I think there's a gap between trying to set a guideline for chapter size so that one chapter doesn't have 400 while another has 50, and saying every chapter has to be at exactly 203. I can't imagine UF's panhel is saying any chapter has to take members; they're just doing their best to support any of the chapters who do want to achieve parity. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see the benefits in maximizing your member opportunities and these chapters are undoubtedly enthusiastic about gaining new members.

I'm really torn by what they've done in having every chapter participate in the recruitment night when most aren't actually participating. Panhel love, stigma fighter, stigma causer, waste of time? I guess all that depends on the attitude of the chapter members who are standing in the room at the time. If Suzie Best Sorority members are standing there all being snarky about the pathetic PNMs going through this charade for that group of losers, then yeah, it needs to be dumped and quick. But if SBS is really being supportive of the process on behalf of the smaller chapters, then it's a process that should be emulated on other campuses. I'd like to see it in action since I've never heard of anything like this.

Any results from this process yet? Recruitment stories?

I ended up going last night so I will give a little synopsis

It was very nice and informal but sometimes a bit awkward because there were certain chapters that you could tell, that did not want to be there. It was set up in one of our ballrooms in the Student Union and each sorority had a table set up with posters, mementos, etc. The PNMs were split into 16 groups and each group had 10 minutes to chat with the girls that were representing each house, then you rotated to the next "station".

There were only 5 sororities participating out of the 16, and you could tell a lot of girls were disappointed when they announced this last night since the majority seemed to be under the impression that most of the houses would be taking in new members.

Sororities can't offer bids to girls or invite them over for events until tomorrow at noon and bidding is open till the 18th of January.

The agreed upon total is an upper bound, not a lower bound. Chapters are not saying "hey, we promise to get to total", they are saying "hey, we promise not to go over total through any means except formal recruitment". It's a binding agreement, but for a different reason than stated above.

And there you have it.

There are ways that Panhellenics (and entire Greek systems/schools in general) can support chapters that may not be doing as well without getting this result. First and foremost is eliminating trash talking and stupid stereotypes. Cheapest and least preparation to do, but also the hardest and most grown-up.

Rather than a full booth, they also could have had girls from other chapters just there supporting, like, maybe there is a welcome done by all groups or women from other groups act as "rho gammas" or serving refreshments or something else. Feature only the groups giving out bids, but show other women in their letters helping out.

does anyone know what it means if a chapter that wasn't doing spring wrote down your name anyways? :confused:

Please clarify. They invited you to an event?

after you were done talking to the girls in each sorority they would either ask your name and write it down, or ask you to sign their list. most of the ones that asked this were recruiting girls for spring, however there were a few that weren't doing spring recruitment (according to the pamphlet) that still asked you to sign in... i just was curious why :p

When I was a collegian, we had a guest book each PNM signed. The guest book signing did not imply anything positive or negative, it was just a way to see who came to our informal parties.

Each chapter sent 10 women, so there we 160 recruiters present on Monday night. Each house had a horse shoe of tables with "brag boards, " paddles and other items for the PNMs to browse through.
I know that 5 or 6 houses were still prepared to bid, some had changed their minds on the day leading up to it.
I also heard girls did ask to leave because they did not understand that they would be recruited and were uncomfortable.
We are currently in a silence period between chapter women and PNMs, that breaks at noon tomorrow. This also signals the beginning of the Bid extending process.
I believe there was enough spaces in sororities so that between 55-65 women could join sororities!

It might also have something to do with their national's requirements and having to have a record of every rush event - even one that won't result in issuance of any bids.

That's three different answers, and the right one could be all or none.

I think this is a stellar idea. Now, from your mouth the UF Panhellenic's ears. I hope all the smaller chapters can get the results they're hoping for.

This is great, DBBaby!

While I think it's a good idea to support the chapters giving bids by maybe just being there helping out, if some chapters gave the appearance of not wanting to be there that was picked up on by the PMNs, would it really matter if they were there just helping out with refreshments or at a table? To me it's one of those "lipstick on a pig" things, if they don't want to be there, they don't want to be there and that will be apparent to everyone, as it was.