Help us!

[charlotte]

I am from a small private college in Wisconsin, and all our fraternities and sororities are local. The problem is, all the member numbers seem to be diminishing... quickly... and ours is in the lead. I am graduating this year, and have no desire to see my sorority near shut down. None of the organizations really have a bad reputation to have to fight... there just seems to be no interest on campus. How do we remedy that? How do we get new girls interested in our organization? We don't have a formal "rush" period, so everything is done individually. We have open houses, (though we do not have actual houses, simply renovated suites that no one lives in, are simply for meetings and social stuff), done personal invites, done mass invites, been fairly visible on campus... though that is difficult to do with so few of us! Personally, I am near my wits end, but do not want to give up the fight... because if we give up, we may as well shut our doors today. Does anyone have any new and creative ideas? Or, are there any greeks from Wisconsin that would be willing to contact me? Any suggestions or support would be greatly, greatly appreciated!!!
Charlotte
Phi Delta Omega Sorority

[SilverTurtle]

Hey charlotte, i emailed you with a rather long response (you probably already know that). if you want any more ideas or more specific advice, feel free to email me!

I HOPE YOUR SORRORITY GOES DOWN, BECAUSE ONLY NATIONAL GREEKS ARE TRUE GREEKS!

OLD RDK,

Before you start trashing locals, remember that all national/international organizations started with ONE chapter.

Also, there are some locals that have been in existence long before some nationals.

[33girl]

Charlotte,
If you don't have one, YOU NEED AN INTER-SORORITY COUNCIL!! same as panhel, just a different name.

Also...you need to organize rush, especially if freshmen participate. We had "Meet The Greeks" (everyone meets each sorority for 20 min), a round of theme parties, and a round of pref parties. The "everyone holds things whenever" is a recipe for disaster.

[charlotte]

Just to update... we just finished spring pledging with a wonderful pledge class... now, wonderful actives with thousands of ideas. Thanks for the help!

[Tigger]

OLD RKA,
This is precisely the reason that there are so many problems with in the greek system. Get over yourself! No wonder greeks get a bad name, you fit the stereotype of the most elite organization on campus. My sorority was formed out of a national sorority, and yes we're local.

Granted, I don't like all the members of other sororities, but please......open your mind AND your eyes... you have to earn respect, you don't just get it from joining an organization.

It's pretty egotistical to say that nationals are better, when before you joined I'm sure you were considered a GDI and that's not too positive! Please stop reinforcing these social labels, you make everyone look bad..including yourself!

[ElleDelta3]

Charlotte
I hear your problems!! I am a Tri Delta at UW-Madison. The greek system is only 4% at Madison, and all chapters are having a hard time getting new members to pledge. Although the NPC sororities here range from 65 members to 120 members, recruitment is always a challenge. We hold formal fall recruitment(all 11 NPC sororities) and for the first time this spring five sororities did an informal recruitment. The informal recruitment was the most sucessful spring recruitment that we had had in years (as most people pledge in the fall). If you would like info on how we organized informal rush email me at ElleDelta3@hotmail.com

Michelle
Delta Delta Delta Sorority
University of Wisconsin Madison