that they were smaller in chapter size then the other campus groups.

The Executive Boards of the two groups need to meet to discuss the pros and cons informally. The national’s headquarters and executive board would need to be notified. HQ would sent the proper procedures to its chapter. The very first question to be addressed is “What does each group hope to gain from the merger?”

These are in no particular order. Are there grade risks or risk management issues that need to be addressed? Do the members of the local meet the membership criteria for the national? If the national is an NPC, are the members of the local willing to give up some traditions that may be in conflict with NPC policies? For example at certain schools, it is not uncommon to have alcohol and men as part of the recruitment process like a keg party. If the local participates in such activities, are they willing to go dry and not have men there? Are there traditions of the local that could be kept some how? For example, a sorority handkerchief that each bride used for her wedding. I know one local that used part of their treasury to create a chapter scholarship in their local’s name. Alumnae still contribute to that fund and it has been about 13 years since the merger.

After all these issues and more are addressed, the local and the national would vote on the merger.

[shadokat]

I don't know if this is really what happened with my chapter. Basically, our situation was that a local group of women wanted to start their own chapter of a sorority, but campus denied them status b/c there were already enough sororities. My chapter decided to see what they had to offer, so we extended an invitation to their leadership to meet with our chapter's leadership and discuss options. Both groups really hit it off, and both wanted to see how to facilitate this. SO, the chapter called me (as an advisor) and I spoke with HQs, and they were fine with us taking on this large group of women and merging our groups, but obviously, we remain D Phi E, and the new women would become D Phi E. After a presentation by myself and other representatives from HQs, we held a sort of pref party for the group to show them how much it meant for us to have them join our group. All 25 of them joined lock, stock and barrel.

Once the bids were signed, major changes took place. The 25 new women did not go through a traditional new member program. The current leadership of both groups were dissolved, and a new leadership was elected for D Phi E from both groups. Sisters who were initiated D Phi Es already were offered the option of early alumnae status if they did not want to participate in this merging situation, and 2 of 15 accepted. The chapter then went through a period called reorganization where everyone went "back to basics" on what D Phi E is, what it means to be a sister, how a chapter operates effectively and efficiently, etc., and this period lasted about a semester and a half. After that semester and a half, the "new" chapter of D Phi E, made up of both groups, went back to regular chapter status. All of the new women were initiated, including not only the 25 women from the original merger, but three new member classes as well, for a total of about 45 women. It was VERY exciting And now, they function as any regular chapter of D Phi E would normally do.

This was an ideal situation for both groups involved, and one main reason was because the group of 25 girls that joined us did not have a local or national sorority to identify with, and thus, no integration of sorority values, traditions, principles, etc. had to take place. If this opportunity presented itself again, we would definitely look into it. It was a fabulous way for a struggling chapter to get back on solid footing, and all of the women today will tell you that they are so glad they went through the process.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me. But this is my experience

[Tom Earp]

Life, you are correct, check the LXA Facts thread.

Billy, you are also right!

LXA had talked to several Fraternitys about merging. It did not work out.

One TKN Chapter at Washington U was not allowed to merge with LXA as only 4 Frateritys on Campus. TKN went local and soon there after became Brothers of T X! Beta Kappa was a smaller Semi-National who merged with T X! Georgia THK merged into LXA but said they wanted their letters in the Chapter listing. Hdq. relented and became the BK Chapter of LXA!

There were merger talks with BK F P F who ended up closing and Accacia which was a Masonic Org. They are the only ones still functioning from thenselves as a Greek Org.

PSE, Merged with PSK as PSE began to really go down hill for some reason?

The 2 Chapters of PSE that I knew were very strong. But it all comes to past. Leadership was not one of PSE strong points!

We now have PSK on Campus after PSE was gone for many years!