Yeah, you're right about the "help rebuild" bit. It's not a good way to say it. At the same time, there has to be reasons that you want that woman -- leadership or grades or shared interests or shared experiences or grades -- and telling her that specific thing and that you think she'd make a great addition to the chapter wouldn't hurt.

One thing that may help those PNMs feel welcome may sound a little harsh, but I have watched it work. Even if a chapter needs members desperately, it still needs to make cuts. By inviting every PNM back, the chapter looks desperate. If the chapter cuts a few women, maybe grade risks or the PNM who sulks during the party, the word gets out quickly. It shows the PNMs and the campus that the chapter may be small but quality is still a goal. Also, let the PNMs know that they are wanted by telling them and showing them. A friend of mine works with a struggling chapter and her chapter used the mentoring program to retain NMs. The women they felt might drop were assigned to an older member who was more like the new member. When that relationship was built, the older member began to introduce the new member to other members of the chapter. This (and making some strategic cuts) really worked for them. It is a slow process, it has taken them the better part of two years but for the first time they made quota this year and have the same number of members as the other chapters on campus.

I agree, but with the advent of RFM, often the chapter will get pressure from their National and the Panhellenic advisor to invite the maximum. I think that the "bottom" chapters should be allowed to make those first cuts, not tons, but cut the women right away that don't meet their membership criteria, whether grade risks, poor self-presentation, terrible personalities, etc. Once those women are removed from FR, the process can continue with the "real" size of the PNM pool.

I have a somewhat conservative attitude about extension. I think that once all the chapters hit total or come close (or, in some cases, all chapters but one, not naming names) Panhellenics are OMG NEED ANOTHER CHAPTER NOW. I think the demand to be Greek should be just a little higher than the supply, so it is still seen as an honor to be Greek, rather than giving women more opportunities to join via raising total and extension. There are times when it is truly needed and time when it is not.

Assuming these qualities make the PNMs undesirable to other houses too will this work under RFM? Won't it add those PNMs back to the invite list of the houses who have the lowest return rates?

No. If no houses invite a woman to return to their chapter, that women will be released from recruitment.

Keep in mind that not all campuses use RFM. There are some smaller campuses with just a few chapters where PNMs can attend every chapter each night of recruitment, even pref. It's these campuses (campi?) in which I have seen these PNMs feel like they may not have been chosen, but left over. I think it's important for the chapters in this situation to be able to cut a few. If every one can have something, people seem to stop wanting it. This is the type of campus where my friend advises.

Exactly. We cut women who went on to receive bids from other sororities. It wasn't that they were not of sufficient quality to be Greek in general, they just weren't right FOR US.

I say, if your HQ is trying to make you keep everyone, cut who you want to cut anyway...if they are threatening to close you if you do, just tell them "we can either cut these women and keep some selectivity about us and stay open, or we can keep them and end up closed in a year after they tear the chapter apart and we get a rep for taking anything with an ovary. Your choice."

Eh, housing or not, if XYZ at commuter school is at 10 and total is 40, they're going to get that same pressure.

I know this is old but I didn't see the correct response given. It's listed on page 94 of the green book.

That being said, I know that many campuses have a lax view of what "as soon as possible" means and still allow preference letters, twenty years after the resolution. Check with your campus's recruitment rules to be completely certain.

This one's for the smaller groups again--heck, for everyone--