Starting soror from scratch??

epchick · #1 02-04-2005, 12:20 PM

Hey guys,
There is a lack of sororities here at my campus, so my friends and I wanna start (from scratch) a new sorority. Unfortunately, the sororities here won't help us, or give us any ideas how to start.

Can anyone give us guidance on how to start? Is it worthwhile to start one (from scratch) or to just bring an existing sorority on campus? Any help would be appreciated thanks!

ShootingStar · #2 02-04-2005, 12:22 PM

i pmed you

omegamcgee · #3 02-04-2005, 02:28 PM

I started a new sorority from scratch on my campus. We're a local, but we're here. My best friend and I got the idea, and we ran with it. If you need help or have any questions, feel free to contact me. Good luck!

kddani · #4 02-04-2005, 04:03 PM

also, look for the "Rush at UCSC" thread in the Rush forum. It's VERY detailed, it'll suck you in, it's very long so much sure you have time! I think it covers a lot of issues whether it's a local or a future NPC that you would like to start.

WSUcheer99 · #5 02-04-2005, 06:26 PM

You might also want to talk to the greek life advisor to see if any sororites are just inactive at your school that you could possibly re-start. That may be a little easier to do, plus the HQ would probably send some people out to help you. From what I have heard is most Universities have to be accepting new greek org's for you to start one. That may not be the case with all Universities. Definately let us know what happens!

astroAPhi · #6 02-04-2005, 06:30 PM

Do you have a similar thread on LiveJournal? Just curious, since I posted there.

Talk to your Greek Life office first to see if the campus can handle another sorority. The other sororities may not be willing to help because they're struggling themselves.

I would strongly suggest doing a lot of research on already existing sororities, national or local. They both have their benefits, and it just depends on what you want and what is the best fit for your group. Either way, starting a new group is a lot of work.

epchick · #7 02-04-2005, 06:49 PM

We have thought of just bringing another sorority here on campus, but we just have several concerns.

See we were pledging another sorority here on campus, and we had a very bad experience during our pledging process. It didn't stop us from wanting to be in a sorority, but it definitely made us rethink how we wanted to approach everything.

And so what we are just really concerned about is making sure that future pledges of our sorority don't go through the same thing that we went through with the other sorority. We wanna make being a sorority has fun as possible, so that more people on campus will think of turning greek.

Its just that our sororities here don't seem to have that mentality.

Thanks for y'all help, if you have any more suggestions please let me know, and i'll keep y'all posted!!

alphaalpha · #8 02-04-2005, 07:07 PM

I think the problem would lie in what the issues are that you are talking about. I mean, say hazing. If hazing is the issue then i understand why you did not want that and how you would not want to be part of that nor future generations of sororities. However, any group, a group that you create from scratch or bringing an already established sorority can have this happen.

Does this make sence? I can understand your feelings. I did not want the future generations of my sorority to go through anything like that. Part of how you can avoid something like that from happening would be 1) recruiting strong women who would not participate in those activities

2) training women on how to act, whats right and wrong, what you can and can not do and also working with issues of self esteem

3) self esteem is an important element to teach women about. I know many girls that feel that they should act a certain way and not question authority. Well the founders of my sorority were all about questioning the "establishment" and how one can enact change in a positive way. I always tried to push the education of the new member in not just history or the sorority, but how we can learn from the founders efforts, ie the history of the sorority, and applie it to our lives. Proper education can create or develop some really great qualities in women. The more you educate and train your new members the more they will continue what values you set forth no matter if you start your own local sorority or restart an inert chapter or decide to open a new chapter of an alreay established national organization

let us know what you decide to do.
debbie

PS do read the UCSC its long but oh my god it is a great story and can be a very educational as to what to do and what not to do.

epchick · #9 02-04-2005, 07:20 PM

The Pledging Process I'm talking about didn't really include any hazing. It was supposed to be a minimum 8 weeks of pure pledging, but the way that the sisters treated us was bad. Even now that I dropped out, they can't look at you without giving you a dirty look.

