A shrinking chapter

[a.m.williams]

Blah

[Greek_or_Geek?]

I may be wrong about this but airing your chapter's laundry out in public probably isn't the best idea. You should contact your nationals to get some help before things get to the point where you can't recover.

[DubaiSis]

There are lots of threads here about getting help for small and/or struggling chapters, but I would start with your nationals.

And I would delete a lot of the identifying information about your chapter. You've said you are pledging crap because it's your only choice and several other things that are not helpful in resolving your issue. Thankfully nobody has qfp'd you so far.

[DaffyKD]

1. Get rid of ALL identifying information. Any new recruit reading this thread will question the logic of joining a house who "pledge crap."
2.Get rid of ALL identifying information. There are stalkers galore on any and all boards. They know your name and school based on your information. If an elderly woman can find that info in less than 2 seconds, you know a stalker can do it in 1.
3. Do you air your family's dirty laundry for all the world to see? Then why are you airing this dirty laundry?
4. How would your sisters feel if they were to see what your wrote about them?
5. How do your new recruits feel when you say you "pledge crap?"

I would suggest you delete your message immediately. A leader builds the confidence of the members, not tear it down. Sisters have each other's backs. They do not expect to find the entire world hearing how you are in trouble and cannot pull together.

I would also suggest you contact your National HQ and ask them to send someone to help your chapter build your confidence, help you work through your problems, help you learn to recruit quality women.

DaffyKD

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by a.m.williams

strugling... attrack... steppiing... amougst... freshmen year... Any advise...

And from previous posts:

Originally Posted by a.m.williams

sororites... fraturnity... attrack... karakee... ieas... recently loosing...

Wow. I can't find any nice ways of saying what I want to say, so I'll just leave it at 'Wow.'

Meanwhile, there are myriad threads here that can provide you with ideas for ways to improve your chapter. And the advice you've gotten so far in this thread is worth noting. The delete button is your friend. Your VERY VERY good friend.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by a.m.williams

I know some of you may say we need to be more selective about who we are bidding but honestly we just don't have that option at the moment because our campus is so small and there is not much of an interest amougst girls on campus.

Yes, you do have that option. USE IT. Pledging anything with an ovary will only make your situation worse. If you are being forced to do so by your national org, tell them "We don't want to give Jessie a bid because her grades are awful and she has a bad repuation on campus." Be specific in your reasons. "She doesn't fit" or "she's not DZ material" is not going to cut it.

Don't bid girls you don't want to call sisters. PERIOD. If there's another sorority on campus doing OK, it's not that women don't want Greek life. It's just that they don't want the Greek life your group is offering.

Better to have 15 involved, committed, wonderful girls than 40 girls and half of them don't show up or do nothing but create drama.

Are you recruiting girls outside of formal rush? If not, you need to start doing so.

Also: stop thinking of the other sorority as your "rival." They're your Panhellenic sisters. Pitting yourselves against them (and vice versa) will not help you, and will not help the interest in Greek life in general.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Yes, you do have that option. USE IT. Pledging anything with an ovary will only make your situation worse. If you are being forced to do so by your national org, tell them "We don't want to give Jessie a bid because her grades are awful and she has a bad repuation on campus." Be specific in your reasons. "She doesn't fit" or "she's not DZ material" is not going to cut it.

Don't bid girls you don't want to call sisters. PERIOD. If there's another sorority on campus doing OK, it's not that women don't want Greek life. It's just that they don't want the Greek life your group is offering.

Better to have 15 involved, committed, wonderful girls than 40 girls and half of them don't show up or do nothing but create drama.

Are you recruiting girls outside of formal rush? If not, you need to start doing so.

Also: stop thinking of the other sorority as your "rival." They're your Panhellenic sisters. Pitting yourselves against them (and vice versa) will not help you, and will not help the interest in Greek life in general.

Amen! Honestly, you should look at what the other group is doing to maintain members. Are they providing better programming? Is it just the issue of the house? If the whole problem is really a rivalry issue, then defining what DZ offers women that is different but equally valuable to members as compared to the other group is important. You have to do a lot of introspection, though. And above all else, having no standards for membership will not help your situation. Members need to be invested in the women they bring into the chapter. If any one can make it in regardless of quality, they won't be invested, and you'll continue to see these problems.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Yes, you do have that option. USE IT. Pledging anything with an ovary will only make your situation worse. If you are being forced to do so by your national org, tell them "We don't want to give Jessie a bid because her grades are awful and she has a bad repuation on campus." Be specific in your reasons. "She doesn't fit" or "she's not DZ material" is not going to cut it.

Don't bid girls you don't want to call sisters. PERIOD. If there's another sorority on campus doing OK, it's not that women don't want Greek life. It's just that they don't want the Greek life your group is offering.

Better to have 15 involved, committed, wonderful girls than 40 girls and half of them don't show up or do nothing but create drama.

Are you recruiting girls outside of formal rush? If not, you need to start doing so.

Also: stop thinking of the other sorority as your "rival." They're your Panhellenic sisters. Pitting yourselves against them (and vice versa) will not help you, and will not help the interest in Greek life in general.

yes! i am sure that your national headquarters has wonderful ideas for informal recruitment. contact them. in addition, there have been numerous threads asking for informal recruitment ideas, and gc'ers have responded with fabulous ideas. search for them. it has been said too many times to count, recruitment is 365 days of the year-it's true!

have you asked the other sorority for help or advice? you may be pleasantly surprised with their response (at least i hope you will be!). i remember reading one particular thread where a chapter of my sorority teamed up with a chapter of (i believe) your sorority, which insured a higher yield in pnms for both groups. yep...here's the link:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=47134

[33girl]

Also - I know the house issue seems overriding, but don't let it become the focus of your efforts to the detriment of your sisterhood. The chapter is not the house. Don't bite off more than you can chew - consider taking blocks of apartments in a complex to have a home base. That way you won't have to worry about filling a house. (This doesn't help sisterhood either.)

Have a new house when your chapter is ready. From your posts, this is the LAST thing you should be worrying about, especially at your type of school.

Unrelated to this particular post P.S.: Until your school brings back some fraternities, sorority numbers are going to suffer. It would be nice if that wasn't the case, but the fact is it does play a large part.

[dzandiloo]

You've gotten some very good advice here, and I don't have anything to add, other than to echo the suggestion that you should please alter your post to remove the identifying information & further recommend that you contact your RCD/CCD/National Advisor (if you have one) for support & guidance on this matter. It is possible to bring up your chapter's numbers by recruiting excellent sisters & make it stronger than before; good luck to you all!

[DubaiSis]

Since she still hasn't made any edits to her post, if I were a DZ I think I'd be reporting it to your national. I'm really offended by the poor taste of this post. Maybe it's meant to cause a firestorm at that chapter or could be an outsider playing a prank or something but my internal panhellenic flag is waving and I want this to go away.

[dzandiloo]

It's being looked into.