Should I stick it out on the advisory board or call it quits?

[totallyjersey]

33girl, Thanks so much for the reply!

A little more info:

- The chapter's retention is not good. After sophomore year many of the members go inactive. (Candidly, we've even had difficulty getting enough members to show for initiation, which was/is something completely foreign to me. Initiation is, like, the Superbowl for sororities.) That seems to be the pattern across all the sororities on campus. We've taken steps to encourage continuous participation. And, there are those members who stay active through all four years. However, it just seems to be the culture on this particular campus.

- I'm right with you on the whole anti-hounding thing but my national/division people can be a bit... overzealous. I tire of their "gentle reminder" emails when I refuse to nudge my collegians (during finals, or - in one case - during her grandmother's funeral!) for missing form #769.

Wow...

I should add that posting on here has actually been very theraputic...

[33girl]

Originally Posted by totallyjersey

33girl, Thanks so much for the reply!

A little more info:

- The chapter's retention is not good. After sophomore year many of the members go inactive. (Candidly, we've even had difficulty getting enough members to show for initiation, which was/is something completely foreign to me. Initiation is, like, the Superbowl for sororities.) That seems to be the pattern across all the sororities on campus. We've taken steps to encourage continuous participation. And, there are those members who stay active through all four years. However, it just seems to be the culture on this particular campus.

- I'm right with you on the whole anti-hounding thing but my national/division people can be a bit... overzealous. I tire of their "gentle reminder" emails when I refuse to nudge my collegians (during finals, or - in one case - during her grandmother's funeral!) for missing form #769.

Wow...

I should add that posting on here has actually been very theraputic...

Would you like one of my blunt pills? Here's one. "Overzealous Olive, the collegians all have a schedule - in paper form and online - of when forms are due. I have all these dates programmed into my calendar and send them regular reminder emails. I refuse to crawl into their Victoria's Secret underpants and twist their privates if that isn't enough. If you're dissatisified with the way I do my job, perhaps you need to find another advisor."

It sounds like the only girls joining are the "stereotypical sorority girls" - who 1) then get upset and quit when they aren't getting a stereotypical sorority experience 2) during rush, turn off women who may have never considered Greek life due to the stereotypes, but who WOULD enjoy it on this campus. (I hope that makes sense.)

If retention sucks for everyone, I would try getting together with the other chapters/advisors and approaching your regional Panhel rep about maybe going to deferred rush or otherwise changing your rush methods. I take it the school could give a flying leap about the state of the Greek system and would probably be happy if it all disappeared tomorrow.

[Munchkin03]

Three years is a pretty good amount of time and it might just be time for a much-needed break. I was involved in an alumni organization for 5 years, and I ended up becoming extremely burned out. I resigned this summer and I've never been happier--but I didn't burn any bridges, so if I want to come back, I could.

I attended a school similar to the one you're describing, and a lot of it IS deep cultural issues that the college doesn't care to address. We were second-semester recruitment, which probably made things a little easier. You're dealing with a lot of very driven young women who are used to doing a lot of activities. At some schools, sorority membership is the MAIN thing someone does outside of academics/professional development. At my school, and probably the one you're talking about, sorority membership was one of many things we were doing. A few of my sisters were recruited Division I athletes, worked, and had a pre-med schedule. Sorority membership, while something they were committed to, was never going to trump those other three in priority level.