Help for smaller chapters on a big campus
 

Just a question for all you rush-a-holics out there... Do any of you have ideas for how a large greek system can alter its rush process to help the smaller chapters on its campus? I was discussing this with a fellow advisor this week and would love to hear your ideas. :D

Make the bigger chapters go without makeup or showers all during rush week.

OK, that was a joke. :D

sort of.

ha ha!

I am from a larger chapter that has no problems meeting quota, but her chapter is smaller and sometimes struggles during recruitment. We are from different schools but our greek systems and recruitment are similar. I guess what I am asking is how the administration could help the smaller chapters... perhaps by waiting to set quota until pref invitations have been accepted? Or perhaps by switching to prush instead of sorush? (I have NO idea if that would help...I don't know anything about the rush programs, it was just an example of the types of ideas I was looking for.) But, I'll pass along the "no showering" idea. LOL

At my school years after I graduated they implemented something in hopes to help the "struggling" chapters. Am not sure if it helps but this is what they do.

For first round, otherwise known as "tours" is where every single girl gets to see every single house.

Then depending on who cut/invited her back, she gets to decide where to go for next round.

it used to be tours occurred from the sorority house and you could after a while see right away how many members each house go.

Now tours is held in the armory and each sorority can only have a predetermined amount of girls representing their chapter. That way each house has an equal amont of girls.

I think in theory it is a great idea. However, I don't think it is helping my sisters house.

Also, one more thing their Panhel does.

After determining what each houses retention rate is, after each round depending on that rate, they MUST cut a certain amount of girls. Obviously the houses that have 100% return cut more than the houses that get 50%.

That way you kinda force (I hate to use that word) the girls to visit houses they perhaps would not have visited back had they been invted back to one of the houses with the higher retention rate.

Hope that makes sense.

IF the larger groups REALLY want to help.....
 

Use release figures not only correctly but kindly.

Quit stringing girls along just so it looks good to have big parties and then cut them all right before pref. It is cruel to let women think they have a chance to get a bid when there is no earthly way they can all get a bid to the same house.

I realise when there may be several groups competing for the same girls that the big groups want to have more to pick from. But when having huge returns to your parties and then cutting them at the end causes high drop out rates and too many women not getting bids----not to mention the other groups with no chance of getting quota.

Use release figures properly and hold groups to them. doubleblueandgold has it!

From what I've read this would solve so many problems. As far as I know, this policy has been in the Green Book for a long time, the same as no alcohol or men at rush and many of the other rules that people have cows if they are broken. So why doesn't it get enforced?? :confused:

I'm not sure for a solution to that problem, but I do know at my former school, the panhellenic council was usually less than enthusiastic abotu helping small chapters out. This usually caused those chapters to struggle, or close. Before i went there ZTA struggled and is now no longer on campus, which is unfortunate because they are so strong nationally. When I was there four chapters were struggling, which again is really unfortunate because those chapters have great girls in them, and are so strong on a national level. Only two have had recolonization efforts, and of those two, only one has since bounced itself back to great numbers, and the rest still struggle :(

33Girl
 

I put your name at the top of this post as a sort of totem to protect myself. They asked for a solution, and I know what WILL work. But I also know that it will cause a reaction and I don't want to be thought of as a flammer. I'm serious about the answer.
If you really want to help a small chapter get big, here's the answer: First, understand that by the time formal rush happens, there's only so much you can do. Almost always, small chapters don't do well in formal rush because they lack confidence, and because they lack a 'product' that's demonstrably superior to the competition. The answer is to put them in a better position before formal rush so they can compete, and be an attractive draw to new members.
The alumni or the chapter or the national offcie should hire a rush chairman to work full time, all year, to bring in the maximum possible number of new members outside the formal rush timeframe. the chapter should take in two, maybe three pledges classes every semester, put them through the process quickly and initiate them. Yes, fast growth can cause problems, but the truth you can take to the bank is that numbers will solve most all chapters problems and do it quickly. You go in at the beginning, tell the women what you are going to do and tell them what the result will be: they will have a chapter they can be proud of, and one which will build their confidence and enrich their experience.
Pay the rush chairman. She is an employee. Her full time job is to rush individuals and pledge them into the sorority. She can rush groups too. For example, she might be able to get the women's volleyball team to pledge as a group. It's not a stretch. The larger and stronger they get, the better they can compete in formal rush. The REASON this works is because the results are so dramatic and so immediate that they quickly lift the spirits and strengthen the confidence of the existing members. Everyone wants to be "better", and better is what they can see in tangible results. yes, some of the other sororities may make snide remarks, but you can pass that off as evidence that the small house is getting attention, gaining strength, and will be in a position to compete.
I've seen this done with men. I even saw it done once with women. It wasn't done correctly and didn't have perfect results
but the results were still very good.

