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  #1  
Old 01-29-2000, 07:19 PM
Sweetsarah
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I am a new member of a sorority that has just gone through formal rush without any bids of any kind. At the end of the semester we are losing 13 graduating seniors, this only leaves 17 collegiate members on campus. Our sorority has never been very good with formal rush but it has never been this bad. I am basically asking if anyone else has gone through this problem and corrected the problem?
Just to add more info. We have had little support from nationals and all effort has been on the members. The campus we are on is over 25,000 students. If there are any more questions please reply. Thanks
sarah
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  #2  
Old 01-30-2000, 10:06 AM
PenguinTrax PenguinTrax is offline
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Sarah --

How many other national sororities are on campus? How many locals? What percentage of the campus is Greek?

When you say your nationals has not given you any assistance, what assistance have you requested?



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Fraternally,
Barbara
Zeta Tau Alpha Alumna

If you have to go around telling everyone you're in charge you're not much of a leader.


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  #3  
Old 01-30-2000, 07:52 PM
Sweetsarah
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There are 13 sororities on campus with 2 more coming in the fall. Of the undergrads, it is about 35% greek.
In the past we have asked nationals for recruting support and the action that was taken was pulling yearbooks out and soliciting the students. Nationals has sent a few consultants who really haven't been any help to us at all. Now we are asking for a consultant to live here for 6 months to a year and increased financal support to help get our name out again.
I hope this helps clearify some things.
Sweetsarah
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  #4  
Old 01-31-2000, 09:54 AM
33girl 33girl is offline
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Hi Sarah-

Been there, done that, unfortunately. A lot of times all it takes is a very good, very focused pledge class. My big-bigs’s class came into our chapter when there were only 13 members. They set a goal and by the time they graduated the chapter was at total plus!!

First of all, have a chapter retreat and if there are any problems, get them on the table and solve them. You can’t convincingly tell women how great your sisters are if there are unresolved issues.

I don’t understand why your nationals (what sorority are you in, by the way?) would do that with the yearbooks – that seems like a very inefficient way to target women. They should definitely send in someone to help you on a long-term basis if at all possible. At the very least, they (and you) should put out an alert to local alumnae and see if they can help. (attending parties, giving names of women, etc.)

Find out who didn’t get bids in the last formal rush and see if any of those girls would be interested. And just talk about it with your friends – you never know how many of them would like to be Greek, but were turned off by formal rush. If there are women who are friends with a lot of sisters – encourage them to take that next step and join.

The most important thing is, no matter what your nationals or anyone says, never, never, NEVER give women bids just to get numbers. It will drag the whole chapter down worse than low numbers ever could. Quality, not quantity. PERIOD. There ARE women out there who would rather be in a small group where they can stand o}t, than in a large one where they might feel faceless. All you have to do is find them. Best of luck & let us know what happens!!!
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  #5  
Old 01-31-2000, 03:54 PM
PenguinTrax PenguinTrax is offline
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Sarah -

Thanks for the additional info...here are a couple of thoughts.

I agree with 33 - concentrate on quality, not quantity. Build your chapter up slowly and never make excuses for your current, smaller membership. I think a live-in traveling or graduate consultant is a good idea - they can bring a new perspective to your chapter and will have a lot of experience to help you. I don't know why your nationals seem to have been so laissez faire until now, but mine is not to reason why.

I would suggest a chapter retreat and have a qualified facilitator lead some discussions on why you are having recruitment problems and what can be done to combat the problem. Some things to consider: Overall attitude of chapter, reputation of chapter on campus, image of chapter, what are your goals for the coming year. I suggest that "getting quota next Rush" is not a good goal. Your goal should be something smaller, like "We will pledge and initiate 5 quality women each semester." Write down what makes a quality member - is it grades? commitment to the sorority? looks? Then write down how you can find these type of women? Eliminate those behaviors that harm the image or reputation of the chapter and be very noticeable about the change.

In the interim, your chapter needs to act bigger - be noticed on campus by having everyone in the chapter wear their letters at least twice a week, get some PR for the chapter (a community service event is a great way to do this), be enthusiastic about your chapter (even when things aren't so great) and show the world that you guys are proud and are 'here to stay'.

Plan small C.O.B. events and invite only as many women as you can comfortably entertain - I'd say no more than a dozen if your chapter is currently at 17 members. Plan events that are fun, yet give the potential members time to get to know your chapter and make sure you let the women know all about your chapter locally and nationally. If they question your size, tell them that the chapter feels that quality members are more important than numbers on a spreadsheet, that the chapter invited them (the rushees) for the qualities that they could bring to the chapter. Express to the potential members that your chapter is looking for women that want to be in on a ground-floor opportunity to grow the chapter.

Look at women in your classes and other clubs on campus - make the invitation casual - my sorority is going out for pizza tonight, would you like to come and meet my friends? Make the offer honestly and without pressure. Bring these potential members to community service events and events other than parties. Let them get to know all of you before you jump in and ask them to pledge.

Be selective - there may be women that would LOVE to be in your chapter, but if they don't meet your standards (scholastic or whatever), don't ask them to join. However, I caution you to really get to know someone before dismissing them based on appearance, etc.- it's what is in their heart and their capabilities that matter. I think initially you need to pledge women that are already leaders and elicit their help in developing and attracting more leaders to the chapter.

I've seen a chapter of 3 turn themselves around to become the second largest chapter on campus. Granted, it was a smaller campus, but still, it is an impressive thing to see.

