Okay, I can finally update. The COB went a lot better than anyone expected. We had 26 women show up! We had them all fill out information cards, and we all ate banana splits. ZTA's advisor and our CCD talked to the women about Greek life and encouraged everyone who received a bid to accept it.

After the COB was over, both sororities went to their respective chapter rooms to vote and deliberate. We ended up giving out 11 or 12 bids (not sure which), and Zeta ended up giving out 3, which was the maximum number they could give out, as they are almost at total. (Unrelated tangent--while we were waiting for the Zetas to finish voting, my sisters had a candle pass for me, because my boyfriend lavaliered me the night before! I was really happy!)

As of right now, I'm not sure how many people accepted bids from either us or Zeta. I know one woman for sure accepted a bid from us, because I was standing there when she signed her bid card (:D), but other than that, I don't know. I'll be sure to update when I hear a definite final number. All in all, our joint venture seemed to work out pretty well! Thanks to everyone on GC who supported us. *Happy dance*

Congrats to DZ and ZTA on a successful COB!

That is an amazing story. I congratulate you for all your hard work, and for giving out 11 bids. That's a lot of people for you guys!!

My chapter is like yours twhrider, and this is truly an inspirational story!!
-M

Excellent!!! I think this should be shared with Nancy Brewer so something about it can be put in "The Lamp." This could be an inspiration to other chapters/campuses who need new ways to recruit!

Congrats!

This has been an amazing story. Congratulations to both groups for reaching a new milestone in cooperation and building a win-win attitude in Panhell on your campus. So many times we get so hung up on the competition and numbers, that we forget we are all in this together. The major point is to offer a sorority experience to ALL women on campus who feel it will work for them in a way that meets the needs of the organization and the individual women. Your organizations really showed class and integrity in all your hard work.

Hurray for you and your new members!

This has to be one of the coolest threads I have ever read on GC!! How AWESOME for both of your chapters to do something like this!! What an inspiration!


.....Kelly :)

I'm happy to hear that this worked out so well! Congratulations to the DZ's and to my ZTA's!

youhave to tell us how many girls accept their bids now!
-M

I'm still not too sure how many women accepted bids yet, because I've been so busy with school the last couple of days that I haven't spoken with anyone who knows for sure. We're having our new member ceremony tomorrow morning before our recruitment workshop, so I'll know for sure then! :) I think we will probably extend more bids later, but we didn't want the size of our new member class to exceed the size of our initiated sisters! (There are 28 of us, and 2 are temp alum.) I know we'll be COB-ing some more this semester, but nothing as big as what we did this week. Both we and ZTA encouraged everyone who got a bid to accept it and everyone who did not to keep trying, either through more COBs or formal recruitment in the fall. It's not that we didn't want them; we just didn't want that many at a time! :) I'll be sure to update tomorrow night to let yall know exactly how many women accepted!

twh--

I wanted to first say congrats on such a great effort with another sorority. MANY sororities couldn't have pulled off such a feat. That being said, you should definitely reconsider the amount of bids you're extending. If you don't want so many members at one time, I would offer bids for the fall now, or maybe even take a second new member class this semester. Present it to the chapter. A lot of women who go through once and don't get a bid won't come back. Good luck!! :)

I agree with this.....there could be some of the women who want to pledge but can't start right this minute. Have them be your second NM class. Either start their program right after you initiate the first group, or overlap them by a couple of weeks. Sure it would be quite a bit of work, but you've already done most of it with the first group. Use the exact same format, exact same info. The second group could help the first group start learning their basics, which would help the first group remember them!!

One question though...is it "legal" (by NPC or campus standards) to offer a bid and say "we'll be starting a new member class on April 15th and want you to be a part of it." I know NMs can wait to start the process ("holdover pledges"), but can the sorority make the same decision (as long as it applies to all the bids they give out)?

PsychTau

I think it depends on your GLO... I know Phi Sig rules state a women has to be pinned within I think it's 1 week of accepting a bid... and I'm *pretty* sure most NPC orgs have similar things... HOWEVER.... note "accepting" a bid by HQ standards means signing it... if they verbally tell you they'd like to accept and you verbally say "YEEAAAH, you start end of April" and don't have them sign until then... but they are invited to all events and stuff.. then you've just solved your problem. :D You'd have to look into DZ rules of of course.... but I think that could be a way to let girls know you want them but not overload the chapter with new members.

I know that last Spring we took a girl late late in the semester and we kept her until we had recruitment in the fall and she did her new member period with them. It was approved by national though..

Yes. They're not nuts about it but as long as the campus and your specific group are OK with it it's Panhellenically legal.