Re: 33Girl
 

This can work....but you have to have a strong, organized new member education process and an equally strong member education process. Teach the new members their sorority information before initiation, and teach ALL the members (new and old) how to operate like a strong, efficient chapter through year long education and guidance. Isn't this how a colony starts from the ground up?

Quote:

Everyone wants to be "better", and better is what they can see in tangible results. yes, some of the other sororities may make snide remarks, but you can pass that off as evidence that the small house is getting attention, gaining strength, and will be in a position to compete. I've seen this done with men. I even saw it done once with women. It wasn't done correctly and didn't have perfect results but the results were still very good.

I'm watching this happen this VERY SEMESTER. Try going from 2 initiated members to 18. From nonexistent to competitive. Snide remarks included (and very transparent). The key is proper member education once you get the members. A poor education program will teach members to be inefficient, disorganized, and too relaxed on their standards, and they will start bidding women who are inefficient, disorganized, and don't live up to proper standards, girls who then won't want to work for the chapter (and the girls who do get burned out) and then you're back to square one.

Potentially controversial solution, Firehouse, but one that can work. It all depends on the situation and the campus.

Re: 33Girl
 

wow man, thanks. I feel like a St. Christopher medal. I'll probably get featured in the next Jack Chick tract as the Satan of GC. ;)

anyhoo, I do agree with your suggestions. As PsychTau said it can work if you have a strong pledge program and the new members are EVERYONE'S priority, not just the pledge mom's. Too many people think just that, the pledges are the pledge mom's responsibility. Too many people think you should have one big splashy rush and that's it. We keep saying that recruitment is 24/7/365, but the actions of a lot of the nationals and Panhellenic really don't back that up.

as far as paying the rush chair...well, I doubt that would get past anyone's nationals...unless there was a sort of award instituted that the "MVP" of the chapter gets her dues paid, or something of the like.

33Girl II
 

Paying her is one of the important points. I'm not talking about a student; I mean a full time, no-other-job-or-distractions employee who rushes full time. Most likely, she would be a recent graduate, or a woman who dropped out of school for one year. She should be a member of that sorority, but NOT a member of the troubled chapter. She'd be on a one-year contract. It's important that when her time is up, she leaves. Of course, there are different ways to run things but - trust me - this is the best way, and it works.

Re: 33Girl II
 

I agree with you. I also think chapters should have some incentive program in place. You get this many members and you get ____ would be pretty cool.

-Rudey

Your statement
 

I just had to say that you are 100% right about proper member education...I believe the lackthereof has caused a real decline in the quality of chapters in all councils. Great statement!

Re: 33Girl II
 

oh OK, I didn't realize how you meant that. So she would be the equivalent of a college recruiter for a sorority.

It is an intruiging idea, but in your idea of this, how much power or voice would she have in actually voting to give the potential members bids?

My chapter once did a thing where you got X% off your dues for every girl you COB'ed...

However, the topic of this thread was not what chapters can do internally, but what the system can do. So I will steer it back to that.

Release figures are critical. I agree with everyone who said that already.

Panhellenic should run ads in the paper after rush begins. I heard about this at MGCA, and really pushed for it on my campus, and I know it worked in at least a few cases. Something like "Missed out on rush but still interested in a sorority? E-mail panhellenicrushchair@uiuc.edu for more info." The VP recruitment then forwards the info to the chapters. This allows chapters to reach girls who may be interested without the stigma of advertising themselves. Also, if you have a long rush, and this is done as soon as the first round is over, girls can meet the chapters and get their bid on bid day with the rest of the NM's (if your local rules allow).

