[phisigduchesscv]

HI there,

First off at Cal State Dominguez Hills our greek numbers are growing but that is because the whole Greek system is growing. Our first Greeks weren't even on campus until the 90's.

We have most of the Divine 9 now (not sure of all the names that we have that are actually chartered on campus and how many are city/county wide chapters though).
We have 2 IFC - Sigma Pi and Lambda Theta Phi (also in NALFO from what I understand)
We have one NPC - Phi Sigma Sigma which was chartered on March 24, 2001
and for NALFO sororities we have Sigma Lambda Gamma and Sigma Iota Alpha (which is trying to colonize with campus approval). Plus Kappa Delta Chi is trying to form and interest group (also with campus approval) but I haven't seen them around much yet. Finally there is another group trying to form an interest group but they haven't received approval from Student Life yet.
NALFO fraternities we have Sigma Lambda Beta and Phi Iota Alpha.
We also have one more sorority trying to form an interest group they're national but they're not associated with any of the orgs like IFC, NPHC, and NALFO.

Anyway, CSUDH is a non-traditional commuter campus with the average age of our 13,000 students being between 27 & 29. Many of our students are transfer students and we don't have a huge popluation of Freshman that come and live in housing. A lot of our students work 40 plus hours and quite a few have families. Although we are still considered "nontraditional" from what I've been reading in the Chronicle for Higher Education our example is truly becoming more of the norm for colleges.

If that is the case for many of the Greek schools could it be because they are still trying to recruit the 18 year old freshman while the student population is moving towards 20 something transfer students? I know for most of the Greeks at CSUDH if we pushed for the freshman only we would probably lose a couple of chapters.

My Phi Sigma Sigma chapter is a prime example of what the makeup of our Greek system is like. We are very culturally diverse (of course it helps CSUDH is one of the most diverse campuses west of the Mississippi River). Our age range goes from 18 up to 37. We have Freshman up through Graduate students as Collegiate Members. We have married women, married with family, single with children, and of course the single woman. Because of the differences in life experiences we've had to adjust how we recruit and the activities we do rather then being the stereotypical sorority everyone thinks of. But I think it has made our Chapter stronger and overall has made our Greek system as a whole stronger.

Anyway, could this be part of the problem at schools where numbers are dropping? The student population demographics are changing but the way recruiting is done (or at least viewed as being done) hasn't changed. I mean as a prime example, I know many women are absolutely shocked that I am a 34 year old graduate student active in a sorority as a collegiate member and would never think to have tried to recruit me in the first place. We have 3 grad students now plus a few more that are interested in joining. We have sisters with children and I've come across other Greeks that say their chapter wouldn't even have offered them a bid because of the way the traditional system is at their school - but you're missing out on some quality women there.

Just my thoughts on the subject,
Carolyn