NORMAN – Women’s Greek life experiences a drop in fall recruitment leaving Alpha Phi searching for more members this spring.

Oklahoma Panhellenic has over 3,000 members. This school year’s formal recruitment included around 1,000 girls.

Alpha Phi’s pledge class last fall consisted of 86 girls initially, but a handful of girls have dropped since then. The chapter’s quota is 89, and while it may not seem like a big difference from 86, the missing dues are.

Hosting events for the girls costs money. The chapter cannot always afford activities or renovations if dues are not provided.

If the chapter cannot fulfill its expenses, it will not host as many events as scheduled.

Jessica Hammond, Vice President of recruitment, said, “If we aren’t having enough people pay their dues and live in then we aren’t able to keep up with our house, do some of the renovations we want to do, have different date parties we want to do or mixers or sisterhood events…”

Alpha Phi requires girls to live in the house their sophomore year unless they have a valid excuse due to finances. Requiring girls to live in helps pay for bills and other expenses.

“Because if we don’t have someone in a room, that’s $10,000 that we aren’t getting to help keep this chapter running.” Hammond said.