why do sororities have to have a quota?

A lot of people don't seem to understand Quota. Quota is not an amount of New Members that a sorority MUST take, it is the MAXIMUM allowable number that a chapter may take. This keeps the better recruiting chapters from taking all the PNM's and allows for equity among the chapter membership numbers. Theta continued to not take as many New Members as they were allowed because PNM's dropped out when all they had left was Theta, or they got a bid and did not accept, and even then several who did accept would drop out before initiation. So get your facts straight and you'll see that Theta was given every advantage to turn things around through RFM, Variable Quota (giving them a chance to pledge MORE than other houses), and years and years on campus taking much smaller classes than the other chapters. Nothing helped them get better after all that. Could they have survived on campus? Maybe, but just surviving is not at the level that Theta's national HQ wanted/required for them at Ole Miss after so long and so much trying.

And FYI, RFM stands for Release Figure Methodology. This means that better recruiting chapters (based on the past few years of statistics) are required to release more PNM's in the earlier rounds in order to avoid stringing along girls that the chapter has no intention of bidding (just so the chapter can show how popular it is.) This used to be done before RFM, and what happened was that so many of these PNM's were thinking they had a real shot at the popular houses so they were dropping the other houses that really wanted them, until after third round, BOOM, all these PNM's were finally dropped, just as those chapters had always intended to do. PNM's were left without any houses at all and the houses that had really wanted those PNM's were left out in the cold too. So RFM was instituted, requiring better recruiting houses to drop PNM's earlier and not string them along, and these PNM's can then focus on houses where they are actually wanted and the houses have a shot at getting them. Theta could invite back more PNM's than any other chapter for each round. You can see how this would benefit a weaker recruiting chapter, allowing them to get their numbers up over time. It usually works really well, giving chapters the boost that they need. It couldn't help Theta.

You completely missed his point by saying over and over that Theta didn’t take quota and “had every advantage.” He was saying that instead of the focus being on numbers only, Theta might have been better off if they could have just concentrated on the women who truly wanted to be there instead of trying to win over uninterested or hostile PNMs and not having to hold their breath until initiation being afraid NMs would drop.

No, the point was not missed. It is always an option for a chapter to stay on a campus and stay under total and never take quota. As others have pointed out, NPC doesn't require that, not does the school, or anyone else. It was entirely up to KAO nationals as to continue as they were going or to pull the charter, and not, as the OP says, a decision forced because they weren't "allowed to take smaller pledge classes." Theta national made the call, and I'm sure it was difficult for all concerned but it is a national sorority after all, not a local one.

Hear, hear.

Their reputation was not the best and girls just didn't want to be in a sorority with a bad reputation. I heard of girls in their new pledge class that were hoping they would lose their charter so that they could try and get bids at other houses.

^^^ BS

Hahahahaha.

100% agree with Rebel girl. However statements like this will get the Moms all excited and apparently laughing hysterical.

Well, the person who wrote that was too busy spouting off their knowledge to remember QAs. Which are out of control and encouraging PNMs to try and game the system. But that’s another topic altogether.

Okay, Quota Additions - QA was instituted for the benefit of the PNM's, NOT the houses. It used to be that sororities could ONLY take Quota and that's it. When QA's did not exist, PNM's were not guaranteed a bid even if they went all the way through prefs, because Quota was a hard and fast rule. A house could only bid to Quota and NEVER go over, even if it left a few PNM's out in the cold. Can you imagine being a PNM going all the way through recruitment and attending two prefs and STILL not getting a bid? It happened this way: PNM's were Cross Cut, meaning that when they ranked their houses after pref, their #1 house would have that PNM on the 2nd bid list and their #2 house would have them on the 1st bid list. So both houses would reach Quota before matching to those PNM's and when a house reached Quota, that was it, they were done and could not take anyone else. So some great girls never got matched because of the Quota limit, even though these girls were on two houses' bid lists. Then, NPC finally instituted the concept of Quota Addition to ensure that PNM's who go all the way through the process faithfully and don't get matched like this will still get a bid. QA's are not considered part of Quota, so theoretically a house can take QA's and still Snap Bid to Quota if they need to. Again, QA's were instituted for the benefit of the PNM's, NOT the sororities.

The decision of where a QA is placed is based on a combination of factors; first and foremost is the PNM's own ranking, closely followed by their place on the chapter's bid lists, and then chapter totals. It is different for every PNM every year. The amount of QA's is negligible, and not really contributing to making larger chapters larger. Hitting quota and retaining New Members after bidding/initiation are crucial, and there is always more years of Variable Quota. NPC is not going to make a national rule that doesn't apply to a lot of schools. It more important to this campus to get numbers down by embracing more sororities, or even capping the number of bids each year with a firm number like they do at Indiana.

Sorry, but I find it really hard to believe that a 273-member chapter wasn't financially viable, even if the other chapters are in the 400s. I think somebody else even confirmed that they weren't hurting for money.

To the contrary, their smaller size would seem to be MORE desirable as far as logistics and sisterhood are concerned.

I’m guessing that they were afraid that if the chapter kept on the same downward trend, eventually they WOULD be in the hole financially. No one can know the likelihood that would happen except those with access to financial reacords.

I’m not sure why you guys think Nationals closed Theta if it was financially sustainable. Sororities are just businesses. They exist to make money. There are zero reasons for HQs to ever close a chapter except a) they’re losing money or b) they’re doing something that puts HQ at risk of a lawsuit where they could lose a lot of money.

HQs do not shut down chapters that are making them money.

they have enough money from actives and 90 new pledges. its not like they have a new expensive house to pay for or anything

@Money, sororities are not businesses, they are not-for-profit institutions. A sorority must take in money to remain financially sound in order to pay bills, provide scholarships and other philanthropic funding, maintain facilities, allow for improvements and expansion, and cover emergencies. That does not make them businesses because businesses have owners, whether individuals, partnerships, corporations, or llc's, who buy into them for a return on investment and they pay taxes on that return. Just because money is necessary doesn't make it a business enterprise.