sorority expansion

Phi Sigma Sigma, which has been at UF before

Phi Sigma Sigma

Ten years ago when DZ came on campus, the way it worked was that during Round 1 of fall recruitment the national DZ representatives did a presentation in a room at the Reitz to each group of PNMs about DZs history, plans for a house, etc. All PNMs attend like any other Round 1 party. Then, during Round 2, recruitment goes back to normal. After formal recruitment is over, DZs national reps tabled in Turlington, promoted DZ, and then do interviews with potential members, a mix of women who dropped out rush and women who want to go Greek but maybe never rushed or never took a bid. From all the interviewed women, in early fall, DZ picked a starting class that was about the size of house total at the time. I think DZ alums and consultants interviewed. I don't know much about the work of establishing a colony but that's how their recruitment works.

close but just fyi, interest group is the term used when a group of people are interested in starting a new sorority and going national. If they first formed a local sorority (only present at this campus, with different letters than any NPC group), and they are interested in going national, the national will absorb the local.

A colony is a term just used for a new group.

M, I think you are talking about an existing interest group of women who have organized themselves and are looking for national affiliation. That is not what is occurring here.

When a campus votes to expand, all the NPC sororities without an active chapter may submit a packet expressing their interest in establishing a colony. The campus Panhellenic chooses from the packets and invites three organizations to participate. They are under no obligation to choose a chapter just because a previous chapter existed on campus, though they can certainly take that into consideration. For instance, Delta Zeta's chapter in 2003 was not a re-colonization, it was a brand new chapter. Delta Zeta was not the only org to present, and one of the orgs that also presented DID have a previous chapter on UF, but was still not selected at that time.

Phi Sigma Sigma, or the other two, would only interview potential members if formally invited to establish a chapter by Panhellenic. At this point, GPhiB, APhi, and Phi Sigma Sigma have only been invited to present, not to colonize. It is possible that none will be chosen, one will be chosen, or more than one will be chosen in a "stacked" expansion, where one comes on campus during a certain year and then another is invited to comes on campus later.

The "consideration" piece comes into play in inviting chapters to present, but again is not binding or a requirement at all. And it is just "consideration," not a right to be offered first dibs.

This is the part that UF has already completed by inviting three orbs to present: "Notification of the extension opening can come in two forms, either by directly targeting specific NPC member groups and/or utilizing the NPC Extension Committee in notifying all 26 NPC groups. The College Panhellenic may choose to target certain NPC groups. Consideration should be given to NPC groups with previously installed chapters on campus and NPC groups that have expressed interest in the campus through previous presentations or letters of interest on file."

Alpha Phi and Gamma Phi Beta are powerhouses. Phi Sigma Sigma is one of the smallest NPC sororities and very weak. It would be a huge mistake for UF to pick them.

I think you are still a little confused about the process. The three sororities invited to present have been invited because they have expressed interest in presenting and would like to establish a colony. UF Panhellenic didn't choose them off the list of all remaining chapters, they chose them based on interest packets filed by those national organizations expressing interest in being at UF. "Completely different sororities" will not be colonizing at this time. While very, very rare instances can occur where a campus Panhellenic declines to invite any groups, or where the groups who present decide after the fact that they'd rather not establish a colony on that campus, those are incredibly unlikely scenarios, usually due to some kind of issue with the health of the greek system on that campus. UF is a campus with a strong greek system, a track record of a strong colonization (DZ), and a definite need and demand for a new chapter.

If UF Panhellenic decides they want more than one chapter, they will likely propose "stacked" expansion, where they will choose one of the three they invited to present to establish a colony next fall, and then choose another to establish a colony two or three years down the road. However, they may just make one invitation as well. The only time I can think of that two chapters colonized at the same time was at Arkansas two years ago.

you are correct and know what you're talking about.

There have been several other instances of multiple colonies establishing at the same time, ex: Sacred Heart University in CT, however that is an extremely rare situation and usually with campuses that are starting a new greek system and don't currently have existing chapters.

Arkansas did also have Phi Mu and Alpha Chi Omega colonize at the same time, but that has since been a CF because they still need further expansion but they have vastly different chapter sizes and are utilizing 2 quota during formal recruitment to help achieve parity. Some chapters are still at 450 members, while others are at 250. Therein lies the issue. Also housing is a considerable issue on that campus, and it is a campus where housing is required to remain competitive.

Gamma Phi Beta, then Alpha Phi, then Phi Sigma Sigma. Alpha Phi has a heavy expansion schedule and may not be able to give this colony the attention it needs. And Phi Sigma Sigma, while they do have chapters present in Florida, is one of the smallest nationals, and do not seem to be able to compete.

Alpha Phi will have their hands full colonizing at Ole Miss next year.

Although Gamma Phi seems like a good bet, I think Phi Sig could still work -- neither AEPhi nor DPhiE is very big nationally either, but both have strong chapters at UF.

not to mention all the chapters Alpha Phi has recently colonized and still have on their upcoming schedule. UNC and Ole Miss are slotted for Fall 2015 for them, and then they would also have to colonize at UF at the same time....

Plus most groups give colonies extra attention for 5 years and I'm just not sure the resources are there, considering how many colonies they've started

Why would Alpha Phi even bother applying if they didn't think they could support the new chapter?

They may be hoping for stacked colonization so that they can colonize in a year or two.

I would like a stacked expansion with Gamma Phi and then Alpha Phi. There's definitely room for more than one.

Phi Sig has successfully re-colonized chapters at Penn State (200+ members), University of Illinois (200+ members), Rutgers (200+ members) and Cornell (150+ members) in the last 3 years, among several other schools. They have fantastic extension procedures at large universities. You may not have noticed if you were looking at the chapter roll alone, as it's tough to tell which ones are brand new vs. chapters that have been reopened.

The question with Phi Sig is whether they could foot the bill for competitive housing. Penn State doesn't have sorority houses, the Illinois chapter has owned their house since the early '60s, and the Cornell and Rutgers chapters both secured vacant Greek houses.

yeah and that Illinois chapter was a recolonization because they closed due to low membership a couple of years ago. Since they just recolonized in 2013 I wouldn't go bragging too soon. Phi Sig has serious problems nationally. Low number of members. Weak headquarters support. Shaky finances. Hard to believe they could build and maintain a house at UF.

Not to mention, all those schools are northern and vastly different greek systems that UF. They have a completely different style and Phi Sig has more name recognition in those areas.