How does one suggest a makeover?

[GGirlEC]

I'm a member of a local sorority on a small campus. Our sisters continuously serve as leaders and contributors to our Greek community, and maintain strong relationships with the two national sororities also present on campus. However, our organization's lack of national connections and history is serving to be a turn off to PNMs, greatly lowering our numbers. Given the time our sorority has existed (we're talking almost twenty years), it is definitely not as developed as it should be. Our rules continue to be wishy-washy (even by local standards) and basic details like cheers are still missing. Currently our members display no interest in working on this.

Basically, what I'm wondering is how one would propose revamping and solidifying our sorority, even going so far as to seek affiliation with a national organization, in a way that would least offend everyone. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? If anyone's sorority has chosen to become part of a national organization, how long does the process take?

[LPIDelta]

Have you talked to any of your closest sisters to see how they feel? Maybe they are thinking the same thing but not saying anything. Once you feel others out, you might talk to the most influential sister in the group (not necessarily a leader) or a local advisor to see if you can drum up any advocates.

That said, you need to be prepared to defend your feelings as well. Basically, people may wonder if it is a "national" experience you are looking for, why did you join a local?

The process to colonize with a national sorority varies based on the organization, your campus etc. Some take a year, others take a few months.

[Senusret I]

Sometimes you've just gotta sit back quietly, run for president, win, and shake things up.

Not the MOST sisterly way to create change, but if you've got the diplomacy skills, it could be effective.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Sometimes you've just gotta sit back quietly, run for president, win, and shake things up.

Not the MOST sisterly way to create change, but if you've got the diplomacy skills, it could be effective.

That's a great idea!! I might try that next year in my chapter.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by GGirlEC

I'm a member of a local sorority on a small campus. Our sisters continuously serve as leaders and contributors to our Greek community, and maintain strong relationships with the two national sororities also present on campus. However, our organization's lack of national connections and history is serving to be a turn off to PNMs, greatly lowering our numbers. Given the time our sorority has existed (we're talking almost twenty years), it is definitely not as developed as it should be. Our rules continue to be wishy-washy (even by local standards) and basic details like cheers are still missing. Currently our members display no interest in working on this.

Basically, what I'm wondering is how one would propose revamping and solidifying our sorority, even going so far as to seek affiliation with a national organization, in a way that would least offend everyone. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? If anyone's sorority has chosen to become part of a national organization, how long does the process take?

Are you the only local sorority on your campus, or are there others?

It may not be that things were not "developed," rather that they were lost over time. Get in touch with your alumnae (especially your founders if you can) and ask them if they have any details of the things they did.

And I'll ask an extension of what Heather did - are you the only one who feels this way, or are there others? Because if you're the lone voice here - and this local experience isn't what you want - you should probably terminate your membership.

[adpiucf]

If you're the only one who wants to go national, then you should join an NPC. If the other members are happy with the way things are, it's really a non-issue.

ETA: I also wanted to note, y'all are definitely doing something right if you've been around for 20 years. There are plenty of locals that fold in the first few years, and certainly plenty of NPCs who can't make it in the first few years as well. Kudos to your sisterhood-- that 20 years speaks volumes.

[FuzzieAlum]

Something to think about: If a genie granted you the choice of making your organization stronger (more certain rules, the first choice of rushees) and staying local, or going national (which would certainly give you more rules and be more attractive to some rushees), which would you choose?

There isn't a right answer, it's just something to guide how you approach this. If you're a local among nationals, I think there will always be some PNMs who won't consider you, but it is possible to be a strong, competitive organization with a structure that will last another 20 years and beyond.

Remember, too, that for all the PNMs who didn't consider you as a choice, you probably also have sisters who joined you because your were a local organization and they liked the looser rules. Women who found that very attractive are likely to be more resistant to change of either kind.

[GGirlEC]

Thanks for all of the advice you've given me so far. Even though we are the only local on campus, I don't think our problems stem from a being a local vs. a national, as much as it is that we are so focused on doing other things around campus that we have not been giving our organization the proper attention and up-keep. The idea of joining a national organization stems from the fact that our members seem less than enthused to come up with ideas of their own.

