NPC Rule- Chapter Total Minimum = 40
 

It came to my attention during our Convention this year that NPC has voted to make Chapter Total a minimum of 40 on all campuses. I know in Michigan, many of the campuses where we have chapters currently have a total below 40 since COVID. University of Michigan has a high total and Central Michigan has a high total but the rest are much smaller- closer to 35. With quotas of 4, getting up to 40 is going to be a real challenge. I'm wondering what might happen to the greek life on those campuses if chapters are consistently unable to get there. How exhausting will it be for them to COB constantly? It implies that you can't have a good experience if you have less than 40 women. When I was collegian, our Total was 45 and my chapter varied drastically from 15 right after my Initiation to 45 my senior year. I can't say my experience was worse when we were smaller. We didn't have a house to fill so that wasn't a concern.

What do people think of the new NPC rule and how it may affect smaller campuses? Does it give the message that we shouldn't bother with Greek Life if there are fewer than 40 members per chapter?

I think it is a mistake because for every huge school like Bama or LSU, there are possibly 2-4 schools where the whole system may have only 60 members total.

I feel like this also ignores the enrollment cliff that is supposed to be starting this fall.

But then on the other hand, I can see why they feel like chapters should have at least 40 members due to being able to rotate exec board when you have more members.

Quality over quantity.

I’d much rather see a smaller chapter with a high level of campus and community engagement and a strong GPA than a large chapter with neither.

I'm very concerned that it will just wipe out Greek Life on a lot of campuses. I agree that the cliff isn't going to help this situation either.

When I think of the campus where I was a collegian, we had a Total of 45 or 55 at times, but then a few of the chapters were at that or above and the other chapters got smaller and smaller. RFM really equalized that and now it's being undone on these campuses.

I'm very concerned that it will just wipe out Greek Life on a lot of campuses. I agree that the cliff isn't going to help this situation either.

When I think of the campus where I was a collegian, we had a Total of 45 or 55 at times, but then a few of the chapters were at that or above and the other chapters got smaller and smaller. RFM really equalized that and now it's being undone on these campuses.

Rotating chapter officers is the least of the needs for a good chapter total number.

Each chapter experiences significant alumnae corporate time and money involvements. Who enjoys having more alums serving the chapter than there are chapter members?

Fixed (inter)national chapter fees are best split between members of a chapter with large numbers. No chapter should be so small as to have to constantly ask their hq to pick up an (inter)national fee for mandatory payment of a training conference/convention/town meeting/fireside meeting.

I looked thru about half of GreekChat's listed Chapter Total numbers. Not that many campuses appear to need the number boost.

Chapter total is just a number. Campuses unable to meet the recommended NPC level of interest, within lets say the next four years, may need to reduce their chapter numbers or omit greek life altogether.

Wait 40 campus total? Then most of the small, liberal arts campuses (and many have really old historical chapters) are doomed. While I know more PNMs are going through recruitment more with all the rushtok hype, you can't expect more than the campus already has going through to join.

What? Isn't an acceptable Chapter Total up to each Org? I didn't think NPC could dictate things like this?

WHAT?!??

There are going to be groups defecting from NPC if this is enforced. Either that or a lot of campuses are going to either completely lose their Greek systems or see them turn local.

This is an incredibly classist and shitty thing to do and I'm not sure how NPC can straight faced say they are for the empowerment of women when this makes it clear that all they care about is money.

The org can ignore chapter total and choose to keep the chapter operating anyway even if they are under it. But with the whole rush system being far more out in the open than it used to be, to always be the group that never makes total is deleterious to a chapter's campus reputation even if your national is supporting you. Unless you are filling a specific niche (religious etc).

I don't see how NPC can do this. Membership is decided my each group...

from what I am hearing - it's that chapter total cannot be set below 40.

Wow 😮

Let's just merge all 26 NPC groups into one because God forbid an org be ok with small chapters.

The 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of this post also seem weirdly specific and quite frankly things that are the org's business how they want to handle. If your org is doing this and you have a problem with it it's something to handle internally.

Heaven knows my group has pulled some real boners and I've been vocal about it. But this will literally kill off entire systems.

Wow. That would eliminate entire NPC Greek systems on many campuses in this state.

So what happens if fraternities don’t have the rule? There are fraternities but no sororities?

