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  #1  
Old 03-12-2012, 12:35 AM
ILove2BGreek ILove2BGreek is offline
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From colony to getting chartered - what happens if a sorority won't get chartered?

Hey guys! (:

I am new to the Greek community and to my current university because I just recently transferred from my community college to a 4-year school in my state.

Anyways, I did not have the chance to go through Formal, or Rush, and did COB, or informal, instead. I recently joined a colony on campus and have also been recently initiated.

I love my sorority and all the girls in it but the thing is .. They have been on campus since May 2010 or so but only managed to get four girls during Formal in 2011. Currently we only have 16 members in our sorority and a few of them are graduating this year.

One of my sisters now told me that our sorority might have to close if we don't get chartered .. and it seems unlikely that we'll get a lot of new members during Formal this year

What would happen in that case? Will I still stay a life-long member of my sorority?

And - if anybody knows of a similar experience - what can I do to recruit more members? A lot of new members seem to prefer bigger sororities.
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  #2  
Old 03-12-2012, 12:58 AM
KSUViolet06 KSUViolet06 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ILove2BGreek View Post
Hey guys! (:

I am new to the Greek community and to my current university because I just recently transferred from my community college to a 4-year school in my state.

Anyways, I did not have the chance to go through Formal, or Rush, and did COB, or informal, instead. I recently joined a colony on campus and have also been recently initiated.

I love my sorority and all the girls in it but the thing is .. They have been on campus since May 2010 or so but only managed to get four girls during Formal in 2011. Currently we only have 16 members in our sorority and a few of them are graduating this year.

One of my sisters now told me that our sorority might have to close if we don't get chartered .. and it seems unlikely that we'll get a lot of new members during Formal this year

What would happen in that case? Will I still stay a life-long member of my sorority?

And - if anybody knows of a similar experience - what can I do to recruit more members? A lot of new members seem to prefer bigger sororities.

Some sororities give the members of the closing colony the option to a. initiate into said sorority or b. be free to go through recruitment and join another sorority if they choose. Some just let you go free and clear to join another group (which you are free to do if not initiated.)

Every sorority handles this differently. This would be a good question for the Leadership Consultant or whatever staff member is helping you out (colonies usually have a staff member/consultant working directly with them.)
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  #3  
Old 03-12-2012, 02:00 AM
ILove2BGreek ILove2BGreek is offline
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Well .. I am not sure if our colony has to close.

My sister just told me that it might come down to that and that we won't get chartered if there won't be a lot of people who want to join during Fall recruitment this year.

I really love our sorority though and all my sisters - there's really nobody that I don't call my friend - which is exactly why I do not want our colony to close. ):

The sad fact is that our sorority is recolonizing on campus - the chapter had to close in the 80s due to not enough members being in it. I just don't want this to happen again.

It just makes me feel sad because every time when I am meeting other PNMs at COB events they use our sorority as a backup and then wait for the bid from a bigger one.
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  #4  
Old 03-12-2012, 02:13 AM
DubaiSis DubaiSis is offline
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Originally Posted by ILove2BGreek View Post
Hey guys! (:I recently joined a colony on campus and have also been recently initiated.
Can someone jump in here? How can she be an initiated member and still only be a colony member?
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  #5  
Old 03-12-2012, 02:16 AM
frangiblefacade frangiblefacade is offline
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Maybe right now instead of focusing on what will happen if your colony closes, you should be focusing on recruitment and getting more girls interested. You need to be meeting as many girls as possible. Sure, some of them will have you as their "backup" or whatever, but there have to be plenty of girls on your campus that would be interested in joining, you just aren't reaching them.
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  #6  
Old 03-12-2012, 02:22 AM
ILove2BGreek ILove2BGreek is offline
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So, how could I be meeting them?

There are not that many PNMs who show up to our COB events .. and I'm pretty new so I'm not sure how to "reach" interested PNMs, I guess.
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  #7  
Old 03-12-2012, 03:06 AM
DubaiSis DubaiSis is offline
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Your successful rushes won't be from the girls who show up, it will be from the girls who are personally invited. It's hard to do but you need to be getting to know the girls you have in classes, clubs, activities and invite them to your events. Especially when you're the new kids on the block your best bet might be the girls who never really thought about rush or sorority life. They won't have preconceived notions about who you are or your status on campus.

