Total Too Low???
 

This whole situation seems ridiculous to me. But I’ll let all of you decide. :)

The chapter I advise is on a campus with two other NPC sororities. There has always been a debate as to what to do about total, and it has been brought up at least once each year in Panhellenic. Even with many discussions lasting far longer than they should, total has stayed at 40 for at least the past 7 years.

Just yesterday at a business meeting, I handed out a recruitment survey to all of the sisters to fill out, and in one of the questions I had said, “Total stands at 40…” and someone said, “Just so you know, total was just changed.” I found out that it went from 40 to 30. Even in the past when it had been discussed, it was never brought up that it should be this drastic of a change. From 40 to 35, maybe. But 40 to 30 seems extreme (I don’t know if it would seem that way on other campuses, but this is a huge jump for us because we’re so small already).

As I said, there are 3 NPC sororities on campus. In the time since I’ve been a sister (and knowing a little about the few years before I joined), I have seen/heard one of those chapters reach total a few times, one of those chapters has come extremely close once or twice, and one chapter has never had more than 20. We only have informal recruitment, so gaining interest for each individual chapter can be challenging.

This past semester, there was a huge interest in Greek life, especially among freshmen women, and with deferred recruitment, everyone is looking forward to a successful spring recruitment.

Which is why I’m confused. Right now, one chapter has 16 members, one has 24, and another has 28. It makes no sense to me why they would lower total by this much.

I know that one chapter always wants to have their numbers close to total, simply because they are required to pay dues according to what total stands at (Ex: Total is at 40, dues are $10 per member, they pay $400 no matter how many members they have). This is one of the main reasons why total has been brought up year after year.

But I also have to wonder if this decision has been partially influenced by the Greek Advisor. Although she’ll never admit it, she clearly wants to move closer to a more structured form of recruitment. I completely agree that it would be beneficial to SLOWLY move in that direction. But she seems to want to do it all at once. Also, she’s been heard talking about bringing another sorority to campus. I would think it was a rumor, but they are currently attempting to bring another fraternity to campus, also, and that might happen within the next year or so. I would think that if it was attempted to bring another sorority to campus, the whole project might fail, as we’re still attempting to gain a general interest in Greek life on campus.

IMO, I think the Greek Advisor wants to bring the sororities to total in order to “prove” that we either a) need formal recruitment, or b) need another sorority.

What do all of you think? Opinions? Even if you were to exclude the aspect of the Greek Advisor’s standpoint, do you think that it was wise for them to lower total with two chapters who are now very close to that ceiling, and with a quickly approaching spring recruitment period that will most likely be very successful?

The NPC Area Advisor is supposed to be included in the discussion about what Total should be, how to figure it, etc. There are a few different ways that NPC recommends you use from adding up quota from the last 4 years, figuring average chapter size, going with largest chapter size, etc. I would contact the NPC Area Advisor on this one.

If you go to a more structured recruitment, total won't cause any problems for the two larger chapters (because you bid to quota, not total, and you can go over total as long as you don't go over quota).

IMO, it might help to have a more structured recruitment (formal recruitment with three chapters isn't really an option, but partially structured could work well) by means of drumming up more interest and working TOGETHER, instead of separately doing COR, which, from what I know of your campus, groups are more interested in doing what THEY do rather than helping everyone else out with recruitment.

Oh, and your Greek Advisor does not want to bring another group to campus. That's just a rumor. Even if she did want to, she can't force Panhellenic Council to open for expansion. But that doesn't matter, because what you're hearing is just a rumor.

ETA: When I was an active, there was a chapter that doubled their size by meeting quota through formal recruitment then continuing to bid through COR. I don't know if they would have been able to do that if there hadn't been something to get them started (formal recruitment).

So total was recently lowered from 40 to 30 and none of the three chapters is currently at total (16, 24 & 28)? Maybe I'm a bit slow on Monday morning but what is the problem you see with this lower total if the current chapters aren't yet at total of 30? I agree that a 25% decrease seems a bit large but totally in line with how the chapters are actually performing.

The problem is, we're not doing structured recruitment right now. So isn't this hurting the two chapters who are close to total, especially the one that currently has 28 members?

I just don't know why it was changed. Right now, it seems to not make any sense.

If anything, I would say a lower total will benefit the smaller chapter by allowing them to offer more bids in order to get to total.

When total was 40, did any of the chapters even come close to total and when (how long ago)?

Well, say you go to a partially structured recruitment now, including quota. Knowing the greek advisor and her background, plus knowing a little about your campus, it's my feeling that this is where you're heading. You won't go all the way to formal recruitment because it might be too big of a production for three chapters to pull off (there was talk of doing away with it for our five chapters because it was too big a production when I was a senior - I'm not sure if they went to partially structured or not).

