[honeychile]

I actually went through it twice. The first time was my sophmore year, and I realized that most of my close friends had graduated! During rush, a fantastic PNM made the mistake of using "the F word", and half of the chapter hated her, the other half + one (including me, for those who think I'm super-puritanical) loved her. We pledged her - but the split it made in our chapter was not worth it! By the time she depledged, half of the chapter had gone inactive, and it was like a war zone - we went from being the second largest on campus to one of the small groups. During that time, I was hospitalized for something very serious, and had to drop out of school for a year. I came thisclose to not coming back at all...

By my senior year, I was dating a GDI who hated the whole concept of sorority, and my time commitment to it. Rather than endure questions, I went in & out the back door for an entire year - but still did all that I needed to do as a sister. Ironically, that was the term I was awarded "Sister of the Year"!

In the long run, I think that junior- or senioritis, the worries about the future, etc cause a lot of sisters to cancel their membership who later wish they hadn't. I think mmcline's story is one of great importance, and hope that it inspires a lot of people who have considered cancelling their membership to weigh their decision very carefully.