Helping a friend AI my org
 

Hi everyone,

I made a new screen name because under my usual name on here, it's very obvious which sorority I am in. I want this to be a complete surprise at the end, should it result in my friend's AI! I will call her Jane.

So, here are some details, though I'm going to try not to be too specific, because I don't want my location or my org to be figured out. It's too easy already to narrow down orgs because not all of them allow AI.

• I've already contacted my nationals, and we do, in fact, allow AI. I'm able to sponsor her since I'm an alum in good standing. I'm also an executive officer in my local alumnae chapter.
• Jane attended school first at a private university with a Greek system, then transferred to a state university that also had a Greek system. She went through recruitment at the state school and ultimately joined a local sorority, not a national (this campus had both). The local has since gone inactive & my org colonized a chapter there which is now active, but all that happened after she graduated. Edited to add: the local did not become a colony of my national - if it had, then she could automatically be initiated at some point without much other effort.
• Jane and I have been best friends since we met on the playground when we were in 5th grade! She is a single mom who works really hard to make sure her son has everything he needs.
• Helping her with her AI journey came about because on New Year's Eve she was telling me how she wishes she had national connections & sisterhood from college, and while she loves the girls from her local and keeps in touch with them, she feels like she missed out something since it wasn't a national group. She said if she could do recruitment all over again she'd explain that she'd be on campus for 2.5 years, not 1.5. Because of transferring schools, she knew when she went through recruitment it was going to take her 5 years total to graduate but didn't think at the time to mention it to the girls in the different chapters when going through recruitment parties. Also, grades were an issue - she is a very hard worker, but due to a documented learning disability, she struggled a bit and had less than a 3.0 GPA in college. The Greek system where she went to school wasn't competitive like the SEC but being older and the grades issue probably hurt her chances.
• Last week I thought about that conversation & realized that my org allows AI so I researched this week and sent her texts about what we'd need to do. She wants to move forward so now I'm going to see if I can introduce her to some of my alum chapter ladies and go from there.

I do not expect this process to move quickly. It could be 1-2 years before any major progress is made, because ideally I'd like for her to become friends with other women in my alum chapter first. Also, I'm terribly swamped with grad school and working 2 part time jobs, so I'll be fitting this in around all that.

None of our other good friends from high school went Greek so I'm kind of her only connection to an org! I would love if she could become my sister...I think that she really would have fit in with my collegiate chapter had we gone to the same university & because of it being such a long-standing friendship it would be amazing to add another layer to it with a sacred bond. Plus she could possibly initiate at the school she attended, now that they have a chapter of my org, so that would be cool too.

Wish both Jane and I luck! I'll try to post here whenever anything happens, like if she attends anything where she can meet my sisters...etc.

Whether she decides to initiate into your chapter or the one from her school, be sure she gets to meet the members of that chapter in advance (even if this isn't a required stipulation). If she just randomly shows up at initiation or just takes the designation without actually having some contact with the chapter members,.it might not go over too well.

In my experience AIs are nominated by an alumna or two, sometimes by an alumnae chapter depending on the org. The AI is initiated at a nearby university chapter often during the chapter's regular initiations. The chapter knows about it ahead of time. The initiation is attended by some of the alumnae from the chapter the AI will be a member of as well as local national officers and any family members who are members of the sorority. The collegiate members always thought it was neat.

Exactly, FSUZeta. Paperwork would have to be filed for her to be initiated and therefore the collegiate chapter would be made aware. I've been involved in a few and they were always clued in.

Even more than being clued in, in our case, the collegiate chapter HAS to sign off and give permission for the initiation before paperwork can be submitted.

My org would have the collegiate chapter clued in well before the initiation date, because nationals would contact them to make it happen.

My org also requires a unanimous vote of the national council for an AI to get an invitation to join. I'm nervous about that hurdle for Jane. I mean her character is amazing but she's not famous/a legacy/someone who pledged but didn't initiate, and all those things improve chances. It's not impossible but I'm more prepared to hear no, than yes for an answer, when the time comes.

Luckily our AI process is easy and does not require any sort of approval at the collegiate level. A form is filled out and approved by our FHQ and the appropriate staff.

I hope it goes well for your friend!