[33girl]

This isn't something you can just whip up for rush week but it's very very important.

Get rid of any dirty rushing, backbiting, name calling or drama between the sororities. If you are at a party and some ABC is just being a total pain in the butt, wait till you get home to vent...don't tell everyone at the party how much you hate those slutty trashy ABC girls. Independents will hear and see things like this and be turned off to the Greek system...and tell their friends. IMO this is the main thing that kills overall numbers at a small school, and no amount of websites or presentations can fix it. Also, try to avoid or de-emphasize any informal "pairings" like "ABC sorority always hangs out with and dates XYZ fraternity." They only lead to drama and rushees (mistakenly) thinking that if they pledge this sorority they have to date a member of that fraternity.

If total has been unreachable for the majority of chapters for a number of years, consider lowering it by 5 or 10 women.

Don't just focus on the freshmen. Upperclassmen often have a better idea of what they want out of a sorority. (Don't go and pledge 20 juniors and no freshmen though, or you're going to be in deep doodoo in 2 years.)