[PhoenixAzul]

My chapter has been and is consistently under 30 members. At one point and time, there were only 6 girls. But slowly, we controlled our growth to bring in 1) quality members 2) only as many girls as we could handle. It's easy to invite a ton of people and pledge a ton of people, but if they all go by the wayside in the next year, it was just a bunch of wasted money. Also, having a gigantic freshman class gives them a lot of pull in the org...and while freshmen are wonderful resources and bring a lot of energy...having too many people unseasoned in the ways/traditions/reputation upkeep of the chapter can cause a lot of problems.

So I guess what i'm advising is to grow slowly. Don't sacrifice the quality of members just for numbers. Take as many girls as can reasonably be handled.

What i've noticed over the past quarter is a lot more pre-rush events (this is one of the benefits of having a deferred rush!). Groups had movie nights, cookies and milk handouts, service tables, service projects, etc. IFC threw a pizza/wings/football party in the campus center and invited everyone on campus and signed a lot of guys up at that. Panhel had a ice cream social to which girls wore letters and met/talked to a lot of freshmen girls. Basically, free food is a motivator for all.