Start a Frat

Hi i have a quick question. How would i go to start a frat at my college. Like what steps do i take and what will I have to plan ahead of time.

[macallan25]

Start by calling it a Fraternity.

[AlphaFrog]

If you think "How do I start a 'frat'?" is a 'quick question', just forget it now.

[adpiucf]

It's a lot of time and work-- you'd have a much easier time of it by pledging an existing fraternity at your school. Good luck.

[GV Spi]

I was a colonizing member of my chapter. We're part of an international GLO. Here's what we had to do.

Get together 30+ of your campus's leaders and somehow get them to become friends/brothers before they butt heads so much that they start killing eachother.

Establish a constitution and bylaws that everyone can agree on.

Elect an executive board and establish committees.

Figure out what that entire brotherhood thing is all about.

Really figure out what brotherhood is all about.

Make a budget and figure out dues. Fight over dues and budget. Make a new one.

Realize that you had brotherhood wrong.

Figure brotherhood out again.

Devote more time to your burgeoening fraternity than you do to schoolwork and your other organizations combined all the while maintaining your chapter's, your national's and your campus' academic standards.

Study for your GLO's exam (ours was freakin' hard).

Suddenly develop an understanding of brotherhood.

Recruit. A lot.

Establish your presence on campus.

Come to the sudden realization that every single one of these guys will be at your wedding and you, even if you have to fly back early from vacationing in Guam in order to attend a brother's wedding in the snowiest place in Canada, will be at every single one of theirs.

Fight with the administration (a lot. My campus' administration has been becoming infamous for their efforts to quash the fraternities).

Plan events. Lots of events. Get people to come out to your events.

Work on getting your charter (our manual on chartering is freakishly long and is filled with detailed checklists of stuff to have done).

Continue studying for your GLO's exam.

Truly become a brother.

Ritual.

Chartering.

Finding a way to avoid the post chartering slump (your chances of failing are highest immediately after chartering).

Still finding yourself devoting more time to your GLO than to school or other organizations.



It's not easy stuff. Don't try to start a new chapter unless you are willing to put in the work and are willing to risk failure. More importantly, understand that the chapter you attempt to start will most likely not succeed unless it somehow fulfills a need on your campus. A clone of Delta Sigma Phi or Sigma Phi Epsilon simply won't succeed. Each fraternity had similarities, sure, but the Theta Chi chapter at my campus is in no way my fraternity nor is mine Theta Chi. Especially at a school with a small Greek population, starting a clone will only cause one of the organizations to suffer. Given that yours would be the newer and weaker one, you can imagine which organization would be more likely to survive.

[Tom Earp]

Seems as if this poster is not really that interested in working to attain something

[adpiucf]

You're able to deduce his level of ambition based on his one and only post of under 35 words?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

You're able to deduce his level of ambition based on his one and only post of under 35 words?

The fact that his post was under 35 words is a pretty good indication of ambition.

[GVSU_SigPi_Gea]

Originally Posted by GV Spi

I was a colonizing member of my chapter. We're part of an international GLO. Here's what we had to do.

Get together 30+ of your campus's leaders and somehow get them to become friends/brothers before they butt heads so much that they start killing eachother.

Establish a constitution and bylaws that everyone can agree on.

Elect an executive board and establish committees.

Figure out what that entire brotherhood thing is all about.

Really figure out what brotherhood is all about.

Make a budget and figure out dues. Fight over dues and budget. Make a new one.

Realize that you had brotherhood wrong.

Figure brotherhood out again.

Devote more time to your burgeoening fraternity than you do to schoolwork and your other organizations combined all the while maintaining your chapter's, your national's and your campus' academic standards.

Study for your GLO's exam (ours was freakin' hard).

Suddenly develop an understanding of brotherhood.

Recruit. A lot.

Establish your presence on campus.

Come to the sudden realization that every single one of these guys will be at your wedding and you, even if you have to fly back early from vacationing in Guam in order to attend a brother's wedding in the snowiest place in Canada, will be at every single one of theirs.

Fight with the administration (a lot. My campus' administration has been becoming infamous for their efforts to quash the fraternities).

Plan events. Lots of events. Get people to come out to your events.

Work on getting your charter (our manual on chartering is freakishly long and is filled with detailed checklists of stuff to have done).

Continue studying for your GLO's exam.

Truly become a brother.

Ritual.

Chartering.

Finding a way to avoid the post chartering slump (your chances of failing are highest immediately after chartering).

Still finding yourself devoting more time to your GLO than to school or other organizations.



It's not easy stuff. Don't try to start a new chapter unless you are willing to put in the work and are willing to risk failure. More importantly, understand that the chapter you attempt to start will most likely not succeed unless it somehow fulfills a need on your campus. A clone of Delta Sigma Phi or Sigma Phi Epsilon simply won't succeed. Each fraternity had similarities, sure, but the Theta Chi chapter at my campus is in no way my fraternity nor is mine Theta Chi. Especially at a school with a small Greek population, starting a clone will only cause one of the organizations to suffer. Given that yours would be the newer and weaker one, you can imagine which organization would be more likely to survive.

yea, the worst part is, i know this guy and i had to colonize with him .
To the guy who started this thread: one pointer that was left out of this: if you are looking to start a beer drinking organization (which im guessing you are based on the lack of your attendance on this thread), don't waste your time with a national IFC fraternity, or greek letters in general. just find some friends that like sports, athletics, and find a place with a room that can hold 3 couches, 2 tvs, and go to town.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by GVSU_SigPi_Gea

To the guy who started this thread: one pointer that was left out of this: if you are looking to start a beer drinking organization (which im guessing you are based on the lack of your attendance on this thread), don't waste your time with a national IFC fraternity. go start a local (or make up some letters in your basement and pretend you're a big deal)

Dude...2 posts and I like this guy already.

[GVSU_SigPi_Gea]

haha nice. i went to edit my post, but you quoted me before i could get to it. i thought i was being too mean, but clearly not.

for future notice: i will not censure myself any longer. thanks for the warm welcome to the forum too!

[REE1993]

Something I remember from long ago... would you call your mother a "moth" or your country a "cOunt"?

[AlphaFrog]

Yeah, not a big fan of "frat", but something tells me that what he calls it is the least of this OP's problems...

[GVSU_SigPi_Gea]

would you call yourself a fraternity man during the week, but a frat boy on saturday night?

[REE1993]

Originally Posted by GVSU_SigPi_Gea

would you call yourself a fraternity man during the week, but a frat boy on saturday night?

*scratches head*

Now, would that be propagating the stereotype of a Greek?
*giggle*