Bradley’s Panhellenic community will not be seeing expansion any time soon, but that may change in the future.
Director of Fraternity and Sorority Development Jesse Koch said welcoming a new sorority to campus is something that has been discussed in the past and is a topic that will be revisited next fall after recruitment.
“Our community is growing and some chapters are getting too big,” said Katie Clemens, 2010-11 Panhellenic Recruitment Chair. “Also if Bradley is looking to have larger graduating classes, it would make sense to expand the Greek community.”
Immediately after bid day next fall, Panhel will evaluate total, the target number of members Panhel sets for each chapter to strive for. This past year the goal was 105.
“Four chapters were over total after recruitment [in the fall],” Koch said. “It was suggested by the National Panhellenic Conference that we review total every year and make sure this best represents the size of the community.”
In the fall, even with a 10 percent decrease in admissions, Panhellenic recruitment increased by 25 women. If Bradley’s enrollment picks up for 2012-13, Koch says he expects to see sorority recruitment numbers to rise.
“We would then see chapters at over 120 members and that’s at maximum capacity,” he said. “One hundred and five is where we are comfortable, if we can’t get bigger in chapter size, we’ll look into expanding.”
A resolution, recently proposed to the Panhel executive board, suggests it spend the semester focusing on supporting the three chapters which are currently below total, and that the totals per chapter stay at 105. The resolution also proposes that Panhel reviews the target number of members immediately after recruitment in fall 2012.
Koch said there is a small chance that this resolution would not be passed, and Panhel’s main focus is supporting chapters who are struggling in numbers.
“I think it would be nice to have a new sorority, but at the same time, that’s not what we’re focusing on,” Panhellenic President Anna Treesara said. “We have to help those who are struggling first, then it would be more practical.”
Clemens said she agreed.
“I agree 100 percent that it is important to focus on supporting chapters who are struggling,” said Clemens. “We are a community and we must remember that as a community, we need to help all chapters to succeed. Implementing a kick-off event for informal recruitment and workshops throughout second semester are only the beginning of Panhellenic showing support to all chapters.”
In addition to the possibility of bringing a new sorority to campus, Koch said there have been discussions of expanding the Interfraternity Council too, but nothing serious.
