I sent you a PM about what my chapter has decided to tareget to fix the same problem,
I hope it helps to give you ideas!
ll,
M

well a lot of the sisters don't know about this yet because it is summer vacation still. But before school starts we are having a HUGE meeting about. plus by word of mouth, everyone will probably have the basics before our meeting.

bump :)

are there any locals on your campus you could merge with?

A similar situation occurred on our campus with one of our nationals. If they failed and charter was pulled, we weren't allowed to bring another national house onto campus for another 3 years. Only I think they were a lil worse off, they had about 9 members... house total is about 70 on our campus.

They got permission from their headquarters to recruit/COB for the entire semester they were having problems. Panhellenic also excused them from certain events and meetings that required 80% of the house to go and stuff like that. They asked other sororities in PHC to "recommend" the sorority. They also asked us to block rush, which they had before. We didn't feel merging would be something beneficial for Chi Delta in the long run. Lots of drama and complications. Don't really want to get into it.

But if there is a local on campus that has fairly decent numbers... 30 or so... ask them to merge. It would at least be some numbers for you.

Wear your letters like crazy. P.R P.R P.R! That's key as well.

Is this the first time that national has threatened you? If it is, be on alert but don't get too too worried about them pulling charter. The national that wasn't doing so hot on our campus had been threatened to have charter pulled since 1999. They recently initiated 21 girls within the last year and they finally got permission to participate in formal recruitment. Keep your head up and keep smiling.

Gosh... it's amazing to realize how big the greek system is at other schools. 45 members on our campus is fairly decent in our eyes. Of course, so is 65 :rolleyes:

Good luck :D

I think the best thing your chapter can do is keep your spirits up. I'm sure the news of the challenge that lies ahead might be discouraging to some of the members. But if everyone stays pumped and keeps a positive attitude it will shine through, right down to the last COB party of the year. I wish you guys the best of luck and just keep in mind the stories of chapters that have more than doubled their numbers in one year - it can happen to you too!

When my chapter COBs we advertise around campus, announcing different events. we also wear our letters around campus all the time to make oursleves known, and do our best to make new friends thatcould potentially become sisters in class. Some of our friends from different fraternities even bring women that they think would fit in with us to our COB events. that's how my roommate joined.

My chapter was in a similar situation... much smaller than the other sororities on campus. I don't think national HQ ever actually threatened to pull our charter, but they are "concerned" by our low numbers (especially the year that we came out of formal rush with only one new member!), and they have sent people (every year, I think) to help us with rush.

Here are some suggestions based on things we've done:

- During formal rush, PNM's will notice your small size and may cut your sorority for it. To cut down on the impact of the size difference, hold your parties in a smaller room, and fill it with balloons and decorations.

- During formal rush, get area alums to help out. If there's a nearby chapter, see if they can loan you a few sisters. If they are allowed to rush PNM's, great - just make sure the PNM's meet some actives from your chapter! If they're not allowed to talk to PNM's, have them distribute refreshments, etc. This frees up your actives, makes the chapter look bigger, and emphasizes the "national-ness" and lifetime commitment of being in a sorority.

- COB constantly. Get your sisters to bring their non-affiliated friends, roommates, etc. - even people they think wouldn't dream of going greek.

- If someone approaches you about joining and there isn't a rush week coming up, strike while the iron is hot. Have a bunch of sisters take her to dinner or something, and extend her a bid if you like her.

- Don't be afraid to take a new member class of one. They add up!

- Consider all women, including juniors and seniors.

- Be selective. As others have said, don't just hand out bids to anyone. Your national is probably going to be more impressed with 30-40 quality women than with 50-60 random people.

Whew, I wrote a novel :) Hope it helps!

Wow.. I don't know what else to say after all the great comments.

Advertise like crazy! If your campus has a university radio station, try going there to advertise events for Recruitment/ or COB events (I used to be a DJ at our station, and the station was really good about advertising campus organization events for free) Try also university newspaper announcements... thanking groups for helping with events, advertising events, community/university service projects.. keep your name out there!

If any of your sisters are in other organizations, it's also a great way to recruit quality new members! Tell them about your sorority and invite them to recruitment/cob events!

I hope this helped :) Best of luck with your chapter

Thanx so much everyone for all your ideas! You guys are awesome. So far, we aren't in that much deep water and as far as from what I have heard, our chapter isn't going to be taken away any time soon. Still, we do have to bring up our spirits and have an AWESOME rush year. But I think it can be done.

I think it is important for you and the rest of your chapter to realize that your national officers are a resource for you. Contact your regional or provincial rush person and talk to them about your ideas and talk up their resourcefullness to the rest of your chapter. The only way to turn things around is to have everyone work TOGETHER.

Good luck!

phisigsigchic,
Keep us posted how your chapter is doing!