aoii is now local chapter, delta sigma

So did they merge back together?

Doesn't sound like it.

Whoever decided to post this simply added to the confusion. Way to go.

I didn't mean to add to any confusion on this topic as all I have is publicly available information. To the person that is asking whether the two groups merged together again I don't believe that will ever happen as the local group disaffiliated from the national and is now known as Delta Sigma (my understanding is that they are a non affiliated organization that occupy the former AOPi house). I truly wish that someone either from Panhel (even though Delta Sigma is not part of Panhel) or Delta Sigma would make some attempt to clarify who and what their non affiliated organization is in the context of our community as people are interested, people care and people are confused. This level of poor communication is honestly quite frustrating.

@c++ Perhaps the group that owns the house has to file some form of new paperwork with a government (taxes) or Cal's campus (panhel) to exist as a different type of sorority organization, meaning the women in the group have to wait a bit longer to recruit new members.

@Deltasigmaisgood: I don't get the sense that there is ANY ILL WILL toward you or any of your sisters. Quite the contrary, people are concerned and want you to thrive in your new organization. But the lack of community has people baffled and more that a bit concerned. I realize the situation you all went through happened quickly and was traumatic but the lack of communication with the community (either directly from the new Delta Sigma or Panhel) hasn't done anything to let the broader community know that you are alive and well, moving on and thriving. Maybe you all needed a 'quiet period' to figure out the path forward. But once you as a group are ready to recruit I am sure the world will greet you in a welcoming way. Isolation for any member of a community is rarely a good thing and while the rest of the community does certainly wish you well, it would be helpful to hear more from your group in a public way either via social media or some community event. I do hope that you make it possible for your former national to never return to our school as what you guys went through sounded terrible. Best wishes!

You sound a bit simple and lame. Do read what you say before you post? (Just saying)

So the message from and actions by the new group isn't being muted or stifled by other greek sororities and greek advisors? It is the Delta Sigmas who are being very hush-hush for their own sake?

^^^ See, confusion due to the old 2012 Tau lawsuit post and old 2015 Sigma post. And a double-post at that (Tau also on first page). How are these posts helping anyone understand CURRENT Delta Sigma positions and contexts? If DS is unable to comment at this time due to pending legalities, posting this old info isn't going to make them speak any sooner. Posting a CURRENT suit between DS and AOPi might clear-up questions people may be having, but I have not seen any CURRENT suit and do not believe there to be one. So please stop HINTING and start showing IF there is pertinent information regarding the CURRENT Delta Sigma group. And for the love Pete if any DS reading this is able to speak here and clarify their situation please acknowledge, it will help.

If I join, do I face prosecution? Will I get sued?

See:
Tau, Inc. v. Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity, Inc.

Pretty sure Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity, Inc. has ties to the Kremlin.

Yes. To make a long story short they turned in the charter vs. turning over the house. This is a simplified explanation but essentially true.

My understanding is that it is a non affiliated organization that is presently NOT affiliated with any National Panhellenic organization. I think it would be interesting to see if they could somehow affiliate with a national panhellenic organization and thus rejoin our Panhel. This would perhaps be legally tricky to pull off but it might be doable and would be the ultimate middle finger to the TN mobsters that tried to take the house!

"NOT affiliated with any National Panhellenic organization"

But that's just a cartel -- I mean, trade association, right? Can't the administration and ISC recognize non Panhel groups?

Affiliation with another national panhellenic would have to wait until all the women in Delta Sigma who are initiated AOPis are out of school/out of the chapter. That would take at least two more years (as there was no fall 2016 new member class). It would be splendid for Delta Sigma to recruit and initiate new members into their org for awhile, let them live in-house, then eventually be available IF IF IF an NPC group were invited to campus specifically for their group's interest.

For that possibility alone Cal should recognize Delta Sigma as an official non-NPC panhel group, as the current Delta Sigma women were previously always in compliance with Cal's standards of behavior and would more than likely desire to continue living-up to Cal's standards despite being non-NPC.

But no insurance, no risk management systems, and no leadership institutes through any nationals.

