Making a chapter stronger?

dovelove07 · #1 10-06-2010, 02:34 PM

Hey ladies! I'm new here at GC but I really wanted to get some input from all of you. I'm writing my letter of intent for Executive Vice President, and I want to know what kinds of things all of you did to make your respective chapters strong in the past. We have to submit ideas, and I really really want to see my chapter become more motivated to participate on campus and in Greek Life, but I need some help on getting my brainstorming started. Any advice/ideas will help! Thanks so much!

BraveMaroon · #2 10-06-2010, 03:00 PM

I think it kind of depends on what you mean by stronger. Do you want sisters to be more emotionally connected? Do you want to be a recruitment powerhouse? More socials with the "best" Fraternities? Blowing your fund-raising goals for philanthropy out of the water? Do you want your sisters involved all over campus?

Be specific about exactly how you want your sisters to be active on campus and in Greek Life. Find others in your chapter who want the same thing and align yourself with them.

Once you decide what "strong" looks like to you, then you can take a look at how your chapter is doing things currently vs how you would like to see them done.

dovelove07 · #3 10-06-2010, 06:30 PM

We are a very strong chapter when it comes to everything but participation. We do very well in Recruitment, we have fun mixers with a variety of fraternities, etc., but we seem to have a lack of commitment and respect for a lot of things. I was Ritual Chairman my sophomore year and it was a very difficult job because no one knew any of the "formal meeting" rituals (they still don't know them- and this year's ritual chair is NOT good). This year, I am philanthropy chairman, and it is difficult to get any girls to volunteer to participate in philanthropy events for other sororities/fraternities.

Currently, we are closer to each other than I have ever seen us, but our exec board (especially the current EVP) isn't very active and it's not setting a good example for our new girls. I would like to have our chapter be strong in EVERY aspect, inside and out, so I want to know what other chapters did to encourage participation (i.e. lists, points, etc)

33girl · #4 10-06-2010, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dovelove07

Currently, we are closer to each other than I have ever seen us, but our exec board (especially the current EVP) isn't very active and it's not setting a good example for our new girls.

Pardon my crash, but if they're such a bunch of slackers, how did they get voted onto exec in the first place?

dovelove07 · #5 10-06-2010, 09:42 PM

I don't know if this is the same as every chapter, but our seniors do the slating, and they picked favorites... they pretty much skipped over our pledge class and gave the exec positions to sophomores instead of juniors. And the juniors they did give positions to weren't really that active anyways (except one of them, the VP of Membership)

33girl · #6 10-07-2010, 03:40 PM

OK, I'm going to get way nebby and if this is out of line SKs, please let me know.

1) A nom comm should never be all people from one class, one clique, one pledge class, etc etc. It's a good way to get, well, what you've got. A completely random cross section of members is the best way to do it.

2) If the chapter hates the slate you should be able to nominate from the floor or toss it out and start over. If you're not allowed to do this, what's the point of having elections in the first place?

Drolefille · #7 10-07-2010, 05:27 PM

Not out of line, but we did do senior slating in our chapter as well. However any chapter member (blah blah criteria blah) could be nominated for a position, and being slated didn't mean you were always a sure thing, though it certainly helped.

In theory the seniors have been there the longest and put in the most time and effort. I suspect chapter size is also relevant here.

Boosting participation requires the carrot and the stick, and it may mean that advisors need to step in in this case and enforce the chapter/national bylaws if they're not being followed.

BraveMaroon · #8 10-07-2010, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Not out of line, but we did do senior slating in our chapter as well. However any chapter member (blah blah criteria blah) could be nominated for a position, and being slated didn't mean you were always a sure thing, though it certainly helped.

In theory the seniors have been there the longest and put in the most time and effort. I suspect chapter size is also relevant here.

Boosting participation requires the carrot and the stick, and it may mean that advisors need to step in in this case and enforce the chapter/national bylaws if they're not being followed.

Yep - we did slating, too - but ultimately, the chapter decided. I seem to recall that our slating session involved some beer, but we took it seriously (we were at an apartment, not at the house, btw).

It's tough. Keep in mind that your Seniors may have a little burnout. They may also be feeling a little marginalized by all the newer sisters who think they know how to fix everything that's "wrong" with the chapter.

It's also possible that I'm projecting from my experience.

There's nothing wrong with the slating process per se. It becomes problematic when sisters don't use the slate as a springboard for a democratic election of officers.

dovelove07 · #9 10-09-2010, 10:20 PM

There were a couple nominations from the floor but none of them won.. now we're suffering the consequences! I know we had a "points" system for a while but then we switched to "lavender" and "maroon" lists (i.e. lavender girls are required to attend this Greek Life program), but I feel like a lot of girls skip out on events and just pay the fine for them like its nothing. Do/did you ladies ever use a successful system at your chapter that raised your participation rates?