A shrinking chapter

[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!