I'd be curious how an atty would approach the case of the former AOPi sisters in terms of their choosing to affiliating with another NPC organization sooner rather than later. Its an interesting question as the sisters didn't choose to disaffiliate from the national as the national removed their charter. Would the facts of the situation be strong enough for another NPC to make an exception and allow the former AOPi initiated sisters to in some way formally cut any/all ties to the AOPi organization and so be able to join a different organization? Would the former AOPi national countersue a fellow NPC member? Not sure there is any precedent for such a case but maybe its convention for one NPC not to want to step on the toes of another NPC. I think its a good argument. But, maybe some of the AOPi sisters still feel some tie to their former NPC and so wouldn't want to affiliate with another NPC? Who knows. But I sadly don't see a realistic path for a non affiliated organization to participate in our panhel due to the inherent legal and risk management issues. Interesting times for sure and I wish the former AOPi ladies the best as you deserve better than you got from your national.

No other NPC group will initiate the AOPi-initiated Sigma chapter members. Ever.

Sounds from reading here like Delta Sigma is in a sad spot with Cal as far as joining panhel as a non-affiliated entity. Maybe that's why they're so hush-hush about any Spring recruitment? And if Delta Sigma remains excludded, why on earth would another national NPC coming to Cal in the future want to have Delta Sigmas (of the future, not the Sigma AOPis) as their core start-up colony group? DS ladies were good women before their kerfuffle as indicated by other sorority members posting here, and it's truly a shame their new group will not be recognized as legitimate by Cal. Recognition brings legitimacy they surely as good women deserve, and recognition will surely keep them on the straight line away from bad situations other local sorority groups around the nation tend to experience.

How much is the house worth? How much is left on the mortgage?

Perhaps these 'Standing Rules' would be relevant in Stalin's Russia but when a valuable parcel of real estate is at risk this makes zero sense. Also, if the National didn't in fact actually purchase the property then its questionable as to whether they have any ownership interest. As a prior post said quite correctly, just because you say you own something doesn't make it so. I am honestly surprised there wasn't more legal push back against this national. I wonder why the chapters didn't legally organize to protect their local assets from what appears to be a clear asset sweep/grab? My guess is that the national did the whole divide and conquer routine and negotiated separately with all the chapters and then before anyone realized what was going on that the only group that didn't get in line was Cal. If you play out the value of assets across all the AOPi chapters that might have been gotten through questionable means it most likely is a tidy sum. Wonder is class action litigation is still a possibility given the length of time that has no doubt passed. It makes me angry if this all happened without solid legal support at the local level. I wonder if some chapters just caved without even consulting an attorney? Whole thing stinks to high heaven if you ask me.

"class action litigation"

That's it.

Have other Panhel (national sororitys) or even NIC groups (national frats) pursued the same land-grab strategy? The value of the assets in question would be staggering.

Should the Cal administration help the local alumni and students or should they support the national sororitys/frats to take property and expel members?

NIU. Cornell. Davis. Colorado.Texas State.

^ Are those places where the school helped the students/alumnae go local and independent?

^No. Just closed chapters where the house was sold within the past ten years, but hardly anyone recalls they were sold.

@sides. Interesting question but I'm not so sure it's an issue of sides as it relates to the administration as the issues at hand in my mind are equity and plain old fashioned justice. So, on a simplistic level I would expect the administration to be on the side of 'justice' but I do think they have a special duty of care as it relates to the students of Cal and their interests. This might be highly idealistic but I would expect any administration to make sure that any student organization is well advised and in the case of complex legal issues to have solid legal counsel. Realizing this is a bit unrealistic as most of the administration have a rough time getting out of bed in the am it then falls to the local house board and alumni counsel to make sure the interests of the local are adequately protected. If I've learned anything here at Cal its that you have to take care of yourself as there really is nobody looking out for you and if somehow there might be an official there that their interests might not align with mine. Sad but true. I don't know all the facts in the AOPi case but if it were clear that the house or chapter assets were bought, paid for and maintained by the local then I would expect the administration to respect the facts of the case and provide support accordingly. I did read the final opinion in the Minnesota case and found it quite enlightening as it related to what I would term 'character' issues related to national.

Not sure any school administration owes a duty of care to alumni title-holding corporation.

