Sorority in crisis, please help!!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by denimeans

Just to clarify:
We had a mandatory move-in list. Our bylaws say 1 year in the house, and if at mandatory move in time, chaper members would be reviewed by judiary board. Our advisor gave us the option to vote on it this spring. Our chapter chose not to execute the list. Most of the younger girls didn't seem to really process the amount of money this would add up to.

Your advisor is beyond stupid. Why on earth did she have the power to tell you to vote whether or not to do this? It's in your bylaws, you have to follow it, unless you change the bylaw! Is she an alumna of your sorority?

[adpiucf]

You do have a house corp, right?

At this point, 20K in the hole is not good. Your president needs to send a message out to the sisters, stat-- We either fill this house or we will lose this house and we will never get another. We have 10 spots to fill and we will work with you to get you out of a signed lease so you aren't paying a penalty. 10 spots-- what's it going to be ladies?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Your advisor is beyond stupid. Why on earth did she have the power to tell you to vote whether or not to do this? It's in your bylaws, you have to follow it, unless you change the bylaw! Is she an alumna of your sorority?

I definitely agree with that. Advisers need to be aware of the concept that a fraternal organization is a business first. In fact, part of their job is to be more cognizant of that fact than they typically more inexperienced collegians.

I think your problems only start there though. It sounds like your house corp in this has been relatively silent. I personally cannot imagine a house corp which would allow the organization to be 20K in the hole and not be raising a whole bunch of hell with the actives. Needless to say, unless they are being more proactive than you're letting on (and given the situation, I can't possibly imagine this), they're not doing their jobs. They ought to move on voluntarily, agree to do their jobs, or be replaced.

A successful chapter often depends on successful and dedicated alums. In your chapters case, from what you're telling us, this is what y'all are lacking.

I don't know what I'd recommend at this point because I don't know how sororities work internally. If it were my organization, I'd see if the Pres. could place a discrete call to HQ (by discrete, I mean the alums don't need to know about this)... the Pres. needs to relay the situation to them to see if they can't get some consultants here to pull your your alums' heads out of their asses.

A caveat: I have said over and over that I don't know a damned thing about the inner workings of your group. If calling your HQ about this situation would in itself jeopardize your group's continual existence by putting HQ on notice that you're a financial risk, obviously, fix the problem yourself, do your best to pay down that debt, THEN call... if your HQ would be more likely to be supportive and helpful through this, call them ASAP.