Mine's both. We have a big commuter population, but most students live on campus. Mon-Fri, that is. :rolleyes:

A lot of people throughout the school complain that there's nothing to do on the weekends. During recruitment, we usually advertise that we do things [ie, someone's always around!], but in all honesty, most girls go visit their boyfriends [& vice versa], go home, or work. The few of us who aren't doing any of the above usually put something together. And to start having chapter events to encourage staying would get a lot of negative feedback from girls who want to go visit their boyfriends, go home, or work. Vicious cycle.

I went to UCLA, and it often felt like what you all are describing as a suitcase school. All fraternity parties, exchanges, and chapter meetings were held during the week. Thursday was the big party and bar night, though Monday had sizeable bar thing due to a Margarita Monday in the village. Friday, Saturday and Sunday weren't so hot. People seemed to disappear over the weekends.

I knew plenty of people who would regularly go home on the weekends and the sorority was always a little empty. The vast majority of the student body grew up in California, so a chunk of them were always within a car ride away, and then add in sporadic trips up to northern California for the rest of them.

Fall is an exception, of course, because of all the football games. I think if we had a stadium within walking distance to campus (like USC or many other schools), it would have been better for keeping people around even if they weren't going to the games.

I feel for the OP. She wanted to know how to recruit more members and I had to derail the thread by asking what a "suitcase school" was.

Je regrette.

Ok well yea I go to Alfred State and mostly everyone at the school lives an hour away. so no one really stays around cause they say there is nothing to do on the weekends. I love my weekends at school but its the same people that stay every weekend.
And alot of you said to try and recruit girls by advertising that we do alot on the weekends but to tell you the truth we only have 4 actives. Thats not a whole lot. and all the sororities on my campus dont have houses so that kinda makes people not want to join either cause they say its nothing special.

The main thing is at my school ALL the numbers are going down. This past semester each sorority (3) only had about 2 pledges. With numbers like these im scared were going to die out. We are only a local college. We used to have a chapter at a community college but they died out. So i feel as next semesters president I need to figure out a way to keep us alive.

To the OP:

Being from Illinois, I feel for all the chapters (fraternity or sorority) after the shootings. Now is the time to call your alumnae so that they can help. This is the time for your alumnae to become really active so that the undergraduate chapters can continue to function. Tell your alumnae that you need their help- now. You still have 2/3 of the summer to arrange for a successful rush.
After reading your post, I'd be calling my national's NIU chapter president with an offer to help in any way that I could, but my national does not have a chapter there. I can appreciate your concern-make sure that you express it to your alumnae. If you don't have a "Slightly Older Sister" program or something like it, it would help to implement it. This is when alumnae relations become important. Let us know how it goes. :) :)

See were pretty much on our own, people told me to post a thread in the recruitment forums so i did If you would like to help more, I posted a little more about my sorority in there.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...96#post1671096
thats the link so if you have any ideas for like rush parties,
see we dont do the bids and stuff at my school we just have a rush parties and if a girl is interested in that sorority they come to the rush party and then about 2 weeks later we start the month pledging process

Thanks
<3
Sister of Delta Chi Omega

Is this even related to this thread? It feels like your responding to a completely different topic. :confused:

Thanks, chan815, for correctly interpreting my response. It should have been directed to you, not the "op." I know that many people here in Illinois, me included, are all still very emotional over the shootings. I was concerned about its effect on the Greek population at NIU, one of my favorite campuses because of its close proximity. It has always been a popular choice for anyone in my immediate area, and I know quite a few people that went there. I hate to see the population, (Greek or just the general campus population) there affected in any way.

Question -- How big are the sorority houses at NIU, and have all chapters always filled them in the past?

The best website for recruitment... PhiredUp.com. I'm telling you, everyone should check it out. They have a blog on there with a ton of great ideas and pointers. Everything from recruitment events, to how to contact more people, to how to use the faculty to your advantage, to how to gain those quality members you've been looking for. And get the books from that site... "I Heart Recruitment" for sororities and "Good Guys: The Eight Steps to Limitless Possibility for Fraternity Recruitment". It's well worth the investment