Are numbers really down?

[carnation]

Sorority numbers are soaring at the SEC schools and a bunch of other Southern schools. It could be due to the fact that in many Southern families, pledging is expected--a rite of passage, so to speak.

[AchtungBaby80]

Originally posted by OhBlondeOne
I understand where everyone is coming from with the numbers thing. My chapter was at one point the biggest sorority on our campus(we also are the first sorority on our campus) and 2 years it ago it got so small that they shut it down for a year and then recolonized it. We now have 50 members and 2 pledges that are soon to be initiates and are looking forward to Spring Recruitment, but our numbers still aren't as good as they could be. Most of the sororities on campus this year had trouble of reaching their quota, but i don't know about the fraternities. I do think it has a lot to do with the way Greek Organizations are seen by the public. We hear so much about how negative sororites and fraternities are, but you rarely hear about us when we do something good for the community or the campus.

Liz
Alpha Xi Delta

Hey, Liz, we go to the same school! Since this past fall was the biggest rush in terms of numbers that UK has ever had, I think Greek life is doing fairly well. About half the groups didn't make quota during formal rush, but that's about normal...we were about five under quota, but we had no trouble filling those spots pretty quickly. And keep in mind, your chapter just recolonized, so you're probably not going to be as huge as some that have been around longer. We recolonized several years back and we were small for a while, but our numbers jumped up after a while and I'm sure yours will, too.

[sailorpiphi]

At michigan state, im not sure about the guys side of it, but i do know our numbers for formal womens recruiment were up slightly. However, a still very small perecentage of our campus is greek compared to other big ten schools our numbers are really small. I remember talking to my best friend who goes to a small school in wisconsin, and us talking about how much larger my hosue was and how it was wierd, however i pointed out to her that probably a much larger percentage of her tiny campus is greek than my large college. Also, Our greek system is shrinking a lot, weve lost three sororites since ive been in college (two of which i knew personally to be really great houses). We also keep losing hosuess for a semester or a year at a time due to houses getting in trouble. Overall i think there is a bad image associated with greeks around the naiton. i realy think we should do something. As a former PR chair for an eboard its not that hard to further your image on a campus. I know at state our panhel has done a really great job recruiting girls for formal rush, setting up tables around campus in the big lecture halls with girls posted there to answer questions. I do think a lot of it needs to be done on a national level tho. I wondre if it would be possible for people from our nationals to form a committie to create perhaps a pr campaign!

[The_Nash]

I know that at ASU the number of guys rushing/pledging was down this year, and that may have been due to the fact that 3 of the largest fraternities on campus. On the other hand, the sororities had some of the highest numbers they had in recent years.

[Rudey]

At UChicago, most house numbers have remained stagnant. Our house has definitely grown the most and is a decent size now. I attribute it to a strong sentiment that smaller chapters allow for better brotherhoods. To each their own I guess.

The economy doesn't really affect us. If kids pay 40K to go to school here, they can afford dues usually.

Anyway, AEPi at my school is doing well. Looking at their chapter expansions as well as our stronger regions, I can say that we're doing fine.

-Rudey

[texas*princess]

I don't want to be one of those people who blames everything on our economy, but could it be that since our economy is not in the greatest-of-states that people (esp. college kids who are usually "broke" ) are for-going college experiences like Greek Life because they fear how much money might be spent?

I have heard all over the news how the Holiday Season this past year was a pretty bad one economically because we're living in uncertain times economically and with possible wars. Maybe there is a connection here.

[PotentialPledge]

I have to agree that students are becoming very anti-social. People would rather play madden or counterstrike than go events. So many students at my school complain that there is nothing to do on the weekends yet they dont get involved to change that. This last semester we had 3 new glos come on my campus. However, the avergae number in each glo is around 18. I think one of the solutions to this problem is to meet new people and encourage them come out to events.

[PhiMuJulia]

My chapter is only 3 years old, so our recruitment gets stronger and stronger, we just initiated 18 in the fall and thats how most chapters on campus were, except for the unpopular few