Intentionally smaller chapters?
 

Is there anything in the Green Book that says if a sorority doesn't make quota or total for a long time that the school's Panhellenic should intervene?

That is, say XYZ (a Panhellenic sorority) decides, consciously, that they want to be smaller. They are not at total and never make quota, but do take enough members to function effectively. Their national is fine with this and supports their decision. Can NPC (nationally or locally) say this is wrong in any way? Does participation in formal rush mean that you HAVE to try to bid up to quota/total?

I don't believe so.

My chapter sort of did what you're describing... We started out as a local sorority, well below total (total=80, we were at 12 counting my pledge class). We thought 80+ was too large to really bond with everyone in the sorority, so we made a conscious decision to stay below total. AEPhi was fine with this.

We actually had a weird way of setting quota. Quota was (# women attending pref) * 22% for the other sororities or 12% for AEPhi. There's a stipulation in the rush rules that the percentages will be re-analyzed if AEPhi makes quota.

Even so, my chapter has never made quota or even come close to total. :(

That is a very interesting question. When I was in school, at my university it was considered insulting if a chapter didn't make quota, almost as if that chapter had a lesser status. That was the perception, at any rate. Conversely, I would hear of other schools, only a few hours drive away where chapters who consistently ranked #1 in academics, athletics, leadership, campus participation and visibility who declined to make quota due to what they perceived as the "caliber of woman" rushing in formal recruitment.

I cannot speak for all sororities, but for Alpha Delta Pi, internationally, it is stressed that to meet Panhellenic quota/total is a very desirable, important and necessary chapter goal. If a chapter does not meet this goal in formal recruitment, it is their task to COR through the school year to get up to total, and the international officers and local alumnae will work with them to achieve this goal. I have heard of other Alpha Delta Pi chapters not pledging quota by choice, but I don't know if this was just rumor (this is when I was a collegian.) I am curious if other NPC's have a similiar policy to ADPi, and what up and coming locals or recently established locals' policies are regarding quota.

I know at my school until my junior year, ADPi did not take quota on purpose. They were HIGHLY selective.

There is a difference between being selective and not taking quota. If a chapter intentionally does not put enough women on their list to get quota through bid matching, that to me seems to be like shooting themselves in the foot. I have never been to any campus where the goal was to not make quota.

I would think that most NPC sororities, if not all, have some standard that they hold their chapters accountable for in terms of numbers. That's not a panhellenic thing though. The only thing that I would think would be within the panhellenic rules would be that every woman at your preference party has to appear somewhere on your bid list, whether it be first list, second list, third list, etc.

There is one group at our school that has always been small. For awhile they were hovering around 15 sisters (total is 60) and never seemed to make a huge effort to get more girls. During a couple recent rushes, they took more girls and got up to probably 35 or so? But it's been rumored that they want to go back to being small b/c they like for everyone to be able to live in the suite (our suites hold between 15-17 people, depending on the layout).
It's not that they're being selective. They don't have a great rep on campus.
If anything, it's holding the rest of campus back. Where it's conceivable that we could open to expansion (or god forbid, raise total, which fire1977 and I both agree isn't a good idea), this house being consistently small could hold us back a lot.
Numbers in almost all the groups on campus have gone up since COBing has become more popular, but they're one of the groups that really hasn't tried very hard.
Maybe they don't realize how them staying small can effect everyone else?
I also wonder how their HQ puts up with it? Don't we all consistently say that there's always pressure for more members?
How do they financially operate? I've heard that they get a decent amount of alumnae money (they're always updating their suite), but still. 16 girls doesn't pay the bills!

Danielle,

I would think if you would vote to expand and bring ASA to campus (hee hee) their being small shouldn't affect that. If they vote for a new chapter to come on, don't have a prob with it, and there's nothing in the bylaws saying everyone must be at total for expansion, it shouldn't be an issue.

I just think that there are a lot of women who would be great in a sorority, but particularly at bigger schools, don't want to go through the stress of formal rush or be in a 200 person chapter or live in a giant house. It seems like a waste that these people end up not participating, and oftentimes being outright resentful of Greek life. And it seems like a waste that NPC groups could go to these campuses and have a functioning chapter but don't do it because the way things are set up, you have to be the biggest and best to get off the ground. We keep getting told that we have to rush differently and think differently about being Greek. Why hasn't that trickled up to our expansion philosophy?

I did not actively participate in the selection process when I was an active, but I do know that my chapter tends to cut heavily for the purpose of getting quality members. We do this intentionally because we want women who are the best fit for us, and because it's not fair to "lead" people on by inviting back a certain number just because Panhellenic says to. Because of this, we don't normally make quota, but we always come within a few (for example, this year we got 49 new members with quota set at 53), and we always end up pledging quota within a few weeks so our numbers stay competitive. Not putting the maximum number allowed on a bid list isn't necessarily shooting yourself in the foot...it's more like choosing wisely.