Another thing to consider is the recent trend in the NPC for sororities to help each other. Quite literally, members of the other chapters will Rush on your behalf. Talk to your Greek Life advisor and Panhellenic President. Hook up with a chapter that is successful, but maybe had problems of it's own a few years ago. Find out what they did to turn their chapter around and ask for their help so that you can do the same. One weak chapter on campus hurts everyone - everyone should work together to help you. You can also ask fraternity men you are friendly with to help you by introducing women from their classes to you and your sisters.

If you want to email me privately and let me know what chapter you are in, I may be able to offer a few more specific ideas.



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Fraternally,
Barbara
Zeta Tau Alpha Alumna

If you have to go around telling everyone you're in charge you're not much of a leader.


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  #6  
Old 01-31-2000, 06:55 PM
Artimis
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Though some may have mixed opinions of this sugguestion. (And I'm not sure how NPC looks upon thier involvement with rush.) You may consider contacting some local alumnae for support. Alumnae can assist in many ways.

For community service projects, they will help to increase your visablity and numbers at events. For Rush, they may have some ideas from ages gone by, or be willing to help out with some of the smaller tasks during an event (i.e. manning a refreshman table) so as to free up actives to talk to guests. They may also beable to recommend young women that they may know that would be quality sisters.

Some con's do exist with involving alumnae. The major one is alumnae wanting to relive their active days or mean-well attempts that turn into controling enviroments. Do be up front with alumnae of what expectations or level of involvement that is approriate.

Good Luck!

Jennifer

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Beta Chapter Alumnae and Founder
Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies
http://alpha-sigma-kappa.ou.edu/
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  #7  
Old 02-01-2000, 09:23 AM
PenguinTrax PenguinTrax is offline
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Jennifer -

You made a good point about alumnae involvement. I guess I skipped over that aspect as it seemed that there was currently little alumnae involvement and the national office wasn't pushing alumnae supervision at the chapter. Of course, every NPC group has differing opinions of alumnae involvement, so not knowing what group Sarah is affiliated with, it's hard to say.

Take care,
Barb
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  #8  
Old 02-01-2000, 03:07 PM
BSUPhiSig'92 BSUPhiSig'92 is offline
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I would strongly suggest going to speak with your university's Greek Life/Panhellenic adviser to see what suggestions he/she might be able to provide you. Right now, I would focus HARD on COB. Don't worry so much about rush events, but get your entire membership out there working on recruitment. It is too big a job to be left to one person. Teach your members the five-step process:

1. Meet women
2. Make them your friend
3. Introduce them to your sisters
4. Introduces them to your organization
5. Ask them to join

Believe me it takes a lot of effort, but it works!
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  #9  
Old 02-06-2000, 01:41 PM
Becky
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My chapter was on probation for low membership about a year or two before I joined. The one thing that we still talk about that they did to increase membership was to wear letters. They wore letters EVERYDAY from teh start of firstyear orientation through recruitment. Each night, they would meet at the house and trade. The feeling by the time rush started was that our house was huge, even though we only had about 15 affiliated sisters, because potential members had seen our letters everywhere.

Good luck!
Becky
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  #10  
Old 03-15-2000, 03:23 AM
lizzie3d lizzie3d is offline
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I feel like I have some decent input on this issue, as our chapter was in danger of losing its charter for a majority of the school year this year. The number one reason we were scheduled to close was because of low numbers. It took the threat of losing our charter to really get the women in my sorority motivated, and although it wasn't the best way to start off the year everything turned out great; we got our charter reinstated last week. Here's what we did:

* We started our rebuilding by getting the women motivated to find potential sisters. We knew there were women out there who wanted to be sisters, it was just a matter of tracking them down.

* As Barb stated, getting other chapters on campus involved can be SO helpful. In our case, a sorority on campus made t-shirts in support of our sorority. In addition to the women in the house wearing letters, members of 6 other sororities and 14 fraternities wore t-shirts in support of us. Each house also made a banner signifying their support for our chapter, which was absolutely awesome. That helped a lot.

* We knew getting our numbers up was only the start of our plan. Once women joined, we had to find a way to keep them there. We had several retreats so all of us could come up with a five year plan together. We decided where we wanted to be and how to get there. These retreats won't stop now that we are getting closer to our goal-- every retreat gets us closer as sisters and closer to our goals.

* We placed great value on new members. In such a hard time, we knew it was important to show the new members that they weren't just numbers, but sisters. As a new member, I felt that was the best part of joining this sorority-- that I wasn't a number.

* We continually were looking for women to join. We invited friends over for dinner or a house tour, we got other women involved in our house so they could see what it was truly about. Sometimes rush turns women off of Greek life (it did for me), and a more personal visit to the house can put a whole new view on joining a Greek organization.

* As stated before, alumnae support was KEY. Our alums were absolutely awesome in showing their support for our chapter. Alumnae can give great wisdom from their time in the house, as well as give names of potential new members. Even as a new member, I realize the value of an alum is endless.

* As BSUPhiSig stated, meeting with Greek advisors can help. We had an advisor come over for dinner one night and then speak to us about our situation. Let me tell you, it was motivating, especially in the middle of a semester when you're starting to burn out.

Hope these ideas helped. Remember, these are just the things my chapter did. Each chapter has to adapt to the environment of their University, and each chapter may have a different vision of the future. If you have any other questions PLEASE feel free to e-mail me. I feel I have a unique insight into this situation having been through it in just the last semester.
Liz
Delta Delta Delta
Theta Sigma
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  #11  
Old 03-15-2000, 11:27 AM
Stargazerlil
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Congratulations Lizzie3D. I just saw your chapter's web site and it seems that the whole community pulled together for DDD. Keep the great work!
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