[madmax]

Originally posted by FuzzieAlum
There is one thing I have to question in that logic ... if EVERY decent sized sorority system has at least one struggling chapter, and NO school will expand without all chapters doing well, how does any sorority system ever expand?

Obviously, we manage to! We're not quite as draconian as that. If every chapter but one is doing well, a school might well decide to expand. Panhellenics aren't as dumb as men seem to think sometime. They recognize very well that a chapter may fail for its own weaknesses.

It's when several chapters are doing poorly - that overall interest in Greek life is waning - that we don't expand. If fewer women are rushing (and this country does go through cycles like that), it's not the moment to make every chapter even smaller. That's one time the women's system really shines. There's always a men's group waiting to come on campus whenever they please, and I've seen it happen - when they do so during a "down" time, some other house always loses, and a house can go from top to bottom in two years.

Unfortunately, we women do have more of a herd mentality than guys do. Let's say Big U has ten fraternities and ten sororities, and normally 100 of each gender pledge, 10 to each chapter. Obviously that's simplistic. But next year only 90 of each gender rush. What probably happens to the men is that 9 men join each chapter. Over on the sorority side, 10 women join 9 chapters and one is screwed. Which chapter is that? The one who was one girl smaller to begin with, or the one with the plainest house, or the one the fraternities were spreading nasty rumors about ... not necessarily the house with the worst rush tactics or the biggest problems. If we had a system like you guys did, we would end up with one house on campus with 500 girls in it! Our system protects US from our failings.

If one group really wanted 500 members wouldn't they vote against expansion in the first place?