But if recruitment is marketed as a way to find a "home away from home" freshmen will be more likely to stay for recruitment. As in, "I feel kind of lonely since my roommates suck but if I go through recruitment I might find a home and be happier."

Tons of people go home for Labor Day, freshmen-seniors. When I was a freshman, my parents made me stay up at school that long weekend. I was so angry at the time. I wanted to come home for my first visit since moving to college. Plus, I wanted to see my high school friends who were attending other colleges and were coming home, too. In retrospect, I'm glad my parents made me stay at school. It helped me adjust more quickly to UCF and develop my own independence.

Anyway, I think it is a great idea to move recruitment to later in the semester in order to attract more potential new members and to give them an opportunity to see the sororities in action on campus. How are you going to deal with issues like dirty rushing and promoting the Labor Day kick-off? If it hasn't already been mentioned, the earlier you start promoting this, the better -- mailers to prospective freshman over the summer, eblasts on the university list-serv in the spring, banners, meet and greets, philanthropy events, newspaper ads and t-shirts in the fall.

However, it does seem a little unfair to have recruitment so close to midterms. I agree that it would be harder to give school your "all" when you have recruitment practice, actual events and voting in the first half of the semester up until midterms. And vice versa! How do the chapters plan to cope with this? Do you think it will affect membership retention or all-chapter GPA?

Honestly, your school is similar to my school. You'll be just fine. I'm absolutely certain of it. Change isn't easy, but you'll be back in the swing of things by 2009 for sure! And trust me, people will stay. And there are always girls that manage to miss recruitment; they'll just have to cope until the next chance. We always hear those stories every year too! (We also have a lot of people who drop out due to emergencies at home, etc. that pop up during the next recruitment as well).

U of West Ga starts school mid-August and has had Labor Day NPC weekend for several years. Frankly, we're tired of it, lol. We want our holiday back!! 2 Pref Parties and Bid Night on Labor Day.

A move might mean more pnms since they don't lose the first 3-day weekend.

So...we'll have to wait and see if it is changed next fall or maybe Fall 2009 if the new houses go through.