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I have actually been thinking about this since I read the thread last night and at first I was torn on the issue however I actually think the cap limits are a great ideal.... While I do not think that it is necessarily the right thing for Pan. to "force tiers" I also think in a competitive and "long standing traditional" environment, it might be the only way to move forward. I went to Ole Miss and sadly not only have the so called "tiers" / "top-houses" NOT CHANGED in 20 + years since I was there, but they have lost 2 of their chapters due to numbers. One was a sorority that was re-colonized and took their first official pledge class in 1990- they were closed due to numbers less than 10 years later. It was sad to see an awesome group of girls that colonized and were enthusiastic, pretty, smart etc... lose a house because "no one wanted to join the new house". The other house that closed was equally as sad because no one wanted to join because it had been the "worst house on campus" for "years".
There is so much tent talk and preconceived notions prior to rush (sorry recruitment- old habits die hard) starting from mothers, sisters, grandmothers, etc... that some of these houses don't even stand a chance once recruitment comes along. I can not tell you the number of awesome girls that decided to not go back to a house because of these preconceived notions. So all of that being said by capping quota or imposing different quotas for different houses you are forcing PNM's to consider houses that perhaps they never would have considered before. I don't think this is a bad thing. I also think it forces houses to cut before they are ready to cut, which again is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally I "fell in love" with a house that cut me going into pref night and I was left with 3 houses that I had never even considered. Had this house cut me round one or two, I would have perhaps looked at a lot more houses differently. I did find the PERFECT house for me, however, a lot of girls drop out completely when this happened to them. As recruitment numbers rise each year and houses remain stagnant something has to change or you jeopardize the entire integrity of the greek system. What will end up happening is the biggest will keep getting bigger and the smallest will continue to shrink until they are forced to close, which will then drive quotas on the remaining houses up even higher... It just isn't feasible to continue to have rising quotas-- IMHO a pledge class of 100+ is a pledge class that is way too big! Secondly, I believe the current system prohibits growth. Clearly with pledge classes as large as they are a new Colony would be ideal, however who's nationals are going to spend the kind of money, time and effort a colony requires when the chances of survival are slim to none. Imposing quota limits allow new houses to get their feet on the ground and establish themselves in order to make a viable chapter. PNM's I would think would be more open to a new or smaller house with this system because they are not going to feel like they "got the dredges".... it increases the knowledge that no one house can take everyone no matter how much they like them.
Finally (as everyone breaths a sigh of relief :-) )- I actually think retention would increase. The bigger houses would benefit because their pledge classes would be smaller allowing everyone to get to know each other, bond, etc.... and smaller houses would benefit because not only would they now have enough members to make their presence known on campus, they would also be taking in girls that felt like they had had a choice in their membership not just a group that felt let down that they had gotten the smallest, the newest, the "worst" on campus. For example you have Rudy Recruitee and she is desperate to pledge Gamma Top House. She gets released by them on pref night and is left with Alpha New House. She doesn't want to be in the new house, everyone says they don't cut, etc... etc... BUT she does want to be greek so she goes, she bids she's not happy because all her besties from HS are Gamma Top Houses and she drops.... leaving Alpha New House down one more girl. NOW lets say quotas are in place. Rudy Recruitee is desperate to pledge Gamma Top House... but she knows Gamma Top House has a smaller quota in place than the other houses so she really isn't surprised when they release her before skit. Hey she KNEW she should have volunteered with the homeless this summer instead of working on her tan. Rudy Recruitee heads on to Alpha New House that really wanted her back. Her BFF is also going back there! She likes Alpha New House! she could really be a leader here instead of just "number" at Gamma Top. She prefs, she bids she is in love....The next year she can't wait to show all the recuitees how much her house means to her.....
All and all I actually think its pretty smart-- Its funny but I remember similar discussions when the RFM started being introduced and I think everyone agrees (now) that it actually improved the system.
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