OK, that makes more sense. Total is pretty much an arbitrary number anyway... not that it should be set arbitrarily, but it can be set too high or too low, and over time it can get out of sync with the reality of chapter sizes if it's not adjusted.

What about quota, though? Suppose one of those 175-member chapters had missed quota by 5 the previous fall - they can't COB up to quota?

I'm overanalyzing again, aren't I? :p

Yes :p

They had the chance to snap up to quota in the fall. If they didn't, tough beans - once formal rush is over quota as a thing ceases to exist. They can't come back 6 months later and say "OMG we found 5 girls to fill that quota from last semester."

I thought NPC rules say a chapter can bid up to quota anytime during that calendar year - did I dream that up? I was fairly certain that chapters can bid up to quota (or in some cases average) if they did not meet quota or are not at total/average. Are there others who can confirm this?

according to the green book
 

(the panhellenic bible)"each fraternity is entitled to pledge the full quota at any time during the year even if by doing so, the allowable total chapter size is exceeded and the formal membership recruitment period is over."

So say in the spring half the pledge class doesn't come back, the largest chapter on campus who's got 50 more girls than anyone else can pledge more girls to fill the quota from last fall?

I'm sorry, but that blows and should be changed! :mad:

Does it say anything about whether or not the pledge class has been initiated?

I would imagine that if they have already reached quota once, and the girls were initiated that they would not be able to reach quota again. They should have been registered as already reaching quota. I think they mean it's only for people who did not reach quota at all during formal.

Everyone at LSU got quota in the fall.

the green book says:
 

"vacancies in the chapter membership roll that result when a member withdraws or suspends her fraternity affialition, or is officially granted inactive status, transfers, graduates or drops out of college can only be filled if the chapter is below total.

under vacancies in quota:

"if a woman has participated in the chapter's ribbon or formal pledge ceremony and the pledgeship is broken by either the new member or the chapter, then the vacancy created can be refilled only if a chapter is below total.

when a woman negates her signed membership recruitment acceptance and refuses to accept her matched bid at the conclusion of formal membership recruitment and does not participate in a ribbon or formal pledge ceremony, this space in the chapters pledge quota was not filled. then the chapter may immediately bid and pledge another woman, even if the chapter is over total."

To someone's point of asking if they can take girls if they're over totall...at University of Maryland, during fall recruitment, because they have deferred, each sorority that is over total can still take 5 women during informal recruitment. I don't know why they do it, and I know they were trying to get back to complying with rules. Maybe they've stopped it now, but as of last year at NGLA, they were still doing it.

Re: the green book says:
 

OK. This makes much more sense. If they're initiated, or if they are still pledges and you're already at total, you can't replace them. I was hoping that was the case.

The filling quota in LSUgirl's situation would be moot at this point since everyone's (total and under total) pledge classes are initiated. That's what I meant when I said quota had ceased to exist.

I'm getting really unnerved with Greek Affairs. I called them at 11:30 this morning....I was supposed to get a phone call back from the Panhellenic Advisor. She never called me back, so I called back an hour ago and they were giving her the message to call me. Still no call back. I don't want to be annoying, but I'd kind of like to talk to her!!!

There's a good possibility that the Greek Advisor could have been at lunch, then back to back meetings... I don't know much about LSU, but I work in Student Affairs and Fridays are usually very busy.

Just got off the phone. All chapters at LSU have this policy, therefore I can never belong to a NPC group at LSU.






WHICH IS TOTALLY UNFAIR!




I'm just a bit upset about this right now. I've been looking for other student organizations, but nothing has really sparked my interest that I've seen.

I'm flabbergasted; can someone explain to me why chapters would WANT to have this policy?

Every group I've ever been a member of, we didn't assume that we did a perfect job of sizing up candidates the first time we met them. We assumed both that we could have made a mistake in passing someone up AND that people (especially 18-year-old girls) can change. Why would a chapter choose to limit its options with this kind of policy? It's not like they're obligated to invite any individual to COB if they don't want to.

I concur.

Say ABC chapter was under total by five and quota for formal was 10. There were 25 ladies worthy of being a member of ABC yet five had to be cut from the preference round since only 20 could be invited back. (i.e. 10 x 2 parties) Now after formal rush, the chapter is under total by five and wants to COB. Yet due to the 'cut once, cut always' policy, these five ideal women - by ABC's standards no less - would not be considered for a bid.

Thus, if the chapter wanted to get up to total, then policy would dictate that they take women 'less worthy' than the five they were forced to cut.

Wow.