Total Too Low???

[ASTalumna06]

This whole situation seems ridiculous to me. But I’ll let all of you decide.

The chapter I advise is on a campus with two other NPC sororities. There has always been a debate as to what to do about total, and it has been brought up at least once each year in Panhellenic. Even with many discussions lasting far longer than they should, total has stayed at 40 for at least the past 7 years.

Just yesterday at a business meeting, I handed out a recruitment survey to all of the sisters to fill out, and in one of the questions I had said, “Total stands at 40…” and someone said, “Just so you know, total was just changed.” I found out that it went from 40 to 30. Even in the past when it had been discussed, it was never brought up that it should be this drastic of a change. From 40 to 35, maybe. But 40 to 30 seems extreme (I don’t know if it would seem that way on other campuses, but this is a huge jump for us because we’re so small already).

As I said, there are 3 NPC sororities on campus. In the time since I’ve been a sister (and knowing a little about the few years before I joined), I have seen/heard one of those chapters reach total a few times, one of those chapters has come extremely close once or twice, and one chapter has never had more than 20. We only have informal recruitment, so gaining interest for each individual chapter can be challenging.

This past semester, there was a huge interest in Greek life, especially among freshmen women, and with deferred recruitment, everyone is looking forward to a successful spring recruitment.

Which is why I’m confused. Right now, one chapter has 16 members, one has 24, and another has 28. It makes no sense to me why they would lower total by this much.

I know that one chapter always wants to have their numbers close to total, simply because they are required to pay dues according to what total stands at (Ex: Total is at 40, dues are $10 per member, they pay $400 no matter how many members they have). This is one of the main reasons why total has been brought up year after year.

But I also have to wonder if this decision has been partially influenced by the Greek Advisor. Although she’ll never admit it, she clearly wants to move closer to a more structured form of recruitment. I completely agree that it would be beneficial to SLOWLY move in that direction. But she seems to want to do it all at once. Also, she’s been heard talking about bringing another sorority to campus. I would think it was a rumor, but they are currently attempting to bring another fraternity to campus, also, and that might happen within the next year or so. I would think that if it was attempted to bring another sorority to campus, the whole project might fail, as we’re still attempting to gain a general interest in Greek life on campus.

IMO, I think the Greek Advisor wants to bring the sororities to total in order to “prove” that we either a) need formal recruitment, or b) need another sorority.

What do all of you think? Opinions? Even if you were to exclude the aspect of the Greek Advisor’s standpoint, do you think that it was wise for them to lower total with two chapters who are now very close to that ceiling, and with a quickly approaching spring recruitment period that will most likely be very successful?