Welcome to the wonderful world of Panhellenic extension!
Whether your sorority women are seeking to expand the Panhellenic community of their own accord or you have received a directive from institutional leadership, you’ve likely found your way to this post while feeling rather overwhelmed. Yet, the potential for adding a new group is also unbelievably exciting!
Well, you are not alone; an extension can be a daunting process for new professionals and more-seasoned fraternity/sorority advisors (FSAs) alike — especially, if like me, you weren’t ever a member of a Panhellenic group yourself.
Fortunately, the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) is extremely well organized and provides a clear template for navigating this process. I came out the other side with a successful extension and can honestly say that I look back on my experience positively. With these tips, you can too! Here’s my advice for turning your next Panhellenic extension into a triumph from point alpha to omega.
Note, this advice will be more applicable to campuses with at least two NPC sororities and an already established College Panhellenic Council (CPC). When in doubt, refer to the NPC Manual of Information (MOI).
Let’s say that you received a directive from institutional leadership to grow your community by adding a new Panhellenic chapter. Well, much to the dismay of your instant-gratification-expecting superiors, the NPC prevents institutions from starting new chapters on a whim. The NPC has articulated in great length a process to bring new groups to campus: Panhellenic extension. This process requires FSAs to dot all their “i’s” and cross their “t’s” to see the fruits of their labor.
So, the very first step for FSAs should be to provide realistic expectations to the expecting party. A Panhellenic extension is a long process. You should expect to commit at least a year to the endeavor and there are no guarantees that you will finish with the desired outcome.
There will be many checkpoints along the way, including votes to establish the CPC extension exploratory committee and to open for extension. These votes, along with exploratory visits, bulletin responses, presentations, and more, all have the potential to uproot the process quite suddenly.
Pro-tip: Build a timeline that includes each checkpoint. This will help institutional leadership visualize the process and keep everyone organized.
Providing evidence to demonstrate that your campus can support a new chapter is far more important than setting clear expectations with your institutional leadership. This evidence can go a long way towards drumming up support from your current group, so it should clearly outline that they will be successful alongside any new chapter in terms of recruitment and resources.
Pro-tip: In your timeline, schedule chapter establishment to take place during formal recruitment. If your campus doesn’t have deferred recruitment, I strongly recommend hosting formal recruitment in the fall semester. Deferred recruitment limits new students from joining a fraternity or sorority in their first semester, which is also when their interest in engaging with these groups is highest and their need to make campus connections is most crucial.
When it comes to the sheer potential for growth, I’m a strong advocate of forgoing deferred recruitment. In my opinion, allowing students to join a fraternity or sorority in their very first semester maximizes success for all groups. But if you do decide to ditch deferred recruitment, just make sure you have strict policies in place that emphasize academic achievement throughout the new member process.
Let us continue the above scenario, in which institutional leadership has asked you to add a new Panhellenic chapter.
After setting realistic expectations with your superiors and yourself, the next hurdle is in approaching this conversation with your current Panhellenic groups. Who knows; they may surprise you and be totally on board!
But you know your community better than anyone, so be honest with yourself. Your students may need a bit more handholding to come around to the idea of an extension. Either way, you’ll need to work with them to build their confidence in themselves and in the capacity for another organization to occupy space within the Panhellenic community.
Pro-tip: Begin by planting a seed. There is no better time to break out your shovel and watering can than immediately after primary recruitment. Ride that high and excitement from bid day when your Panhellenic women are feeling (for lack of a better word) panhellenic!
Highlight their past recruitment successes — such as growing recruitment registration numbers and a history of meeting quota — while assuring them how much support they have from the institution. Have honest, transparent conversations with your CPC leaders to express why you believe the campus can handle another group. Make it clear that the institution’s leadership would love to see the community grow.
Once you see that your CPC leaders are excited about the idea, it’s time to get serious. Familiarize yourself with the extension process so that you can answer the students’ many, many questions. (The extension process is outlined in great detail in the NPC Manual of Information. See page 142 here.)