The school I attended didn’t allow locals, so that wouldn’t be an option…

They’re considered one of the “larger” Greek systems in this part of the state, and their average chapter size isn’t much over 40.

Wow. That would eliminate entire NPC Greek systems on many campuses in this state.

So what happens if fraternities don’t have the rule? There are fraternities but no sororities?

The school I attended didn’t allow locals, so that wouldn’t be an option…

They’re considered one of the “larger” Greek systems in this part of the state, and their average chapter size isn’t much over 40.

The college in town would be minus a Greek system if that passed.

Just to be clear: this is specific to the Campus Total. Campus Total is simply the number that chapters cannot COB over. If a chapter is at Campus Total, they cannot COB more members.

Each individual chapter on campus can choose their own size, but this NPC legislation is just saying that the Campus Total can't be set below 40, so there should be the opportunity for each chapter to be at least 40.

I think it's fair to argue about the pros and cons of that legislation, but I just want to be clear that it's about Campus Total, rather than each individual chapter. Chapters who are under 40 will still exist, there may still be entire campuses where every chapter will continue to be under 40, but campus total will be set to the 40 allowable size regardless.

That's always been the case - that you can only COB to campus total. Or are we saying that if a group doesn't get quota and they are over total without it, they aren't allowed to bid up to quota?

The problem with setting total to 40 is that in some systems no group will EVER hit 40 and will subsequently be reprimanded by their HQ for being "under total."

I also question whether RFM is being used correctly (if at all) in some smaller systems and if that isn't the real problem. IMO turning sorority rush into something that resembles fraternity rush has been a terrible idea, especially at schools where the majority of incoming students are "maybe joiners."

Lots of local sororities. or even local Sororities turning into national groups outside the NPC.

I actually see this being an issue where the bigger chapters will get bigger and the smaller will disappear. I'll try to attach some numbers to it.

Campus has 5 chapters and the past two recruitments, quota was 5. Total is currently 30. You have two chapters at 25 going into recruitment and the other 3 are around 20. If everybody takes quota, then two chapters are at total and the other 3 are at 25 and will be pushed to get to Total - each COBing 5 more.

With Total at 40, you have the two who will be at 30 after getting quota who can get 10 in COB plus 3 at 25 who will be pushed to get 15 each with COB. The larger ones are much more likely to get all the COB women. RFM equaled things out but this will create a bigger gap again. I foresee lots of dirty rushing with "drop out and we'll give you a bid during COB" kinds of shenanigans that seemed to be reduced with RFM.

If chapters didn't have so much push for making Total from their orgs, I think it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I know Alpha Gam has implemented different officer structures based on size. If chapters have to close, then there would be fewer funds going to IHQ anyway.

What is NPC's rationale for pushing this new rule?

Finally registered an account just to talk about this lol.

Carnation, to answer your question, for me it made a lot more sense (not in a good way) after reading this policy in the broader context of NPC’s total-calculation methodology. I’m looking at the July 2026 edition of the MOI on NPC’s website, pages 38-39. Some of these changes may not be as new as the one we’re talking about, but they’re new to me.

In short, campus panhellenics have four choices for setting total, three of which would make total artificially high relative to actual participation numbers. In addition, a campus panhellenic MUST set an artificially high total if:

• Formal recruitment numbers are down more than 2 percent from the year before (total will be set to the midpoint of median chapter size and largest chapter size, or higher)

• Half or more of chapters are not meeting facilities obligations (total will be set to largest chapter size plus one)

• Total as otherwise calculated would be less than 40 (total will be set to 40)

When you take all these things together, the motive presents as pretty obvious. NPC’s response to the headwinds facing Greek life in 2026 appears to be to push the burden onto undergraduates and tell them it’s their job to recruit their way out of the challenges Greek Life is facing. But it’s not the fault of today’s undergraduates that birth rates started plummeting in 2008. Undergraduates are not the ones making financial and strategic decisions for their universities (such as enrolling more non-traditional students or remote learners, or pumping tuition to unaffordably-high levels) that may impact Greek life. And it’s not the fault of today’s undergraduates that many house corporations failed to update sorority housing to meet the needs of today’s students and be competitive with other options. But by making total artificially high, NPC can make these issues the undergraduates’ problem because their chapters will perpetually be under this new artificially high total and thus not meeting the expectations of their national organizations.

