Getting a new perspective

[mshudec]

Originally Posted by carnation

I saw about the first 15 minutes of the thread. I have seen Greek chapters (mostly fraternities) that are like the OP described. They are geeky in their own way and they like it. The thing is that fraternities don't have quotas and many times aren't under pressure from their nationals to double their size or whatever.

These sorority members might have liked their group just the way it is and would've been horrified if a big pledge class had come in and changed the whole complexion of the sorority. Imagine that most of your sisters love HP, Twilight, Hunger Games, and various dystopian novels and suddenly you get this huge class of new members who decide that every member needs to be in 2 intramural sports or spend 10 hours per semester pomping floats. You didn't sign up for that! You only took all those girls because your International HQ made you! Now your sorority is 1/3 girls like you and 2/3 rah-rah girls.

People on GC often say, "If a bunch of you accept bids, you can turn the suffering sorority around!" You might. But you might change it into something that the sisters never wanted and ruin it for them.

Yes. I worked a Greek Council that had both local and national organizations. It seemed that the national organization felt pressured to have a larger chapter because sometimes that's the way they are internally organized, while the local organizations wanted to keep things small. They said anything over 35 would be TOO MUCH for them. I value that because they know what kind of sisterhood they want, they believe in being a close knit group and taking small classes of new members. I'm happy for them and I would never want to change that and ruin their experience.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

She dropped out before prefs along with about 60 others. There were girls who received a bid from this particular sorority that did not accept them. She had a discussion with the GL advisor as to her options and GL advisor suggested that she and a bunch of her friends join and help build the sorority up, or start a new sorority. She realized that trying to change the personality of the chapter might not go over well with the present membership, and wondered what her options were. She did ask if there was a way to hold spring rush without xxx sorority participating. GCers took offense, piled on, and OP asked that thread be deleted. Thread was deleted.

Well, here's the thing. Sometimes you come in and you think, oh I'm going to change things and you realize that the chapter might not need as much change as you first thought. Recruitment is not an accurate picture of an organization. Sometimes, you'll find your people no matter where you end up. She could just end up being the most outgoing girl for that chapter.