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As an alumna/advisor from a large SEC chapter (Univ of Arkansas) and a mother of two daughters who were active in the past 5 years, I can tell you that dealing with the issues of a 'super size' chapter can be difficult. Like many things, though, once you get used to it, it becomes 'how we've always done it' and just 'what we do.' And just like other smaller chapters, the girls in the chapter think their chapter is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
It helps that all chapters on campus are in the same predicament (all houses this fall took a quota of/or around 135) The entire chapter is at the 325 mark. (the good news is that we are adding two groups this fall!)
Big issues - getting your national people to realize your chapter requires some flexibility in following hardline mandates. For example, my biggest beef, initiation. The 6 week new member period puts added pressure on the pledge class and the members to bond, find big sisters, etc. How do 130+ girls get to know each other in such a short time? How do the members get to know them? PLUS, the biggie, scheduling initiation around big campus events (SEC football, hello!) is a near impossibility. Any requests that have been made to extend the new member period by two weeks (to get closer to Thanksgiving and away from football season) have been refused. This small step would make a huge difference for a large chapter like ours. Even making some minor adjustments in the initiation ceremony would help but that has not been allowed either. (I am sure you can imagine how very, very tough it is to get through all of the initiation ritual in a timely fashion.)
With regard to finding ways for the girls to get to know each other, the chapter came up with a great idea (and one I believe was also done at other houses). In addition to the regular new member meetings, the new member chair chose Owl Leaders to function as mentors and small group leaders. The pledge class was then divided into small groups of 12 or so. Each week the Owl Leaders held an event/activity for a different small group. The members of the small groups also changed each week allowing the new members to get to know a different group from their class each week. They went bowling, ate pizza, made sundaes, hung out at a members apt and watched movies, etc. This really worked well.
I think retention is not as big of a problem as you would think. In fact, in percentages, it is probably only slightly higher than a chapter about half its size. Even when I pledged, and the whole chapter was about 125, we still lost a girl or two or three each year.
I could expound on many facets of this size chapter - and I might end up sounding negative - so I won't continue because that would not be fair to these wonderful chapters. Suffice it to say, that this size chapter is her own special breed!
BUT...I do want to stress that the sisterhood, the funny memories, the camaraderie, etc are all still there. Sure, not everyone saw the house mom back her car into the dumpster and all the trash fell on her car, but you heard about it, it's your house, she's your house mom, and pretty soon you are re-telling it like you were right there!
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Hybrid Mode
