Help with COB issues.

[AlphaFrog]

This thread pretty much sums up my entire sorority experience. 33 knows what she's talking about, because she's been through it, too. It's totally draining to be in serious recruitment mode constantly. I remember getting a form letter from National saying that we were not receiving the quality membership experience expected, and that was the reason we were being closed. I think the quality of my membership would have been 110% better if we weren't constantly being threatened with having our charter pulled.

If you can read the pain in this young woman's posts like I can, you'll understand why I don't want my chapter recolonized next Fall as planned. They've lost another sorority recently to low numbers, and I don't think that campus can take another group so soon.

[HQWest]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

This thread pretty much sums up my entire sorority experience. 33 knows what she's talking about, because she's been through it, too. It's totally draining to be in serious recruitment mode constantly. I remember getting a form letter from National saying that we were not receiving the quality membership experience expected, and that was the reason we were being closed. I think the quality of my membership would have been 110% better if we weren't constantly being threatened with having our charter pulled.

If you can read the pain in this young woman's posts like I can, you'll understand why I don't want my chapter recolonized next Fall as planned. They've lost another sorority recently to low numbers, and I don't think that campus can take another group so soon.

I have actually had first hand experience on both sides of it. She's here looking for help, because she still thinks they can rally. It does take a 5 year plan not a 1 year plan though, and they need to be willing to be creative.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by HQWest

I have actually had first hand experience on both sides of it. She's here looking for help, because she still thinks they can rally. It does take a 5 year plan not a 1 year plan though, and they need to be willing to be creative.

The problem with a five year plan is that those who sign it (if that's what your org does) are probably not going to be around when the consequences come about, so it doesn't really motivate them to work hard to meet the requirements. They know they're going to have a chapter when they graduate, so it's forgotten about until Year 5 when National starts threatening to yank the charter and the current actives aren't even aware that a 5 year plan.existed.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

This thread pretty much sums up my entire sorority experience. 33 knows what she's talking about, because she's been through it, too. It's totally draining to be in serious recruitment mode constantly. I remember getting a form letter from National saying that we were not receiving the quality membership experience expected, and that was the reason we were being closed. I think the quality of my membership would have been 110% better if we weren't constantly being threatened with having our charter pulled.

If you can read the pain in this young woman's posts like I can, you'll understand why I don't want my chapter recolonized next Fall as planned. They've lost another sorority recently to low numbers, and I don't think that campus can take another group so soon.

Me too, me too. We actually took a LOT of juniors, even spring semester.

[DGTess]

Don't lock yourselves into looking at women one at a time, either. Are there small groups (I'm thinking 2-5) of women who always seem to be working/hanging out/studying together? Are they women you like? Perhaps they share some classes or a major with one or more of your sisters?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Don't lock yourselves into looking at women one at a time, either. Are there small groups (I'm thinking 2-5) of women who always seem to be working/hanging out/studying together? Are they women you like? Perhaps they share some classes or a major with one or more of your sisters?

Oh, this is a good point. I know another chapter that was struggling went after the band women in a big way (most did not rush because there were too many time conflicts between Marching Illini and formal recruitment). Once they had a few, it spiraled into getting maybe five women/year from the band...that's huge!

[DubaiSis]

You can do the same thing with athletes, Honors students, any of the clubs... but with the athletes or band members, you might want to find out if waivers can be arranged for missing certain big events like rush and initiations. If they have to choose between the volleyball team and rush, they will choose volleyball because likely they are on a scholarship. But if you can make a special arrangement for them (not a blank check, but they will be responsible for X number of COB events if they have to miss a day or two of rush), then it might be really appealing to them. And using this formula, you could more easily go after girls you don't personally know. Contacting them as a group and inviting them to a rush event wouldn't seem as odd as just approaching random girl on the street. An invitation saying ABC sorority would like to invite the women of the band to a sorority recruitment event on X date would pretty much spell out what you're doing and why. That shouldn't be the end of your approach, follow up phone calls, personal contact with anyone you actually know, etc. would also be required, but this would be one form of a blast invitation but targeted to a specific group of women. And one month you could do the band, the next the volleyball team, the next the honors dorm, and that makes national happy because you are doing parties more frequently, but you aren't having to tear your hair out about who to drag through the door.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by rushchair799

As far as the concerns expressed with the recruitment groups - I agree with everyone saying they probably aren't working the way we had hoped they would. I actually got a chance to sit down and have a nice long conversation with one of our advisors that assists with recruitment, and she's agreed to look at some of my ideas for changes to the groups. My question is, I know we won't be allowed to do away with the groups themselves, so do you all think it would be better to do larger groups (6 or 7 women), stay where we are (2, 3, or 4 women) or do it individually (perhaps with an accountability partner?) the way it is set up now, a majority of the group has to do one of the things on the list we've given out per week - this allows for if someone is having a super busy week, etc. that they can sit out one week, as long as the same person isn't sitting out each week. I like the idea of setting personal goals for each woman, but can't decide what to suggest beyond that.

