[Anonymous33333]

I have posted here before but made a new account to disguise which school I go to.

My big (and best friend) told me yesterday that she is dropping out of our sorority. Our chapter and the broader Greek community have suffered from fairly major scandals, one of which made national news, and she thinks that the chapter/panhellenic/greek life have not made adequate changes. She also feels like she’s not getting much out of chapter life and feels like she’s wasting her money and time.

My question is what I should do now - I share her sentiments about Greek life on our campus (though not as strongly) and had already felt somewhat lonely in the chapter beforehand (I feel like I have about 5 good friends in a chapter of 140). I am worried that these feelings will worsen when she’s gone. I had also felt that I am not getting a lot out of my sorority experience and have become resentful of the time commitment. I am dreading recruitment in the fall, which I think is coloring my perception of the whole situation.

Despite all of this, I am reluctant to quit - I love the friends that I have made and am worried that I’ll regret dropping out later. What would you recommend I do to improve my situation? I was made a co-day leader for recruitment against my will, and given my feelings right now I think that serving in a leadership position during recruitment could be a bad idea. Should I try to explain everything to the person in charge? Any advice would be appreciated.

Context that may influence responses: I have been in pretty high-up leadership positions within the chapter, and I think chapter leadership would be stunned if they learned that I am considering dropping. I otherwise love college and have a great group of friends, the vast majority of which are not in Greek life. I was abroad March-May without anyone else from my sorority. From September-March there was only one sisterhood event organized by the sorority, though I believe the situation improved while I was abroad. My chapter is around 5 years old and has historically struggled with recruitment/morale/retention, though these things have gotten substantially better over the past year.