But I still don't understand how you can be initiated AND still be a colony member.
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  #8  
Old 03-12-2012, 03:35 AM
ILove2BGreek ILove2BGreek is offline
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Oh! Okay, now I have a better understanding of what I can actively do(:

Thanks!

Our sorority has been a colony since May 2010 .. it just hasn't been chartered yet because we do not have that many members. By-laws, etc. is all done, it's just that we need to have more active members, I think.

I've been initiated about two weeks ago now but I never really thought that being in a colony instead of being in a chapter does/would make a difference in some way.
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  #9  
Old 03-12-2012, 03:42 AM
melindawarren melindawarren is offline
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No, really, I am confused...how can you be initiated without a charter? Don't those two go hand in hand?
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  #10  
Old 03-12-2012, 04:37 AM
DubaiSis DubaiSis is offline
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Melinda, that's what I'm saying. Maybe there are NPC sororities who don't follow the protocols of the majority, but in my sorority, installation and initiation happen on the same day and it's a HUGE deal. Women come in from miles, even hundreds of miles away to observe and participate. Also, it's very unusual to allow a colony to struggle along for 2 years. I think standard would be if you can't get all your ducks in a row (for whatever reason, it doesn't mean you have failed of your own accord) within a year they'd have cancelled the colony as a mercy.

I think the OP needs to do some research about what she really has and the repercussions of closure. I would also suggest finding a poster online who is an alumna of your sorority and ask her privately about your policies and procedures. And that is after you've tried and failed to get these answers from your alumnae advisers, your leadership consultant, etc.

I'm glad you are willing to put in the work. That's important, but something still isn't adding up.
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  #11  
Old 03-12-2012, 05:05 AM
1stPhiDeltAlpha 1stPhiDeltAlpha is offline
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All I can say is RECRUIT,RECRUIT,RECRUIT!! Lol chalk your letters up (if your campus allows that) get your name out there!! Set up a table in the Student Union (with campus permission) and RECRUIT!! lol
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  #12  
Old 03-12-2012, 07:45 AM
DGTess DGTess is offline
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Other GCers have in the past mentioned I Heart Recruitment; I'm not familiar with it so don't know if it will help you or not.

However, this post from the Fraternal Musings blog made SO MUCH sense to me I wonder why it isn't required reading for small organizations. It is adaptable enough that I doubt panhellenic councils would get huffy - AND it's a smart move.
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  #13  
Old 03-12-2012, 07:45 AM
LAblondeGPhi LAblondeGPhi is offline
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Have someone in your sorority invest in the book "I Heart Recruitment": http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Recruitm...1552458&sr=8-1

You're totally lost on how to COB and get new members, and that's understandable. That book is an incredible resource for chapters in your situation - where informal recruitment will make a huge difference, and the traditional methods of just hosting an open house event aren't bringing in the women.

Good Luck!

ETA: DGTess beat me to it! We posted at the same time, with the same thought!
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  #14  
Old 03-12-2012, 08:07 AM
amIblue? amIblue? is offline
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I don't understand the initiation and no charter thing, either.
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  #15  
Old 03-12-2012, 08:12 AM
wavycutchip wavycutchip is offline
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Originally Posted by DubaiSis View Post
Can someone jump in here? How can she be an initiated member and still only be a colony member?
I don't have more than 1 experience to base this on, but the chapter I advise did initiate their 1st new members about 3 months before they received their charter. This was a special situation, because the campus was trying to charter 3 sorority chapters at the same time with all 3 getting their charters at the same time - and 2 were not willing to follow through with their colony charters at the original installation date.

I am sure there are lots of reasons for this, but in this particular case the alumnae advisory board asked for this to happen because the Leadership Consultants were out of town (the colonizing LC left in Nov., and 4 other LCs came for 3-6 day visits during the Spring Semester, and the colonizing LC came 2 more times) and the colony was acting like a chapter (had its officers, etc), but did not have access to all the tools (not only ritual, but membership, member ed, etc) and were constantly having to ask the local alumnae to log onto the national website for them to get additional information and access to do their job. Initiation was the only way for the women to have that access. During this time (colony with initiated members), the colony acted like a chapter - recruiting new members, running a new member program, holding philanthropy events, running chapter meetings, etc.

Again, I know the above situation was special; but I can understand that if the colony has been on campus for awhile as the OP said, I can see where the national organization would not be able to have an LC still in residence due to other needs of the organization.
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