Another, more cynical way of looking at it is that NPC’s solution to campuses where Greek Life currently is in decline is to pump extra numbers into the strongest recruiting chapters, leave the weaker recruiting chapters to fend for themselves, and hope to ride out the storm until conditions improve.

Let's be clear here. Campuses don't have a choice as to how they set total. They work with a total setting specialist from NPC who is usually their RFM specialist from recruitment. The total setting specialist is given a list of choices, and based off of their recruitment numbers, chapter total is set by the specialist. If FSL says they don't agree to the total, it can be appealed to the Total Setting Committee, but ultimately, NPC is setting chapter total on campuses.

Understand that total setting isn't driving Greek Life off of campuses. If you have a campus where there are five chapters and campus total is 40, they're not saying if you don't get to 40, you're out. At some campuses, NO GROUP is reaching 40. BUT, to encourage growth, 40 is the set minimum.

Also, this total of 40 is on campuses that do not use fully structured RFM for recruitment. Once I complete the NPC recruitment thread, you'll see the chapter total from 2025 for all campuses that are using some form of NPC recruitment. They are accurate.

The enrollment cliff is already happening at many smaller universities. NPC is trying to preserve Greek Systems by encouraging growth. AND, let's not forget, these resolutions don't pass on their own. All 26 organizations vote on them. All of the national organizations have agreed to the total setting model set forth.

I can speak for my home campus, Bloomsburg. They were a continuous recruitment campus, which basically means COB all the time. The largest chapter is approximately 1/3rd LARGER than the other two chapters. AND, the campus is setting total at LCS (Largest Chapter Size) or LCS plus some. The large chapter continues to get larger, while the other two chapters maintain their size. And because continuous recruitment has no bid matching, the largest chapter is getting all the women. This fall, they're going to be implementing partially structured recruitment, which is basically a first round open house, and then each chapter has COB parties up until a specified date, and then they do preference and bid day. Bid matching will happen. This will hopefully start to level out the numbers.

BUT, with that being said, the chapters that are under total have an obligation to TRY to get to the campus total. If they don't, they're the ones who suffer. It's why the stronger chapters are doing ok, and we're seeing closures. Nationals don't want to continue to sink money into struggling chapters who aren't willing to do the work to try to get closer to campus total. On many of these campuses, there are plenty of women enrolled. Chapters have to figure out how to engage with those women and promote the experience is something that women will benefit from.

College women today aren't willing to spend their ancillary money on paying sorority dues if they aren't getting out of sorority life what they are promised. And on a lot of campuses, that is the case. College women are less concerned today about partying and the social stuff and more focused on how is being in a sorority going to benefit me while I'm in school become a better, more prepared college graduate. How will membership help them graduate and get a better paying job and be successful. If the activity (Greek life or otherwise) isn't fulfilling that objective, women are less likely to spend the money and do it. College is truly more about being a training ground for working in the real world than the "college experience" many of us older folks knew.

Sorry for my long winded post...

That is what I meant about turning it into fraternity rush. I know as a very clueless rushee I would have been terrified to not have a schedule of parties to follow or worry about missing one to go to another. It definitely shouldn't be a way of rushing first semester freshmen. What Bloom is doing this fall is pretty much the exact structure of my sophomore and up rush 40 years ago.

I understand that they want to have a goal, but if it's a goal that you keep falling short of it isn't going to help anyone. Again, I would like to know if RFM is being used in any way on some of these campi. If the rushees all know there's a number that all groups are short of and they all have trouble meeting, they'll keep holding out hope of a bid from ABC even though ABC wants nothing to do with them.

I mean if NPC is going to say along with this resolution that its member groups need to put less emphasis on reaching total (and maybe more on retention) then hell yeah I'm down. But I really do not see that happening.

Ironically I only knew about fraternity rush because I grew up with 2 brothers. I came into my initial recruitment utterly clueless on how to approach it (maybe that's why I thrived during informal recruitment.)

My main fear is there are campuses with under 40 total, they're going to be under pressure to be in constant COB mode to reach total, even if they are naturally at their own campus total and have been recruiting fine without issue.

This concerns me too. "You should be at total" is a reasonable standard for a national organization to impose on its chapters when total is calculated the traditional way, because every chapter on campus theoretically can be at or very close to total if they recruit effectively.

But when a chapter reaching total becomes dependent not only on the chapter recruiting effectively, but also the system overall growing, that's concerning. There's only so much that's within an individual chapter's control in that regard.