OK 33Girl, I'll Defer To You Here
 

I'll tell you how the guys do it, and you and I agree that guys and gals are different. However, I was personally involved in helping a sorority return to campus using "male" rush techniques (outside the formal rush structure), and it was, and is today, a fabulous success. Very proud of them.
With guys, the core group decides on a template of sorts: ie. the look, the personality, the character, the ability to pay dues, etc. All new guys have to fall somewhere within that outline. That ensures that the fast-growing chapter maintains a distinctive and compatible personality.
The chapter provides backdrop for the rush effort. The core rush group seeks out the right targets, solicits them and puts them in the company of the chapter. One by one they are bid, and pledged. In my undergraduate fraternity chapter today, the rush committee meets every night after rush open house. It is their job to select the targets, and to plan how they will be pledged. This group of perhaps 15 men choose the pledges on behalf of a 175 man chapter. As a result, the chapter has a very compatible membership and every pledge class is on the same quality level as previous classes. The chapter's stated goal is to "win rush".
In a small fraternity, the best results with a paid rush chairman come when he surrounds himself with a core group of true believers who want to raise BOTH the numbers and the perceived quality of the membership. In those chapters there will be a period of time where each successive pledge class looks better than the one before. That's why it's so important (as others have pointed out) to have excellent pledge education and fast initiation. All pledging decisions are made by the rush chairman and his committee.
We did this with a sorority returning to campus after a year's absence. None of the former members were allowed to return as undergrads. National sent in a hired gun and she surrounded herself with young women who fit within a certain template. And yes, looks were a part of that. One problem the old chapter had was that they couldn't attract new members who didn't have the same problems the old members had. It was a fabulous success. As I recall, they didn't compete in formal rush the first year; they just continued to build and build their membership. Today, they are constant at around 150+, and are very popular and happy and stable.
The short answer is: the hired gun and her crew choose the candidates. Period. Panhellenic may have rush rules that would prohibit that during formal rush, but it solves so many problems during open rush. You have no long emotional meetings, no energies spent keeping the chapter from making bad decisions. All energies focus on rush. We say, "Everything about the fraternity is fun, except rush. Rush is business."

Firehouse,

How can I PM you?

I enjoy reading your posts/philosophies and I wanted your opinion about something.

We had the same problem here at Ole Miss, believe it or not. Anyway, so we started "Regret With Interest." This is where suppose a PNM is asked back to all nine houses. Well, she cannot attend all 9 houses for second round of rush. Therefore she regrets with interest to three houses. This way if she cut by the other 6 second round, the three regret with interest sororities can choose to invite her back. This worked well at Ole Miss for the first time because so many PNM come in thinking they are going to join "AZZ" sorority. They don't understand it is a numbers game and a game with who knows who. Therefore, when they regret with interest they aren't hurting themselves if they aren't asked back to their six. It is like insurance for the PNMs and the sororities. This year most sororities had many Regret With Interests and therefore this maximizes their chance of joining a sorority and it allows some sororities to compete with girls who think they are going to get into a certain sorority but don't because of the competition. Please PM me and I can give you our Greek Life Representatives name here at Ole Miss so you can email him. I know he went to Southern Miss in Hattiesburg this year to help them with Regret with Interest where it was a success as well.

It is crucial that every chapter on your campus have this understaning, "Their success is our success" meaning that when ALL chapter on campus are strong, it makes everyone stronger. If your weakest chapter goes under, then it's just someone else that will be next. I urge the members of the strong chapters on campus to do the best they can to make sure the ENTIRE panhellenic system is the best it can be. As mentioned before, it is SOoo unfair to not follow release figures. So many chapters at my school string girls out for days with no intentions of giving them bids, unless their top girls go something else. They are their backups. The pnms think they're at the top of your list though and they are convinced they must be a XYZ or they will absolutely die. We had almost 60 girls last year cross cut because of this. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. Second, do not perpetuate rumors that you KNOW are not true. My chapter was nearly crippled by a certain rival sorority telling pnms that we were going under the next year. Each sorority has the same thing to offer a pnm, it just comes in a different package. For some it's in a pretty azure blue and white package with a lion. For others, it's in a two toned blue one with a pretty golden key. Still others found their place within a black and gold package with a kite flying high above them (and obviously, many others). Sisterhood, service, social, academics, etc. We all have the same thing to offer. It just looks a little different. I don't know how many of your schools have guaranteed placement, but I know my best friend's school has it and it has hurt her chapter so much. It makes the strong stronger and the weak weaker, so I've heard. Our Panhellenic advisor refuses to switch to this until all 9 chapters are strong. Also, if your school doesn't have no frills rush, fight for it. RECRUITMENT, sorry, I'm old school I guess. The recruitment budgets at my school got cut by more than half this year. Yah hoo for our chapter, boo hoo for the others who have the 10.000 dollars to spend on it. Anyway, I hope that helped some.

