Statistics will show that more women are joining sororities than ever before nationwide. The following data, taken from the NPC’s 2008-2010 Annual Reports indicate both the number of total undergraduate members and number of new members have increased.
Total Number of Undergraduate Members:
2010 – 268, 938
2009 – 259, 910
2008 – 248,120
Number of New Members:
2010 – 95,401
2009 – 90, 704
2008 – 88,776
This is obviously positive news for NPC organizations as more women are participating in the sorority experience. Yet, one must ask whether or not NPC organizations were prepared for this continued growth. Specifically, has Biggie Smalls well-known song “Mo Money, Mo Problems” turned into “Mo Members, Mo Problems” for NPC organizations?
I say that because it seems to me more and more NPC organizations are struggling with issues of apathy and ballooned chapter sizes. To my knowledge, no data is available to back up this theory of mine. However, informal conversations with professional colleagues and students would indicate that as the average chapter size has continued to grow, more sororities are struggling to manage the increase in membership. In addition, other concerns must be considered when thinking about the increase in NPC organizations membership:
1. Experience – As new member classes continue to grow, are women truly getting the sorority experience when, in some instances, chapter sizes are hovering around 200-300 members?
2. Retention - It would be interesting to see the retention rate of NPC organizations as they get larger and larger. Are the maintaining or are they starting to fall?
3. Accountability – As the Notorious BIG song suggests, are we having more social/risk management problems because of more members?
4. Facilities – Larger chapter sizes are putting a burden on chapters to find a large enough space to hold chapter meetings, ritual ceremonies, etc.
Add those three concerns onto the potential apathy issues that can rear its head as chapter sizes increase and we have a serious issue on our hands.
I want to be clear that my intention for this blog is not to say that we should restrict membership sizes to a certain number or complain about women wanting to join a sorority.
I simply think we (professionals, NPC advisors, alumnae) need to do a better job of helping our NPC organizations at our institutions manage their chapters better. We need to help ensure that every woman who joins a sorority is still being provided the same level of sorority experience we did before the rapid growth. I don’t know if this is occurring.
We need to ensure that the chapter leaders of our sororities are willing and able to distribute and delegate work amongst chapter members is done in an efficient, high-quality and timely fashion. I’m finding that chapters haven’t been provided (or very little) a framework to do this.
We need to ensure social policy understanding and enforcement is a priority for our sorority women. It is evident that social issues are no longer just about the men. Sorority women need to be taught better methods of enforcing risk management policies and accountability measures to ensure a safe and fun social environment.
While most people think it but never say it, I’ll say it…I think we need to seriously consider recruitment tactics and methods of NPC organizations. Specifically, chapters should not have to recruit a certain number of members. If we preach quality over quantity, why should chapters be “encouraged” to meet quota if they really don’t want a new member class of 60, 70, or 80? Some would argue that this could be the root of the “mo members, mo problems” issue.
Finally, we need more dialogue and conversation with our students. They are the front line and they are our consumers. We need to ensure we are tailoring our education and our changes to them. Most of all, they need to be at the table as those conversations are discussed.
What do you think? Was Biggie Smalls foreshadowing NPC organization issues? Feel free to leave a comment.
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