In need of members, and other problems
 

I am a part of a Sorority at a small Church related College. We have three "social" fraternities, two "social" sororities and this comming spring we will be inducting a third sorority to the mix. Both currently existing sororities are having a problem with numbers. Our sorority has it the worst. We are Service orientated. We come from diverse back grounds and we all get along very well. We Are hailed by most faculty members as the most behaved greeks on campus. We are liked by most of the "cliques" on campus, and yet we have only six members as of next semester. T can quote people as saying we seem to be such good friends, people that they would like to be sisters with, and yet the numbers stay low. The situation looks bleak, but we won't give up without a fight! But we're not sure what exactly to do. If anyone has ideas, we would graciously listen to any advice given. Can you help?

I'm going to assume that you are not a member of an NPC sorority and the third group being added is not an NPC group, either. I'm also going to assume that there is not much administrative guidance for the Greeks on your campus - otherwise they would never allow a 3rd group to start up with an existing group having such membership problems. With that said...

How is Rush conducted on your campus? Can you only recruit members during a specified time period or can you recruit all year? If you can recruit all year, then that solves part of your problem. My suggestions to you are as follows:

Advertise your sorority on campus - flyers, ads in the school paper, etc. Invite the campus to participate in your service projects - get press coverage.

Wear your letters on campus - and always look nice. Don't wear your scrungiest T-shirt from a formal 3 years ago. Clean up, put on makeup and wear a crisp, clean sweatshirt, t-shirt of jacket. Maybe get new shirts made that say "Ask me why I'm so proud to be a XXX". Get people to talk to you about sorority life.

Take it personal - have each sister invite a classmate to an event. Make the event casual and social and make NO MENTION of potential membership. A couple of days after the event, the sister should approach the classmate and ask her what she thought of the event, the members, etc. and ask if she'd be interested in attending another event. If not, ask her why and critique the event and your members behavior objectively.

Invite the woman to another social event, service event, etc. If she really seems to fit in and likes the group - ask her to become a sister. Disclose to her time commitment, costs, etc. and invite her to join. Meet a woman, become her friend, invite her to become your sister.

Go to campus club meetings and 'target' potential members - women that are active on campus, academic all-stars, atheletes, etc. and invite them to attend special 'get to know us' parties.



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Fraternally,
Barbara
Zeta Tau Alpha Alumna

If you have to go around telling everyone you're in charge you're not much of a leader.

I know how ya feel. I went to college on a small campus that was made up mainly of commuters. The greek life isn't very big on campus because 1. the professors aren't too fond of greeks and 2. not enough people seem interested. But don't worry there is hope! The year before I graduated in the fall we had two sisters left after some of the others graduated and I am proud to say that my pledge sister and I brought the numbers back up. When I graduated this past spring including myself we had 9 sisters. Yes I know thats not much compaired to most campuses but for us that was great coming from a campus where greek life is not so hot and seems to be kinda dying out.
Don't give up hope!

I thought guest login aren't allowed anymore.

ETA: Just realized when the OP was posted. Silly me.

our org has had membership probs in the past; we had the greek live advisors and national advisors help us in so many ways; the week before recruitment starts, we always recruitment workshops; it has helped a lot in the past to have these workshops with other houses and learn what types of things they do during recruitment; getting your glo's name out there is key; we have had several pr committees in our house, but with only six members you can all work together on presenting a positive image at your school; be seen around campus, at events and in class, with your sisters and wearing your letters; the most important thing is for you and your fellow sisters to stay positive that things will get better

Where do you all dig up these 4 year old threads?