AriesRising, Back in the "old days" of when the old Panhellenic House on NW Marine Drive was still standing, the suites for the sororities were not that large. Each sorority had their meetings on Wednesday nights, where all members had to attend. I believe that due to the square footage of each room, the Vancouver Fire Dept. deemed that the full capacity of each room was 40, and thus, this is the max. no. of "40" came to be. I imagine that with the construction of the new, larger, Panhel House (which will include actually residence rooms that people will live and sleep int), the chapters would be able to become larger, and still being to evacuate quickly if a fire were to occur.