A colony is a probationary body of a national fraternity or sorority. It can be considered a new Greek organization that is awaiting official recognition from their international headquarters to maintain a chapter on their college’s campus. A group wishing to become a member of a fraternity or sorority must first petition for status as a colony. The entire membership of the colony remains as uninitiated associates, usually learning and operating under the guidance of an advisor from the national organization and/or from a sponsoring chapter. If the colony prospers and meets its goals as set out by the national organization, the colony may later be chartered and the membership initiated. After this the sorority or fraternity will become a full chapter of the fraternity. This practice varies with different sororities and fraternities; however, many of them follow procedures and practices very similar to one another. Everything depends on the official nationals of each individual organization.
Different Greek organizations have different practices and procedures when establishing colonies and maturing them into chapters. Not only does this process depend on the specific Greek organization, but it also depends on the standards and rules that are set by each individual university. However, many organizations have a process that is similar to this:
A group of men or women must contact the organization’s nationals to request the colonization of the organization. After the request is evaluated and approved, these men and women will be considered the Founding Fathers or Founding Sisters of that Greek organization.
Typically, it takes anywhere from eighteen months to thirty-six months for the entire process to take place. Within these two years the colony must be able to effectively prove to the national organization that they will be able to operate efficiently in all areas of chapter operations. These areas include philanthropy, payments, and recruiting and maintaining members consistently.
After the colony has proven to the nationals that they can maintain their chapter, the men or women of the organization are then initiated into the desired Fraternity or Sorority by the national organization.
Alumni volunteers will work with the colony to establish effective chapter operations, develop scholarship programs, teach recruitment skills and devise a long-term plan of action. For most Greek organizations, there is a good chance that there are at least several alumni near the given school. Most sororities or fraternities get into contact with these alumni through their nationals. Nationals also sends what can be referred to as "Education Consultants," who are paid by the organization, to spend time with the colony to teach them all of the traditions, values and ways of the fraternity or sorority. Staff members from nationals are also always on duty to assist the colony in any way needed so that they become successful.
Role as a colony
As a colony, most universities allow the members to participate in all Greek activities on campus. These activities include the Interfraternity Council, or IFC; Panhellenic Council, or PHC; student government, new-student orientation; intramural athletics; leadership honoraries and other such activities. These activities can give colony members an opportunity to get established in their university’s Greek community and meet potential new members that later could join their colony or chapter.