@dour...interesting POV about alumni owned property and duty of care. I guess the way I was thinking about the situation was from the perspective of the college-aged current members rather than the alumni that own the house. I do think the school has/had a duty of care to the current members to make sure they were properly represented. I also keep thinking about whether there were any other options available to keep the local going. Truly the ethics of the national seem deplorable but the idea of losing such an old chapter on campus because of a real estate dispute seems awful and possibly unnecessary. It just seems that the 'baby was thrown out with the bathwater' in this case. I honestly think our panhel is better without the NPC AOII (not the locals who I support 100%) as the character and morals of the national seem poor. I just wonder if the locals got all the support from the school that they needed and I also wonder if the alumni owners of the houses didn't do the locals any favors as they had an entrenched POV that made finding a middle group solution difficult or impossible? I have no dog in this fight as I'm in a different house but I keep scratching my head as to why we had to lose a house when we need all the houses that we have in our panhel. Maybe someone can explain it all to me as I think this has been a huge and unnecessary loss to the sisters and our panhel.

@no

But what's the middle ground when the nationals keep pointing to rules they alone created and saying that they have no options but to enforce them maximally? And then another side is the alumni corporation which owes loyalty to that corporation (not nationals or their property management corp.) and has fiduciary duties to that corporation (not nationals or their property management corp.).

It's a tortured sort of logic that says that the alumni corp's people owe a greater sort of loyalty to anything national says because of some oral oath they (perhaps) spoke at some initiation ceremony decades ago. Does that override the very explicit duties in the California civil code that directors and officers of the alumni corp have to that corp?

Last, the transfer of control of the board would seem to have tax consequences as well as make it possible for any plaintiff -- here or anywhere -- to pierce the corporate veil and put all of nationals' assets at risk.

In addition to those mentioned on March 7 above: the aopi house corp closed in 2006 at Illinois Wesleyan (chapter closed 2000); Purdue's home prior to their 2003 closure now houses a Purdue local sorority (chapter closed around 2003 and reopened with different housing 2011).

Many good issues raised in posts here. Alot to think about. I hear you on the issue of the national and its rules. What I do find hard to understand though is that in general there exists a compromise position to solve most issues EVEN with rules that works for both parties (the old win win scenario). Looking at the situation from the perspective of the National I am baffled why they would give up a perpetual income stream from CAL from dues and other fees (and alumni dues etc.) because no agreement could supposedly be reached on the real estate. I can only guess that the National wasn't thinking long term (and wasn't certainly concerned with existing local members) and was just interested in the real estate or exerting control for whatever reason. The insertion of the 10 year period for limited changes by the National regarding the real estate was also quite curious as I'm not sure if that made people feel good or not (personally I think its highly suspicious as to the motives of the National but that is just me!). As an outsider its hard to figure the whole thing out but I can't make the argument work from the perspective of the National at all as by doing what they have done they have lost a chapter and all that entails, alienated alumni and brought scrutiny to themselves which given their behavior in this case and others probably isn't a wise PR move! I'm still confused except for the scenario where National wanted to prove its point at any cost. Strange.

@dour. I just read your post again. What strikes me is what you said about National having no choice but to enforce rules maximally. This statement truly baffles me as choice always exists, particularly for private organizations. You might not like the choices available but you still have choices. Choice particularly exists when you are the party that created the governing by-laws of your organization. I have been assuming that the goal of the National was to somehow maintain the chapter (a logical assumption by most) but the more that I think about what actually happened I am not sure this is a good assumption at all. Even when you look at the so-called compromise position put out by the National, there was little there to bring comfort to the issues of the local house owners and it didn't deal with the local sisters at all so far as I could see. In fact, the compromise position probably annoyed and irritated the locals to no end as it dealt with few of their stated issues in a respectful or honest way in my opinion. I truly wonder if the National was operating in good faith and had the best interest in mind of the local sisters? Based on how this played out the motives of the National seem questionable at best as I would think most Nationals would have bent over backward to craft a creative solution to maintain one of their oldest chapters. Still honestly confused....

In removing the charter from Sigma, AOPi made each of their open/operating chapters exactly the same: under one real estate thumb and working as one unit for the betterment of all chapters.