Right now being recruitment co-chair and pledge educator is allowing me to buckle down on our pledging process, which is really helping. Contacting our alums is a great idea because as I go through our binders I am seeing a lot of old traditions that seem to have been dropped through the years. If worse comes to worse... maybe I will just run for president.

[AnchorAlumna]

You're never going to offend nobody. Let's put it this way. SOMEBODY is bound to be offended.
But why not seriously suggest it? If nothing else, it might shake things up a bit and lead to some positive change.

[LPIDelta]

LadyLight, I think you may be confused. NPC, the National Panhellenic Conference, has rules for adding additional groups to the 26 member groups--but for a local sorority chapter to join an already established NPC sorority does not require a certain number of chapters etc.

With NPC groups on campus, the local may have to petition to those groups to open the campus to expansion, and that can be a tenuous process--but not impossible--especially at "smaller" Greek campuses.

GGirlEC--why don't you propose a "heritage team" for your sorority. This group would be charged with keeping the history updated, reviewing the old binders to discover past traditions and reintroduce them, and creating new ones. This could be a great job for newer members who may not have other responsibilities and seniors who may have limited time but you still want to keep them involved. This could be something you could coordinate in your member educator role.

[modorney]

My experience with a local joining a national involves a number of factors. Driving this involves having a few with a vision, passion and spare time to push it along. Usually it helps to have both alums on your team, as well as faculty and administration support. In general, colleges who like greeks, like nationals, since they help keep the houses out of trouble. This is more of a fraternity issue, sororities don't seem to have the same troubles.

The second thing is to find a national that is both compatible with you and is willing to accept you. Some nationals can absorb only a few colonies a year, and will have a "full plate". So they won't have time for you. Other nationals have a few houses, and are looking to grow to more than a hundred, which gives them economies of scale. But, being a local for 20 years means you aren't likely to fold on you. But that does mean you have established a "personality", and that needs to fit the national. Granted, a chapter on one campus is usually different than one on another, but there often is a commonality of traits.

The third thing is that colleges, in general, are getting tougher to get into (the "new ivies"), so the better your college gets, the more you will want the networking benefits of a good national. More and more grads will move away from the local area, usually because of a good job offer. They will want an alum chapter in their new city.

As mentioned, you have the vision, you may have to run for president and carry it through. But, if you are the lone wolf, and have experienced interest from a national house on campus, that may be a better option.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by LadyLight

I thought I had read that Panhellinics won't consider accepting smaller sororities into themselves until you had several chapters (and thus wouldn't truly be a local). However, they do consider individual women who are willing to drop all affiliation with their locals. Go back through and do a search, I know there was a thread somewhere that clearly explained the process of Locals being absorbed into both NPHC and NPC orgs.. I would say definantely get answers on that first because as someone already mentioned you certainly will offend someone in your local when you mention going national.

I think this post wins the "Most wrong info in one post" award.

National Panhellenic will accept a NEW GLO with a certain amount of chapters (with the youngest being at least 2 years old). It has nothing to do with individual NPCs taking over locals.

Individual women cannot join a GLO that is not on their campus, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. A GLO can accept ALL of the members TOGETHER of a local who want to become an NPC.

And I have absolutely no idea why you even brought NPHC into this, as it surely has nothing to do with this conversation. I don't think there has been any time in history where an NPHC has absorbed a local, and I don't think there ever will be.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I don't think there has been any time in history where an NPHC has absorbed a local, and I don't think there ever will be.

I can only speak on APhiA in this case, as I've never heard of it happening in other orgs, but in the early days we absorbed a few local societies. Some were Greek letter, some were not.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I can only speak on APhiA in this case, as I've never heard of it happening in other orgs, but in the early days we absorbed a few local societies. Some were Greek letter, some were not.

How did that work? Did they each have to be accepted, pledge, etc? I'm taking "early days" to mean 1910's-1920's? (This is also why I said "I don't think", caz I knew someone would have an exception ).


I said I don't see it happening today because of how selective y'all are. I can't see a current D9 taking a look at a group of people and saying "Yeah, sure, let's just take them all...".