I'm not sure when the parents thing started (I knew a girl who pledged about 7 years ago and it was in full force). Yes, parents, siblings, etc.

I read that this year the limit was 3 family members. Alums were allowed too. As for PNMs who were upset with their bid, I suppose having mom there might help although I'm sure some might say it enables the "snowflake" syndrome. I remember girls from my bid day who weren't happy but girls back then tried to buck up and give the house a shot.

Not sure what you mean by "tame" but the outside decorations, etc. had gotten pretty "lavish" so to speak, hence limitations put into place on what they could do.

In short, it was a security issue to control how many people could be there for crowd control and safety reasons, including who could go into the chapter houses.

variable quota
 

The variable quota numbers are set by NPC membership team members who work with the campus.

From my perspective, unfortunately they are already there. More exclusive/smaller = better. IMO there's too much of a swing in new member class size, when some are getting less than 100, and some almost 200. I get variable quota, but that's pretty tough to have a 100 person difference.

My PNM/rec girl had a rough go of it. She got cut by favorites each round, but kept finding a new favorite to love each round. Unfortunately when she was down to two at pref, she got the 2nd choice of the two, when she had fallen in love (yet again) with her 1st choice. It's hard to stay positive when that happens. She's giving her found home a shot, but is feeling pretty down about the whole experience.

My experience with variable quota is that it somewhat limits the bigger chapters continuing to get bigger while allowing smaller chapters (whether WRCs or new chapters) a few recruitments to catch up with the larger chapters. Retention does often determine whether or not it is successful...so that is on the chapter.
When used on selected campuses with the numbers to back it up, I like it.

Do most of the campi where VQ is being used have chapters that can handle it, even the smallest? That is, there aren't quotas of 200 going to a chapter with only 125.

Last year there were 3 different quotas assigned by Panhellenic based on house size and recruiting strength. I thought they were doing the same this year? Letting the sororities choose their own quotas would not seem to be in line with helping the chapters reach parity - the stated original reason for choosing to use a variable quota.

Nebraska previously had variable quota and it was removed within the last decade. I don't have stats on then vs now but I thought it did a good job at keeping the chapters on even footing as far as total members.

The chapters absolutely do NOT get to "chose their own quotas" under VQ. What a train wreck that would be! It does look like there were again 3 quotas in play this year at Ole Miss... one very low 100's (90-110ish), mid 100's (120-130's) and high 100's (160-180).

I am uncomfortable with pledge classes over 125 members. It is going to be a lot of work for those chapters to retain all of those members through pledgeship, initiation and beyond. Roll up those sleeves ladies, the work is ahead of us!

I agree with this. The way I see it, it's not a permanent solution-once chapter sizes are evened out, the campus can return to a single-quota system. But as long as every chapter is being given gigantic pledge classes, the smaller groups don't have the chance to catch up to the larger ones in size.

Especially at a campus like Ole Miss where sophomores are traditionally not successful in recruitment, I think women are more likely to stick it out in a big pledge class that might not be their first choice than to drop and try to re-rush. At a school like Clemson, for example, where sophomores rushing is common, variable quota might not work as well for a chapter where retention is already low.

Well, the numbers at Ole Miss seem to speak to an opportunity for further expansion, now that the most recent additions seem to be getting the numbers they need. Housing housing housing housing housing! And that brings up the whole issue of how small is small enough at a big southern school? What size would chapters LIKE to be? A pledge class of 60? 75? 100? Even at 100 there's room for expansion.

@Herbie
The old way in which Nebraska set quota was HORRID. SO many women were cut out of the recruitment process completely by setting an "artificial" total to try and achieve chapter size parity. It was done by arbitrarily deciding what the size of every sorority should be. A chapter's quota was determined by how many new members they could take to reach this size. So if campus total was set at 100, and one chapter's returning size was 75, their quota was 25; a chapter with 50 returning members had quota set at 50. Therefore the number of bids that could be given by all sororities was limited from the start. The amount of fabulous women that were not able to be a part of the Greek system was tragic. Under RFM, the strength of every sorority has improved by leaps and bounds. After 2017 recruitment (and since the inception of RFM at Nebraska) almost all chapters are above or very near campus total and only two did not make quota in 2017. (And one of these two missed quota by a very small number.) Nebraska's old system was very much like IU's "bed rush." RFM was a godsend for both sororities and PNMs.

Ahh so there are 3 quotas? I guess what I was told was right, because the numbers are based on each chapter's numbers from previous years. So do the stronger recruiting houses get to say, "this year we would like a lower quota because our retention rate is so high?" Or does Panhellenic "tell' them?

And I agree with you big time! Anything over 125 is just crazy! I cannot imagine being the new member educator for a NM class with over 100! WOW! That becomes a full time job for the collegian.

The NPC team and the campus professionals decide what the quotas will be for each group, but I think each chapter has an idea of where their quota will fall because they have to prepare for Bid Day ahead of time.

So NPC and the campus professionals will say ABC is the biggest chapter and has high retention, thus doesn't need as many women to reach average chapter size after recruitment as DEF, who may be smaller and not have as high a retention rate as ABC does.