That was just the main concern about bringing an already established sorority to our campus. Because if we start a new sorority, we can include information on the pledging process in our constitution, but we just don't know where to start (and I have started reading that UCSC thread).

Thanks again everyone.

alphaalpha · #10 02-04-2005, 07:30 PM

Other people can correct me be even if you are part of a national org you can still have your own constitution. I was part of a service org and we had to write our own constitution. Plus i would still say that alot would depend on how you teach new members and teach by example how to act would be the best way of how to ensure that the problems you face would not happen in your organization.

Just my two cents, but i have meet a lot of people over the years and in my opinion again from my experience this is how to be in a good group of people. also, i think that part of your new member selection could weed people out.

good luck

epchick · #11 02-04-2005, 07:52 PM

Does that mean that if i start a chapter of an established sorority that we can change up the pledging process? Don't we have to keep the same pledging process? I'm confused.

astroAPhi · #12 02-04-2005, 08:29 PM

Any (inter)national sorority is going to have certain guidelines that they want you to follow for the pledge/new member process. Most of them are for the new member's own safety and well-being. They are there to protect the new members. But from what it sounds, you would respect those rules because of your prior bad experience. However, most sororities' new member program is very similar, in that they teach the history of their sisterhood and what it means to be a sister of their organization. How you want to go about it is up to you (keeping in mind their safety and well-being, of course).

alphaalpha · #13 02-04-2005, 09:27 PM

AstroAPhi is right. Stuff like time of pledge period is usually set in stone, more or less. But how new members are treated would be up to the women in the sorority. If you have a problem with the length that is one thing that is relatively set (but my pledge period was extended by 3 weeks plus xmas break, so nothing is absolute) Anyway. i am just trying to press the point that there will be many things that will be up to you as leadership of a sorority wheather you are local or associate with an exsisting organization. You can control how people are treated and set an example of how to treat people and possible set in your local constitution how to deal with people who treat new members in unsisterly ways.

i really don't mean to be rude, but if you problem is simply that the girls were mean would be simply taken care of by treating people like you want to be treated, setting examples and if needed setting rules on what can be done to regulate unsisterly behavior. Maybe I am misunderstanding what the problem was, but how i am understanding the problem can be resolved not simply starting your own org. but by how you set an example and treat people. if this is the case then you can only control peoples behavior so much and is best left to leading by example.

wish you the best of luck, i have said this before in other posts but i think it is super exciting to start your own org and how exciting it is to start your own traditions and what not.

JenDG · #14 02-08-2005, 07:10 PM

You won't be able to start a chapter of an existing (inter)national organization. You will have to go through a rather long process of starting your own local group. You will need to name it, give it colors, mottos, bylaws, set dues, have meetings, etc. You will definitely have to discuss it with Greek Life at your school. Greek Life may tell you that the University is not interested in expansion and your local may be put on the back burner to simmer until the school is ready for another NPC organization. Becoming a junior member of your school's Panhellenic Council is paramount, you will not be allowed to vote, but can get an idea of what is involved. If the school is looking to expand, there is a rather formal courting process between the organizations interested in your group, and the school. It is most likely that if you engage in this process, you won't be initiated until long after graduation (provided the organization allows for alumna initiates). I'll be happy to discuss further, if you're interested.

kddani · #15 02-08-2005, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JenDG
You won't be able to start a chapter of an existing (inter)national organization. You will have to go through a rather long process of starting your own local group. You will need to name it, give it colors, mottos, bylaws, set dues, have meetings, etc. You will definitely have to discuss it with Greek Life at your school. Greek Life may tell you that the University is not interested in expansion and your local may be put on the back burner to simmer until the school is ready for another NPC organization. Becoming a junior member of your school's Panhellenic Council is paramount, you will not be allowed to vote, but can get an idea of what is involved. If the school is looking to expand, there is a rather formal courting process between the organizations interested in your group, and the school. It is most likely that if you engage in this process, you won't be initiated until long after graduation (provided the organization allows for alumna initiates). I'll be happy to discuss further, if you're interested.

This post isn't entirely true.