Alumnae Panhellenic
 

I recently attended a meeting of my local alumnae Panhellenic in place of our regular member. We don't have representation from every NPC, perhaps 15 were present. We were going over which sororities our local girls had joined. One girl had joined a sorority that does not have very many chapters in Texas. One alumnae said, "Never heard of it, must be a local" in a rather obnoxious tone. I told her that it was a national sorority and a member of the NPC. I suppose she thought if they don't have a chapter at Texas, they just don't exist, bless her heart.

I may be off base, but shouldn't a member of our local Panhellenic at least know there are 26 national sororities (12 of which are NOT at Texas)?

They should know, but many many people don't. :rolleyes: When Alpha Phi re-joined the row at the U of Alabama, I was amazed by how many people had never heard of them, much less that they had been at Alabama until the early 1960s.
You can't blame them. Until the past 10 years, Alpha Phi had very, very few chapters at schools in the southeast US.
Heck, Alpha Sigma Tau's national headquarters was in Birmingham until just a few years ago, and many people had never heard of them.

Yeah, a few years ago at UIFI a girl from one of the bigger NPC groups asked me point blank (and again, with an unpleasant tone) if Theta Phi Alpha was a local. Why she couldn't have just tactfully done a quick check on her smart phone is beyond me. She is now a leadership/traveling/educational consultant for her org. :rolleyes:

While I don't personally know women from each of the NPC sororities, I try to know at least a little bit about each one--just in case I ever do meet a sister from that group. Maybe it's because my own group is on the smaller end and I know how the "are you a local?" bit can sting, or that I'm just a geek for all things Greek. I really feel it's important to be Panhellenically aware.

Yes!