NPC Rule- Chapter Total Minimum = 40

AGDee · #1 07-15-2026, 06:34 PM

It came to my attention during our Convention this year that NPC has voted to make Chapter Total a minimum of 40 on all campuses. I know in Michigan, many of the campuses where we have chapters currently have a total below 40 since COVID. University of Michigan has a high total and Central Michigan has a high total but the rest are much smaller- closer to 35. With quotas of 4, getting up to 40 is going to be a real challenge. I'm wondering what might happen to the greek life on those campuses if chapters are consistently unable to get there. How exhausting will it be for them to COB constantly? It implies that you can't have a good experience if you have less than 40 women. When I was collegian, our Total was 45 and my chapter varied drastically from 15 right after my Initiation to 45 my senior year. I can't say my experience was worse when we were smaller. We didn't have a house to fill so that wasn't a concern.

What do people think of the new NPC rule and how it may affect smaller campuses? Does it give the message that we shouldn't bother with Greek Life if there are fewer than 40 members per chapter?

blueGBI · #2 07-15-2026, 06:57 PM

I think it is a mistake because for every huge school like Bama or LSU, there are possibly 2-4 schools where the whole system may have only 60 members total.

I feel like this also ignores the enrollment cliff that is supposed to be starting this fall.

But then on the other hand, I can see why they feel like chapters should have at least 40 members due to being able to rotate exec board when you have more members.

Cranberry · #3 07-15-2026, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGDee

It came to my attention during our Convention this year that NPC has voted to make Chapter Total a minimum of 40 on all campuses. I know in Michigan, many of the campuses where we have chapters currently have a total below 40 since COVID. University of Michigan has a high total and Central Michigan has a high total but the rest are much smaller- closer to 35. With quotas of 4, getting up to 40 is going to be a real challenge. I'm wondering what might happen to the greek life on those campuses if chapters are consistently unable to get there. How exhausting will it be for them to COB constantly? It implies that you can't have a good experience if you have less than 40 women. When I was collegian, our Total was 45 and my chapter varied drastically from 15 right after my Initiation to 45 my senior year. I can't say my experience was worse when we were smaller. We didn't have a house to fill so that wasn't a concern.

What do people think of the new NPC rule and how it may affect smaller campuses? Does it give the message that we shouldn't bother with Greek Life if there are fewer than 40 members per chapter?

Quality over quantity.

I’d much rather see a smaller chapter with a high level of campus and community engagement and a strong GPA than a large chapter with neither.

AGDee · #4 07-16-2026, 02:23 PM

I'm very concerned that it will just wipe out Greek Life on a lot of campuses. I agree that the cliff isn't going to help this situation either.

When I think of the campus where I was a collegian, we had a Total of 45 or 55 at times, but then a few of the chapters were at that or above and the other chapters got smaller and smaller. RFM really equalized that and now it's being undone on these campuses.

AGDee · #5 07-16-2026, 02:26 PM

I'm very concerned that it will just wipe out Greek Life on a lot of campuses. I agree that the cliff isn't going to help this situation either.

When I think of the campus where I was a collegian, we had a Total of 45 or 55 at times, but then a few of the chapters were at that or above and the other chapters got smaller and smaller. RFM really equalized that and now it's being undone on these campuses.

Cheerio · #6 07-16-2026, 04:33 PM

Rotating chapter officers is the least of the needs for a good chapter total number.

Each chapter experiences significant alumnae corporate time and money involvements. Who enjoys having more alums serving the chapter than there are chapter members?

Fixed (inter)national chapter fees are best split between members of a chapter with large numbers. No chapter should be so small as to have to constantly ask their hq to pick up an (inter)national fee for mandatory payment of a training conference/convention/town meeting/fireside meeting.

I looked thru about half of GreekChat's listed Chapter Total numbers. Not that many campuses appear to need the number boost.

Chapter total is just a number. Campuses unable to meet the recommended NPC level of interest, within lets say the next four years, may need to reduce their chapter numbers or omit greek life altogether.

Cookiez17 · #7 07-16-2026, 07:26 PM

Wait 40 campus total? Then most of the small, liberal arts campuses (and many have really old historical chapters) are doomed. While I know more PNMs are going through recruitment more with all the rushtok hype, you can't expect more than the campus already has going through to join.

Pinkmagnolia921 · #8 Yesterday, 01:47 AM

What? Isn't an acceptable Chapter Total up to each Org? I didn't think NPC could dictate things like this?

33girl · #9 Yesterday, 11:02 AM

WHAT?!??

There are going to be groups defecting from NPC if this is enforced. Either that or a lot of campuses are going to either completely lose their Greek systems or see them turn local.

This is an incredibly classist and shitty thing to do and I'm not sure how NPC can straight faced say they are for the empowerment of women when this makes it clear that all they care about is money.

33girl · #10 Yesterday, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinkmagnolia921

What? Isn't an acceptable Chapter Total up to each Org? I didn't think NPC could dictate things like this?

The org can ignore chapter total and choose to keep the chapter operating anyway even if they are under it. But with the whole rush system being far more out in the open than it used to be, to always be the group that never makes total is deleterious to a chapter's campus reputation even if your national is supporting you. Unless you are filling a specific niche (religious etc).

Titchou · #11 Yesterday, 08:43 PM

I don't see how NPC can do this. Membership is decided my each group...

Titchou · #12 Yesterday, 09:09 PM

from what I am hearing - it's that chapter total cannot be set below 40.

33girl · #13 Today, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheerio

Rotating chapter officers is the least of the needs for a good chapter total number.

Each chapter experiences significant alumnae corporate time and money involvements. Who enjoys having more alums serving the chapter than there are chapter members?

Fixed (inter)national chapter fees are best split between members of a chapter with large numbers. No chapter should be so small as to have to constantly ask their hq to pick up an (inter)national fee for mandatory payment of a training conference/convention/town meeting/fireside meeting.

I looked thru about half of GreekChat's listed Chapter Total numbers. Not that many campuses appear to need the number boost.

Chapter total is just a number. Campuses unable to meet the recommended NPC level of interest, within lets say the next four years, may need to reduce their chapter numbers or omit greek life altogether.

Wow 😮

Let's just merge all 26 NPC groups into one because God forbid an org be ok with small chapters.

The 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of this post also seem weirdly specific and quite frankly things that are the org's business how they want to handle. If your org is doing this and you have a problem with it it's something to handle internally.

Heaven knows my group has pulled some real boners and I've been vocal about it. But this will literally kill off entire systems.