What’s it like to be in a Huge Chapter?

[honeychile]

Bump for spammers.

[CrimsonCrescent]

You can probably tell by my username, but my chapter is very very large. It has it's benefits and downsides.

Benefits
- I always have a sister to talk to
- If you fight with one sister, there's a couple hundred more you can befriend
- "I have nothing to wear!" is never an issue
- There's always someone in an organization you want to join, which makes it a lot easier to reach out on campus
- pomping is a lot easier with a couple hundred members

Downsides
- I have no idea who a lot of my sisters are. I'm friends with everyone on Facebook, but I couldn't put names to faces.
- Ceremonies are ridiculously long
- There's always drama
- Never enough space

I wish my campus would bring on more NPC to help balance our chapters out. I believe every chapter is close to 400+ members and it's really impeding our sisterhood when sisters can't even recognize who's in our chapter unless their wearing letters. I love my sorority, but I do with we could have a recruitment where every sorority can take the number of women they are most comfortable with without having to worry about NPC trying to give every girl a bid. I'm all for inclusion, but with 2100+ women coming through recruitment, I think there should be a line of how large we let our chapters get.

[irishpipes]

Well Crimson, if you go to Alabama, there aren't many sororities left to bring on campus!

[Titchou]

So, where would you cut off registration? At a certain GPA? Activity level? A date even though everyone may not have been accepted and had an opportunity to register in time?
Your campus - obvious which one it is as it is mine! - has been open for expansion but no one has applied who would be able to build a house the size required. What would you do about that? There is more property available but with rising costs, how would you fund a house that costs $12-15million? You need an alumnae base to donate. Only two groups remain who have been there previously and neither seems inclined. How could Alabama recruit them to come? And still adhere to NPC expansion regulations?

Just brainstorming here....

[CrimsonCrescent]

I have no idea how we could do it. GPA might be it, as we still have many women come through with below a 3.0. Sometimes it's just hard because I see my friends from high school at smaller schools who have smaller chapters and you can tell how close their entire chapter is.

Another would be to allow more cuts. National average is 79% and our placement rate is 93%. If we were more around the national average, our chapters could have more manageable sizes.

Like I said, I absolutely love my friends and I'd do anything for any one of my sisters regardless weather or not we're close. However, and I speak for a lot of girls in different sororities on campus, it's virtually impossible to do so with such large chapters.

But Titchou you're right - it's expensive and there's not a lot of sororities who would have the support nationally. But I do think that campus would support an additional chapter because it's so desperately needed. I also think that SDT should do a full recruitment, even if it would require bringing in large numbers of alumni.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by CrimsonCrescent

I also think that SDT should do a full recruitment, even if it would require bringing in large numbers of alumni.

They would only need to bring in alums for a few years, then they would be closer in size to the other chapters. Do you know what percentage of your campus is Jewish? Enough for SDT to go through the enormous task of taking on such a recruitment? I ask because my alma mater has both SDT and AEPhi, both participate in the entirety of formal recruitment and always make quota.

[CrimsonCrescent]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

They would only need to bring in alums for a few years, then they would be closer in size to the other chapters. Do you know what percentage of your campus is Jewish? Enough for SDT to go through the enormous task of taking on such a recruitment? I ask because my alma mater has both SDT and AEPhi, both participate in the entirety of formal recruitment and always make quota.

The SDT chapter at Alabama seems like it's trying to disaffiliate with the Jewish faith. When I went through recruitment two years ago, they participated in the first round of rush, and was told by the active that was recruiting myself and two other PNM's that they "used to be" affiliated with the Jewish faith but now are just a typical social sorority.

I don't know how much merit there was to that, but it seems like the attachment of the Jewish religion has stunted their growth as the belief that you must be Jewish to pledge SDT is for the most part still around.

[AnchorAlumna]

Re: SDT - I'm not one and I don't really know, but FWIK, they have not been all-Jewish since the early 1970s, whereas AEPhi is still only Jewish.
Right now, construction is still taking place. The sororities have been able to use a couple of "old" houses while their new ones are being built, but this year ZTA is without a house while theirs, Phi Mu's and KKG's are going up.
I am hoping that once there is an "old" house available, SDT can move back to sorority row, pledge more women and again participate fully in formal recruitment.
That would not happen for another 3 or 4 years, though.

I keep thinking that one day, sooner rather than later, the recruitment numbers are going to shrink instead of grow.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

They would only need to bring in alums for a few years, then they would be closer in size to the other chapters. Do you know what percentage of your campus is Jewish? Enough for SDT to go through the enormous task of taking on such a recruitment? I ask because my alma mater has both SDT and AEPhi, both participate in the entirety of formal recruitment and always make quota.

IIRC, Alabama won't schedule recruitment on days when there are home football games, but WILL schedule it on the Jewish High Holy Days. So, whether SDT is full Jewish, historically Jewish, or barely Jewish, it's still not hard to understand why they'd have hesitations on undertaking a full 'Bama recruitment.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

IIRC, Alabama won't schedule recruitment on days when there are home football games, but WILL schedule it on the Jewish High Holy Days. So, whether SDT is full Jewish, historically Jewish, or barely Jewish, it's still not hard to understand why they'd have hesitations on undertaking a full 'Bama recruitment.

That's not exactly accurate, DBB. Alabama's recruitment historically has been before classes and our football season start. So saying we "won't" do it is, at best, misleading. College here starts in mid August so recruitment is the week before classes begin. The first games of football season are now usually the Thursday thru Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Whether or not any of this has anything to do with Jewish High Holy Days, I have no idea but this year they fall in the two weeks AFTER Labor Day - a month after recruitment. And since Bid Day is on Assumption Day this year, I assume they should move that for the Catholics?

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

IIRC, Alabama won't schedule recruitment on days when there are home football games, but WILL schedule it on the Jewish High Holy Days. So, whether SDT is full Jewish, historically Jewish, or barely Jewish, it's still not hard to understand why they'd have hesitations on undertaking a full 'Bama recruitment.

I believe you're confusing Alabama with Ole Miss. Alabama always goes before school starts in August. Ole Miss schedules around football and does occasionally conflict with Jewish Holidays.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

What about not letting freshmen rush? That obviously cuts down the chapter sizes, but obviously would have unintended consequences I'm not thinking of.

[Titchou]

When I went thru in 1963 SDT was still Jewish as were AEPhi and DPhiE all of whom were on campus. In fact, after Ice Water Teas, they separated out the Jewish women from the rest of us and they only went to those 3 groups for the remainder of rush.

[AnchorAlumna]

Yeah, try to do that now!!

[AZTheta]

And there are likely members who didn't make the composite.

By the way don't know who the woman is in the photo but I'd love to have her jacket. Want to cut it up to put in a quilt. The fabric is awesome.