Partially structured recruitment isn't that different from COR, but it could include anything from having Rho Gammas, events where all the sororities are together, quota, etc. It's my understanding that partially structured recruitment takes the best of formal, the best of COR, and meshes them together. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the idea they were batting around for my campus).

So everyone works together to drum up interest, there's a higher number of potential new members, and you can have a quota. Thereby avoiding the problems that are brought about where chapters are working AGAINST each other, or not even against each other but with COR they're not pooling their resources. COR can be very successful, but IMO smaller chapters tend to struggle with it.

So you would have parties, sign ups, prefs, etc. You already probably have all the pieces to a partially structured recruitment and just don't know it.

Here's my advice - IMO the total thing is not going to cause an issue. It's very likely that your greek advisor, if it was her that pushed for the change, was thinking that if you all could get to total, the strength of the greek system as a whole would increase, and you'd have a lot more options as far as raising total again, or, if it was something everyone wanted to do, opening for expansion (another chapter really can help out at times). I don't think she wants to invite other organizations to colonize - she can't anyway because A. even with lowering total no one is at it right now, and B. she can't force PC to open for expansion. I think she wants the greek system to have more options (raising total, increasing strength overall of all the chapters), and keeping options open for the future.

Lowering total eases the burdens of the chapters that have the dues system you mentioned in your first post and also increases the smallest chapter's chances of reaching that total in the near future, making it an attainable goal. If the other chapter advisors aren't raising a stink about lowering total, then it shouldn't be a problem. If they are, maybe you guys could get together, WITH the greek advisor and the NPC advisor, and go over options for partially structured recruitment, have them explain what they have in mind for you, and talk about where your campus greek system is headed in the future, so you can all be on the same page and help the chapters put their best foot forward for spring recruitment.

One chapter met it at least 3 or 4 times since I've been around (5 years). Another chapter has come basically just under it a couple times (35-38 members). The last time a chapter reached total was spring 2007.

The thing is, for a chapter to have 2 new members in the spring semester is VERY rare because of deferred recruitment. For them to change it to 30 now seems strange with one of the chapters at 28 members, especially because of the unusually large interest from freshmen this year. It would make sense if after this spring recruitment they decided to change it because all of the chapters were truly struggling. But why would they change it now?

Another reason that I don't understand is because every year, by the time spring semester comes around, 1 or 2 of the chapters would always be above 30 members (and usually above 35). So why lower it to 30?

This is another reason why I think you're headed toward partially structured, which could be a very good thing for your greek system as a whole.

Oh, I definitely agree that it would help. But I feel like we're skipping steps here. Shouldn't they make attempts to work together and promote Greek life as a whole, and in turn, gain a more general interest before they worry about turning over to a more structured recruitment? I understand they may go hand in hand, but I think that things like Panhellenic informational sessions, 'Meet the Greeks', and joint social activities should happen before they worry about changing the entire system.

It's not really going to change the entire system though. Like I said before, you've already got many of the parts of a partially structured recruitment. So even if you completely switched over like, tomorrow, I think you'll find it's not all that different, but the biggest difference would be that the sororities would be working together on the important things (drumming up interest, for one) and there would be a bigger greek presence on campus (because when you work together, you end up getting way more done than 3x what the chapter that does the most gets), and the pieces of partially structured would fall into place. A more drastic change would be going from formal to partially structured, or formal to COR.

In short, I think you've already done the baby steps (you just might not realize what they were).

But again, I think that if they were switching to partially structured, then lowering total might make sense. But right now, I just don't see it. With a ceiling of 30, you're now restricting the chapters that do succeed. And with the way things are going, the chapter that generally falls behind is slowly catching up because of the large freshmen interest this year. Lowering it to 35 might have made sense, but 30 seems a little too extreme.

And right now, the only thing that remotely resembles partially structured recruitment is one event at the beginning of the spring semester where the PNMs must visit all three chapters. That's it. And that's been going on for almost 3 years now. Other than that, there's really been no attempt at working together on recruitment.

Do you know exactly what they have planned for recruitment this year? You should probably talk to your VPR or recruitment chair and see what's been going on as far as planning goes this year, or talk to the VPM of Panhellenic.

Another problem is that the chapter that generally gets the most members also loses the most at the end of each year. They have girls graduating AND transferring to Penn State's main campus, and for them to now be restricted to 30 members, they might start to struggle to keep their numbers up.

I have been talking to them, and to the members of my chapter, and nothing is changing. It's still the individual chapters working on their own. That's why I'm so confused as to why this change in total occurred when it did.