Then instruct your CPC leaders on their next steps: Contacting the NPC area advisor and extension committee chair, alerting their international or national headquarters, and motioning for a vote to establish an extension exploratory committee. (It’s helpful to reiterate that this is not the same as voting for an extension; this is just to formally establish a body responsible for reviewing data to make recommendations on an extension. This vote requires only a simple majority.)
All potential outcomes must be recorded in your CPC meeting minutes and shared with your NPC area advisor and the NPC extension committee chair. Your committee should consist of at least one delegate from each of your current chapters, your CPC leadership, and another admin.
Once you’ve established an extension exploratory committee, it’ll be time to compile enrollment and recruitment data. This data will demonstrate that your campus can support a new group and ensure success for everyone. It is important to note that you are looking to establish trends, so the NPC requires data to be reviewed from the past five years or primary recruitment periods.
Pro-tip: Do some data collection and analysis beforehand so that you do not waste anyone’s time, including your own. And don’t hesitate to ask for assistance. You will probably need to consult with your campus’s admissions team, release figure methodology (RFM) specialist, and NPC area advisor to collect some of this data — especially if it predates your employment.
Here is what to look for from the past five years or primary recruitment periods:
While this data is nice, it’s not very helpful without proper analysis. So, look for trends and make an honest assessment as to whether or not they support an extension. For example, if you have high enrollment, a large drop-off between recruitment registration and bid matches, and chapters with a history of strong recruitment, then, now’s a great time to extend!
It is equally important to consider other data during the exploratory phase, which is often overlooked. This can include new academic and athletic programs at the institution that may yield higher enrollment among female students, new FSL initiatives that would yield a greater number of recruits, and concrete examples of institutional support.
Don’t forget to consider your campus facilities and housing accommodations! If your average chapter size is 75 and the classrooms they use for chapter meetings can only accommodate 80 people, that’s a telltale sign it may be time to spread your PNM pool among more chapters. The same applies to sororities outgrowing their on- and off-campus houses.
Now that you have collected your data, your committee can complete its charge and provide an official recommendation during your next CPC meeting. Make sure their recommendation is noted in the minutes and shared with your NPC area advisor.
Assuming the committee is in favor of an extension, then the clock will start! Per NPC extension guidelines, your current Panhellenic chapters have two weeks to review the exploratory data before the extension vote. This two-week rule allows your groups to consult their international or national headquarters. Your primary responsibility here is to ensure that the groups are making an informed decision.
Pro-tip: Host an open forum for the entire Panhellenic community during which you’ll articulate the data for their understanding.
Hosting an open forum allows the FSA and the CPC leadership to present the data and address their concerns with bringing in a new group. Be prepared to mitigate these concerns. From my experience, the most common worries will likely involve the recruitment-related success of their chapters and the level of interest in sorority life among non-affiliated students.
Remind your groups that adding a new one is exciting, and that the excitement will spread throughout campus to PNMs who would have never considered joining otherwise. This excitement helps the new group and existing ones; an extension will truly be good for everyone!
I’ve found visiting chapters alongside the CPC president to be helpful too. The sisters were more comfortable expressing their concerns away from members of other groups. They also really appreciated the individualized attention dedicated to them.
Once you have left your all out on the field, there is nothing you can do but cross your fingers and pray to the extension gods. It’ll now be time for the extension exploratory committee to motion for a vote to open the campus for an extension. Although a two-thirds supermajority is required to pass, it looks far more panhellenic and attractive to potential new groups to have a unanimous decision.
Hopefully, the odds are ever in your favor. And, if they are, let me be the first to congratulate you on overcoming the first hurdles of the extension process!
What questions do you still have about Panhellenic extension? Connect with us on Twitter @themoderncampus and @ver_nah_chee.
Be sure to join me for a follow-up post to see this process through to the end. I’ll pick things up exactly where we left (a successful extension vote) and continue with the next steps in the process: Establishing an extension committee and campus application, hosting exploratory visits, contacting NPC groups, presentations, and the final (for reals) extension vote.