GreekChat.com Forums  

Go Back   GreekChat.com Forums > Greek Life

Greek Life This forum is for various discussion topics regarding greek life. If you are posting a non-greek related message, please do so in one of the General Chat Topic forums.


Register Now for FREE!
Join GreekChat.com, The Fraternity & Sorority Greek Chat Network. To sign up for your FREE account INSTANTLY fill out the form below!

Username: Password: Confirm Password: E-Mail: Confirm E-Mail:
 
Image Verification
Please enter the six letters or digits that appear in the image opposite.

  I agree to forum rules 

» GC Stats
Members: 325,040
Threads: 115,496
Posts: 2,195,824
Welcome to our newest member, ausinpetrov7195
» Online Users: 1,234
2 members and 1,232 guests
Phrozen Sands, Xidelt
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 07-05-2017, 01:48 AM
joeshmo joeshmo is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 10
what to do

My frat is pretty low tier and with a bad reputation on a pretty big greek life campus. We want to grow our social presence with sororities. Is it weird to bring flowers to a sorority house and ring the bell and start striking up conversation?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-05-2017, 07:09 AM
FSUZeta FSUZeta is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: naples, florida
Posts: 18,404
Fraternities serenaded sororities back in my day, and we were quite impressed when they did! One fraternity in particular would sing the Beach Boys song "California Girls", substituting different sororities for the northern girls, southern girls, etc., and substitute California Girls with the sorority they were serenading. Several of the brothers accompanied the group on guitars. We could tell they had practiced a lot because they were so good and sang in harmony! It was impressive. After they sang that song, the president stepped forward and said(in a clear voice so that all could hear) "The men of ABC fraternity would like to invite the ladies of Zeta Tau Alpha to a (what type of party) on (the day and date). I am sure their social chair had contacted our social chair prior to this to avoid a date conflict. They handed our president a bouquet of flowers, sang a fraternity song and left. Our house was abuzz for days after that and we looked forward to the party with them.
__________________
I live in Fantasyland and I have waterfront property.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-05-2017, 07:18 AM
Titchou Titchou is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Sweet Home Alabama
Posts: 4,569
Perhaps send flowers to all the groups during work week before recruitment with a note wishing them a good recruitment? Or deliver them yourselves but arrange in advance with the vp:recruitment when would be a good time to "make a delivery" to them.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-05-2017, 11:03 AM
joeshmo joeshmo is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by FSUZeta View Post
Fraternities serenaded sororities back in my day, and we were quite impressed when they did! One fraternity in particular would sing the Beach Boys song "California Girls", substituting different sororities for the northern girls, southern girls, etc., and substitute California Girls with the sorority they were serenading. Several of the brothers accompanied the group on guitars. We could tell they had practiced a lot because they were so good and sang in harmony! It was impressive. After they sang that song, the president stepped forward and said(in a clear voice so that all could hear) "The men of ABC fraternity would like to invite the ladies of Zeta Tau Alpha to a (what type of party) on (the day and date). I am sure their social chair had contacted our social chair prior to this to avoid a date conflict. They handed our president a bouquet of flowers, sang a fraternity song and left. Our house was abuzz for days after that and we looked forward to the party with them.
Wouldn't it be awkward especially with sororities we don't know at all to take it to a bit more of a provocative level when you barely know any of them?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 07-05-2017, 11:16 AM
33girl 33girl is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Hotel Oceanview
Posts: 34,486
What on earth in that post was "provocative"?
__________________
It is all 33girl's fault. ~DrPhil
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 07-05-2017, 11:47 AM
joeshmo joeshmo is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl View Post
What on earth in that post was "provocative"?
Provocative was the wrong word. I meant too forward with an organization you have little association with.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 07-05-2017, 12:46 PM
33girl 33girl is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Hotel Oceanview
Posts: 34,486
Maybe serenade first and ask them to a party later. Girls love when guys sing to them! (See: Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge) Keep the song sweet, not sexy.

ETA: how do other fraternities on campus interact with sororities? Are the best-liked fraternities that way because of things they actively do, or are they riding on a long-term reputation or a nice house?
__________________
It is all 33girl's fault. ~DrPhil
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 07-05-2017, 01:00 PM
joeshmo joeshmo is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl View Post
Maybe serenade first and ask them to a party later. Girls love when guys sing to them! (See: Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge) Keep the song sweet, not sexy.

ETA: how do other fraternities on campus interact with sororities? Are the best-liked fraternities that way because of things they actively do, or are they riding on a long-term reputation or a nice house?
At my school, serenading is not big at all. Most fraternities seem to have both but mainly the reputation I believe. It seems as if most of the smaller and bottom fraternities do not make an effort to bond with sororities but I am not entirely sure. Is going to their house and bringing their chapter flowers a rather childish idea?
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 07-05-2017, 01:01 PM
FSUZeta FSUZeta is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: naples, florida
Posts: 18,404
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeshmo View Post
Wouldn't it be awkward especially with sororities we don't know at all to take it to a bit more of a provocative level when you barely know any of them?
Provocative? Not hardly. Just telling you what worked successfully, was very impressive, and had the attention/jealousy of the other sororities.

Do you have any ideas of your own? We might yea or nay them, if you are willing to share.
__________________
I live in Fantasyland and I have waterfront property.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 07-05-2017, 01:20 PM
joeshmo joeshmo is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by FSUZeta View Post
Provocative? Not hardly. Just telling you what worked successfully, was very impressive, and had the attention/jealousy of the other sororities.