Firehouse
 

The idea of having an outside full time "rush recruiter" is interesting, and I think very useful. What would you suggest for a chapter that does not have the resources to get full- time help?
My former chapter is struggling with numbers, and the size of this year's pledge classes will be one of the big determinants in it's ultimate success or failure. While things have gotten better, it is difficult for them to pledge mroe than 3 girls outside of formal rush. What do you suggest? How could alumni help form a recruitment team?
thanks,
Michelle

XO Michelle
 

I would think the best role for the alumni would be direct funding, and support in the form of providing an attractive venue for informal socializing. Someone's home can be a very effective place for a small rush party.
I think if your chapter presented a united front and said, "Yes, we want this and we'll support it", then your national office and/or local alumni would fund the project. What you're hiring is a Captain to direct the effort from inside. Your united front tells the alumni and the national office that you're serious about being successful, quickly.
Here's where I caution you: don't do this on the cheap. Money invested here, now, will be richly returned. Offering a woman room & board is not enough. In fact, the best thing your national office may be able to do for you is identify a good candidate. First place to look is a young woman who just left the national staff after a term as chapter consultant. I strongly, strongly suggest that she NOT be from your chapter. And again, this should not be someone who comes to graduate school on your campus, and takes this responsibility for room & board. No distractions. She is a full time soldier of fortune for a year. What does she get out of it? She gets a unique resume item ("I was chosen by name and recruited as a paid executive to rebuild a collegiate organization from scratch. I operated independently, managed the budget, organized the volunteers, and achieved all of my stated goals. I am the only one ever chosen for this distinction."). She also gets cash, which everyone likes. Finally, she becomes a legend, and the value of that is hard to measure. She will need to be strong, visionary and be self-motivated. What a fantastic opportunity for some very lucky Chi Omega!

to xp2k
 

Sure. How do we do that?

practical advice
 

wow firehouse!!! you have blown me away!!!it appears that we should look at recruitment unemotionally and in a practical sense, like we would our careers. what you are saying makes so much sense and once read, i say to myself, "why haven't we sororities come up with that approach?". i guess it is the emotional angle.
thanks so much for giving us a practical solution to recruitment. would you ever consider giving seminars?strong and weak chapters could both profit, and your ideas are so practical and would be an asset in the work place, too. lisa

FSU Zeta
 

Thank you for your kind comments. I used to do that when I was involved with our national board, long time ago. Your Zetas certainly don't need any help here: great chapter in a beautiful, gorgeous home.

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of a core rush group setting the stage for the rest of the chapter to follow.
How did you keep the rest of the chapter motivated to recruit and identify members when the core rush group had the spotlight? We have tried setting something like that up before and the girls got swamped with work since the rest of the chapter thought they need not be involved.

-M

I teach: 50% of the rush chairman's time should be spent rushing the chapter. Do that individually. Go from room to room in the house. Talk rush all the time.
Motivation: fraternities are motivated by winning and success. Sororities are too. Small chapters are especially motivated by the excitement of fast, quality growth, visible improvement in the organization. Those small chapters always felt non-competitive and insecure, so they create a frame of reference that makes that condition acceptable. But the truth is: if they see that they really have a chance to win and succeed and grow and compete, they'll jump right on board.
There's all sorts of tricks and techniques and pitfalls to be aware of. Small (and this only means small relative to the campus leaders) tend to talk about how much more brotherhood they have than the larger, successful chapters. But 'brotherhood' is enhanced when you;re a member of the winning team.
All fraternities/sororities have brotherhood, just as all automobiles have wheels. But some cars are Cadilacs, and some are Yugos.
Talk rush all the time. Talk to the members individually; sell them on the vision. Spend time with the ones who buy in, and not much time with the ones who don't.