Local sorority "seeking national affiliation"
 

Hey everyone! I'm new to GC and as I've been reading some posts, I've seen "locals seeking national affiliation" mentioned a few times, and I have a few questions about it if anyone knows.

How does local-national affiliation work? Would the local organization have to change their letters, or would they be seen under the national organizations wing? In other words, would the local have to give up their letters in order to become a new chapter of the national organization?

Any answers are appreciated =)

If you are a member of the organization I believe you to be, I was under the impression that there are 5 chapters in current existence. Why not form an alumnae governing Board of Directors and pool your resources amongst your chapters?

I have all the answers for the questions you've asked.

PM the GCer known as tunatartare. I'll bet she'll know. :)

Well you brought me back from my 3+ month hiatus. :)

Christi- this is Masha, we've tried twice to go two different routes about becoming national and neither one of them worked. I'll explain more on Tuesday. :)

i think that once you affiliate with a national group you do take on their letters, and some of the history that goes along with the group. thats when your group applies to become a part of that national group as a new chapter

Hi Friend, missed you!

QMS ----> ZI Chapter of SN on May 19th, 1951.

So yes, you give up your letters, your colors, etc etc. The only thing you keep is your history. We still have a QMS paddle in our trophy case with little Spartans painted on it representing the local fraternity that existed at SJSU from 1943 to 1951 before becoming a chapter of SN

Omega Phi Alpha is a national service sorority, so our process may deviate significantly from the NPC organizations, but here's our philosophy....

When a local group decides to affiliate with us, we definitely want to incorporate them into the fold. We expect them to take our letters, colors, and other insignia. They learn our songs and rituals, and have the same rights and privileges as all other chapters as soon as they earn their charter.

But at the same time, we value and honor the history a group like this brings with them. We are definitely not trying to make them into 'clones' of other chapters! We encourage them to maintain local mascots and local traditions, as long as they don't detract or conflict with national policy. We go out of our way to select a chapter letter designation that reflects the previous name of the local organization when at all possible. And, of course, we have provisions to welcome the alumnae of the local organization as lifetime members of Omega Phi Alpha, if they wish.

We're lucky. Omega Phi Alpha's national organization values the individuality of each of our chapters, and gives the chapters a great deal of decision-making authority. Because of this, chapters are allowed (even encouraged) to take pride in their local histories, whether they started as a handful of women putting an OPA colony together or whether they started as a well-established local sorority seeking affiliation. If the local group has a kangaroo as a mascot (random example) they don't have to give it up --- they just have to recognize that as a local mascot and welcome our national mascot into their culture as well.

To be honest, colonizing an established group in some ways can be more challenging than colonizing a brand new group. Although they are much more organized than a typical start-up group, their emotional allegiance is strong to the old group culture and shifting that over to the new national group takes time. I remember working with a local that was affiliating with us a couple of years ago. We conducted their first OPhiA ritual on a retreat weekend and we had planned to do this ritual in our camping clothes in a very rustic setting. Right before the ritual, one of the girls realized that several were wearing hoodies with their local org's letters on them, and tearfully asked if they needed to change before we did the OPhiA ritual. We didn't have a policy to address this type of situation on a national level (as we usually performed this ritual in a much more formal setting with more formal attire), but I made a quick decision and told them to keep their local letters on. In this ritual, they would be receiving their OPhiA new member pin, and the symbolism of the OPhiA pin on the local org's letter shirt was a beautiful reflection of the transition this group was going through. After this group was inducted a few months later, several of the members told me that first ritual was an emotional turning point for them because of the sensitivity I had demonstrated with regard to their local org --- It was the first time they really felt an emotional attachment to OPhiA. I'm glad! They are a fantastic addition to our organization and we are lucky to have them.

When a local becomes absorbed by an NPC sorority, it gives up everything and takes on all aspects of the NPC group. Members will be told of the chapter's history as a local as part of their new member program, but it will retain none of the local's ritual, names, symbols, colors, etc.

There are still ways to incorporate your old cheers/songs (change the name!) and events into the new chapter's traditions, but you are no longer practicing as the local and many changes will take place. The atmosphere of your chapter will likely stay the same-- you are the same ladies, after all. But it is a big decision to change your name, rituals and such, and a long process to get there, as well.

I know of instances where NIC fraternities have allowed the letters of the absorbed local to become its chapter designation. For example, when Pi Lambda Phi absorbed Tau Delta Phi, the chapter became the Tau Delta chapter of Pi Lambda Phi.

Does anyone know of any NPC instances?

AOII chapters can pick their own chapter designation, so I'm guessing that's happened in their organization a couple of times.

Off the top of my head, the Wright State local Kappa Delta Chi became the Kappa Delta chapter of AOII. I don't think any other NPC orgs let chapters pick their own designations.

Kentucky: Prior to being a Kappa Delta chapter, it was a local sorority originally named "Black Cats". They later changed their name to Epsilon Omega Delta. When the local sorority became a chapter of Kappa Delta (in 1910), they became the Epsilon Omega chapter.

I believe had they not been so named, they would have been a single letter chapter (i.e. one of the first 24 chapters).

Yep. My own chapter, Lambda Tau, started as a local, Phi Lambda Tau. I also know that Theta Beta at Towson was originally a local called TBG (Towson's Best Girls). I'm sure there are countless other examples.

My chapter started as a local called Alpha Pi. As we already had an Alpha Pi chapter, our founders flipped it to become the Pi Alpha chapter.