Sorority SOS

[cayk0]

Hello everyone! I could really use some advice. I am a sophomore member of a Panhellenic sorority at a mid-sized private college in the Midwest. Chapter morale is effectively non-existent right now. Attendance at socials and sisterhood events is embarrassingly low, and 10-15% of the sorority has dropped in a span of 3 months. I can name over a dozen other members who are considering dropping or want to drop but are toughing it out until they graduate in the spring.

Here’s where I think our problems could be coming from.
1. When polled anonymously; over 60% of my new member class indicated that our organization was not their first choice after preference round. My big said the same about her class. This seems to cause resentment towards the organization itself for ‘taking them away from where they should be.’
2. Piggybacking off of the first issue, our sorority as a whole is too "mixed"–for lack of a better word. This goes beyond ‘introvert vs. extrovert’ or ‘basic vs. unique,’ since entire groups of girls actively dislike each other based on their clashing personalities and past conflicts. Frankly, it is verging on bullying in some cases.

I don’t think attendance will get better until we actually get more than ~10 people to get along in a group setting. This is just a bare minimum criteria for an organization to stay afloat. Obviously.

At the end of the day, I would be OK with our house being seen as a bottom or lower ‘tier’ sorority if we had a high quality sisterhood to make up for our poor public image; but we just don’t. Frankly I would even be OK with everyone just tolerating or being cordial to each other–we don’t all need to be best friends–but, we don’t have that. It would be one thing if girls were just simply not that close, but too many of my sisters are just cruel to each other. Something’s got to give.

I don’t want to disaffiliate, seeing as I’ve already invested several thousand dollars into this organization under the guise that it would give me meaningful relationships and a place to call home, but I am truly at my wits end. Thankfully I have made some lovely friends, but I worry that our chapter is on the verge of destroying itself in the next 5-10 years. We have been on campus for decades and we are one of the larger chapters of our organization, so HQ doesn't even seem concerned. When I and other members have raised concerns to our president and VPs, they’ve been brushed off. Advisors have been no help. Other chapters have been no help. Members aren’t even wearing letters around campus–hell, they’re lying and saying they’re in other organizations! There are other small issues we have as well (minor, fixable issues like outdated house decor, few social events, etc.) but I know that these are more 'cosmetic' issues.

Any advice is welcomed with open arms. Thank you.