Question, and what I advise might fly in the face of conventional "get the whole chapter to bond/kill the cliques" wisdom. Are the groups made up of women who usually hang out together (for example, the 4 girls who live together off campus in CollegeGrove Apartments or whatever your student complex is called) or were they assigned at random? If they were assigned at random, and they're not that close to each other or worse, that might not be putting forward the best sisterhood face to prospective members. Whereas when a PNM sees 4 girls who are bouncing off each other and super tight, they don't think "oh, that is a clique." They think "oh, they got these great friendships because they joined the sorority." Let the women who are close to each other work together. Hopefully you have a few "social chameleons" in the chapter who get along with everyone and can maybe float from group to group.

4 is about the max you should have for this sort of thing. Getting more people than that together is way too complicated.

[rushchair799]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Question, and what I advise might fly in the face of conventional "get the whole chapter to bond/kill the cliques" wisdom. Are the groups made up of women who usually hang out together (for example, the 4 girls who live together off campus in CollegeGrove Apartments or whatever your student complex is called) or were they assigned at random?

They were assigned based of a few criteria, but I will admit that we tried not to put BEST FRIENDS together, but did make sure everybody in the group got along well and did hang out together on a semi-regular basis. The worry was that if we put people with their absolute best friends, they'd just make up stuff instead of actually doing the recruitment things, rendering the groups pointless. This is still happening though, which is the issue. Our alums won't let the whole idea of the recruitment groups go, though, so I'm trying to find ways to revamp and rearrange them to make them more useful. We're on the right track, in that what we're doing now is far more effective than what we've done in the past, but it's still not working as well as we had hoped. It's just discouraging to see my sisters having such a poor attitude, I understand why they do but it's not helping anything and doesn't seem to be changing.

[DubaiSis]

I'm sorry. Maybe mentally/emotionally you can put all your eggs in the new girls' basket. It's rough on seniors no matter how up to snuff the chapter is. If they've had a pressure-filled 4 years, they could REALLY be over it. They can't be let off the hook completely, but if you really work on the idea that new members each get one member through informal, that would be substantial growth, and would have the enthusiasm in the young half of the chapter.

I'd also advise against trying to change too many things at once. If what you've been doing has been having small but real benefits, just tweak for now. Your system needs to be modified (not so many penalties, not so many parties) but other than that, maybe you can work on targeting your invitations and worry less about full chapter participation on a day in/day out basis. Headquarters may want you to have 100% increase in chapter size in a year, but I'd decide what is realistic for you and go with that. Maybe a 10 percent increase through informal? Or replacing through informal the number of seniors you will be losing so you don't have that drop over the summer? As Many As You Can Get isn't super helpful when setting goals. It also doesn't allow you to be done with it for a minute (and celebrate that fact) before you have to start over again.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by rushchair799

Our alums won't let the whole idea of the recruitment groups go, though, so I'm trying to find ways to revamp and rearrange them to make them more useful.

Do these same alums (I don't know if you mean just plain old chapter alums or advisors) ever show up to just hang out and have fun times (like watching movies or something) with the active sisters? Or is the only contact with them, them telling the actives what to do and how they need to quit stinking up the chapter? The latter is not going to make anyone want to do anything.

It sounds like even though there's constant COBing and talking about it, it doesn't truly get through the concept that "Rush is 24/7/365." When people see someone who is happy and loving life, THAT is your best rush tool, and it's not something you can take on and off like a sweatshirt. I'll say again, if there are women for whom sorority membership has become an unhappy thing, they need to go.

[ree-Xi]

Live your letters. The more people see you out and about, being who you are, the more visibility even a smaller group can generate. Eat lunch together, hang out in the quad after class. Do things you naturally enjoy. Like attracts like. Good luck!