Do you have any ideas of your own? We might yea or nay them, if you are willing to share.
We are definitely going to do serenades ( even though they are not big at my uni) once we have established some ground with the sororities. My chapter decided this after I discussed it with other chapters in different schools to see if it may be a little too early to do serenades if we have little to no connection with the sororities. Last semester, we went to two different sorority houses with about 6-7 guys to introduce ourselves during a chapter meeting and while it seemed to go smoothly it was not very personal and awkward in some sense. To make it more personal, I thought a couple of well dressed pledges/actives with flowers and a card go to the respective sorority and just chat with whoever is in the house at that time and exchange contact information.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 07-05-2017, 02:37 PM
PhilTau PhilTau is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Oregon
Posts: 176
All of the above is excellent advice. This is for other groups that may be lurking out there.

If you are a chapter of a national fraternity, I'd add this:

1) Contact your national office and tell them your problem.

2) Ask them for a short list of their most successful chapters that have been on campus (for say) six years or less. Hopefully, there will be at least one in your region of the country.

3) Contact the current (or former) president of each chapter and find out what they are doing now and what they did in the past to remedy the problem you are facing.

4) Try to adapt what they did to what your particular chapter is capable of doing now. Don't spend a lot of time trying to reinvent the wheel here. And don't invest a lot of time into something where success is not guaranteed. For example, if another chapter had a winning routine for Anchor Splash, ask them to send you a video of it and copy the routine. If the chapter has a successful rush event, copy it. You need things that you can do successfully now. But be sure to stay within the IFC and university rules.

The other chapters of your fraternity do want you to succeed - and they will help you do this. But you will have to ask them.

Last edited by PhilTau; 07-05-2017 at 02:45 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 07-05-2017, 02:42 PM
navane navane is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 2,872
Good advice has been given above.

Just as a programming note - you appear to be the same poster from before ("boyyy"), who is now registered under a new name. Don't forget that we already gave you some good advice previously. We also cautioned you a bit about trying to focus too hard on mixing with who you feel are the "higher tier" sororities and calling them "entitled".

See here: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/se...rchid=15394491


I like your current thread (this one) better. Just keep in mind to not over-do it with the sororities so as to not come off as desperate. You already told us that your fraternity had been kicked off last year and the chapter is now back. You have a little bit of a hill to climb to repair the broken reputation. Trying to associate with who you feel are the "better" sororities in order to up your reputation is disingenuous. Be the better men and everything else will start to come around. Slow and steady wins the race - over time, be friendly, polite and act like gentlemen. People want to be around other people who are having fun. So, if you fellas have a nice BBQ cook-out or something, don't act like total drunk dorks or something. Be stand-up guys to each other in the fraternity and to your classmates. Doing well in the all-Greek competitions, scholarship, charity events, etc. will also go a long way. I liked someone's previous suggestion to participate in the sororities' philanthropy events. That will give you an opportunity to get the know the women without being awkward about it.

We want to see you all grow and succeed. Good luck.
__________________
GFB Z
Gamma Phi Beta

True and Constant
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 07-05-2017, 03:41 PM
joeshmo joeshmo is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by navane View Post
Good advice has been given above.

Just as a programming note - you appear to be the same poster from before ("boyyy"), who is now registered under a new name. Don't forget that we already gave you some good advice previously. We also cautioned you a bit about trying to focus too hard on mixing with who you feel are the "higher tier" sororities and calling them "entitled".

See here: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/se...rchid=15394491


I like your current thread (this one) better. Just keep in mind to not over-do it with the sororities so as to not come off as desperate. You already told us that your fraternity had been kicked off last year and the chapter is now back. You have a little bit of a hill to climb to repair the broken reputation. Trying to associate with who you feel are the "better" sororities in order to up your reputation is disingenuous. Be the better men and everything else will start to come around. Slow and steady wins the race - over time, be friendly, polite and act like gentlemen. People want to be around other people who are having fun. So, if you fellas have a nice BBQ cook-out or something, don't act like total drunk dorks or something. Be stand-up guys to each other in the fraternity and to your classmates. Doing well in the all-Greek competitions, scholarship, charity events, etc. will also go a long way. I liked someone's previous suggestion to participate in the sororities' philanthropy events. That will give you an opportunity to get the know the women without being awkward about it.

We want to see you all grow and succeed. Good luck.
The post that you referred to doesn't seem to be working. All of the advice has been great and i'm taking little parts from each especially PhiTau to reach out to national chapter. The hard part is it's like almost starting from scratch so technically we are in competition with other fraternities for the sorority's time whether it's some superficial ranking of "tiers" or not.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 07-05-2017, 07:37 PM
CaliAggie CaliAggie is offline
GreekChat Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Granite Bay, CA
Posts: 36
Are you near any of your fraternity's other chapters? And by near I mean a 6 hour drive or less. I'm guessing yes. So why not invite your brothers from the other chapters over. Make a social or philanthropic weekend event out of it (or better yet, do both!) and invite the sororities. It's a nice way to not only make your fraternity and chapter look better to the girls, it also helps your image with potential rushees. Plus it builds brotherhood with the guys in your area (think: job network after college) and gives them an excuse to go on a road trip to your campus! Just be sure to show them some good hospitality while they visit!

Last edited by CaliAggie; 07-05-2017 at 07:42 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 07-06-2017, 09:47 AM
Kevin Kevin is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Posts: 18,654
Do you not have a local chapter adviser? That would seem the logical place to go first. They're going to have a better understanding of your campus culture than GC or your national HQ.
__________________
SN -SINCE 1869-
"EXCELLING WITH HONOR"
S N E T T
Mu Tau 5, Central Oklahoma
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:54 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.