Has anyone ever advised a chapter besides their own?

[sueali]

I work at small campus with only 1 NPC. I have been asked to advise for this chapter and was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this before?

[33girl]

You mean it's a sorority other than Sigma Kappa?

[AlphaFrog]

We had a Zeta housemom, an independant Standards advisor, and a Kappa Alpha Order financial advisor.

[sueali]

Originally Posted by 33girl

You mean it's a sorority other than Sigma Kappa?

Yes, sorry if I did not make that clear.

About a year and half ago I moved to a state with no Sigma Kappa chapters and no Sigma Kappa alumnae chapters, so I am dying to get back involved (even if it is with another chapter). I was asked to advise this chapter and it sounds to me (with the responsibilities that were explained to me) like it is a regular advising position (What I mean to say is the responsibilities were the same responsibilities that I had while advising for sigma kappa).

[rhoyaltempest]

Once when I was an undergrad, our campus advisor (who is a member) abruptly resigned due to personal issues and another advisor (who is an AKA) took over as our advisor. At first we thought it might be awkward but it wasn't. She was really nice and supported us by attending some of our events. Today, the same undergrad chapter is advised by a member of Kappa Alpha Psi (an NPHC fraternity), so it doesn't have to matter.

Bottom line, if you have respect for all the NPC organizations, you will have no trouble supporting them and being a good advisor.

[OleMissGlitter]

We had an ADPi alumna from Ole Miss help advise at the AOII chapter at Ole Miss. Since ADPi is no longer on campus that is allowed. I would think it would be fun. Obviously you probably won't be privy to rituals and maybe Chapter Relation issues but helping in other ways is probably a great way to make a diverse advising team. I would totally do it.

[Just interested]

Interesting topic. I serve on the House Corp of one of the chapters of my sorority and our House Director is a Kappa. She is wonderful and brings a lot of knowledge to the table. She even served as a chapter advisor for Kappa at one time in her life. However, our housing leadership is divided from the collegian end of things. We are two very different organizations with different agendas. How would a member of another group deal with the national organization, etc? Just asking.

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by Just interested

Interesting topic. I serve on the House Corp of one of the chapters of my sorority and our House Director is a Kappa. She is wonderful and brings a lot of knowledge to the table. She even served as a chapter advisor for Kappa at one time in her life. However, our housing leadership is divided from the collegian end of things. We are two very different organizations with different agendas. How would a member of another group deal with the national organization, etc? Just asking.

Why would the campus advisor have to deal with the national organization? Probably NPHC and NPC orgs handle this differently since with us the campus advisor is just that, the campus advisor. They only exist because the campus requires that we have them and this person (usually a faculty member or administrator) doesn't have to be a member of our organization or any organization for that matter. The real advisement comes from the alumnae chapter responsible for advising a particular undergrad chapter. This advisor is the one that has to deal with Nationals and since she is a member of the sorority, there is no issue.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest

Why would the campus advisor have to deal with the national organization? Probably NPHC and NPC orgs handle this differently since with us the campus advisor is just that, the campus advisor. They only exist because the campus requires that we have them and this person (usually a faculty member or administrator) doesn't have to be a member of our organization or any organization for that matter. The real advisement comes from the alumnae chapter responsible for advising a particular undergrad chapter. This advisor is the one that has to deal with Nationals and since she is a member of the sorority, there is no issue.

NPC groups don't always have an alumnae chapter that "corresponds" (for lack of a better word) to each undergrad chapter, so we wouldn't be able to do things in that way. (It would be nice, though.) Even if a group has a housing corporation for that chapter or a chapter association, they don't deal with day to day collegiate advising.

The chapter advisor often has to get involved with issues of standards, recruitment, etc. so he/she pretty much should be someone who's on campus (or really near) and easy for the members to access.

In answer to JI's question, she just has to use the parts of her sorority experience that make her a good advisor, and put aside the things that conflict with the national/local goals of the group she's advising. Maybe Annie ASA Alum is advising a Kappa chapter and she thinks it's ridiculous that (made up example) seniors can't take a little, because that rule doesn't exist in her sorority. It doesn't matter, she has to tell the collegians to follow it. She's not there to advance ASA goals, she's there to help the collegians achieve their goals in Kappa. If she can't do that, she shouldn't accept the advising position.

[Just interested]

I thought she was going to be a CAB member. (That's what we call them) not just a faculty advisor. Totally different story then. I was confused.

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by 33girl

NPC groups don't always have an alumnae chapter that "corresponds" (for lack of a better word) to each undergrad chapter, so we wouldn't be able to do things in that way. (It would be nice, though.) Even if a group has a housing corporation for that chapter or a chapter association, they don't deal with day to day collegiate advising.

The chapter advisor often has to get involved with issues of standards, recruitment, etc. so he/she pretty much should be someone who's on campus (or really near) and easy for the members to access.

In answer to JI's question, she just has to use the parts of her sorority experience that make her a good advisor, and put aside the things that conflict with the national/local goals of the group she's advising. Maybe Annie ASA Alum is advising a Kappa chapter and she thinks it's ridiculous that (made up example) seniors can't take a little, because that rule doesn't exist in her sorority. It doesn't matter, she has to tell the collegians to follow it. She's not there to advance ASA goals, she's there to help the collegians achieve their goals in Kappa. If she can't do that, she shouldn't accept the advising position.

Yes, this is a major difference. For NPHC groups, there has to be an alumnae chapter nearby to advise the undergrad chapter or the undergrad chapter cannot be active. Also our alumnae chapters do not comprise members of a particular school. Instead they represent cities/areas such as the alumnae chapter of Chicago. Another major difference is that our alumnae chapters are not a part of any alumni association but are actually voting chapters within the sorority and undergrad members are expected to transfer into an alumnae chapter once they graduate. Hence the idea that membership is for life.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest

undergrad members are expected to transfer into an alumnae chapter once they graduate.

I absolutely think that this is where most NPCs dropped the ball.

[33girl]

^^^^^Great explanation, thanks!

Originally Posted by Just interested

I thought she was going to be a CAB member. (That's what we call them) not just a faculty advisor. Totally different story then. I was confused.

You mean you thought she was going to be a recruitment or ritual advisor or something like that?

She's not going to be a Greek advisor for the whole campus, she's going to be an advisor specifically for this chapter.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I absolutely think that this is where most NPCs dropped the ball.

But if we did that, we would definitely have to make chartering an alum chapter more like chartering a collegiate chapter.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But if we did that, we would definitely have to make chartering an alum chapter more like chartering a collegiate chapter.

I'm not seeing the downside to that....