By Mitch Holt, Opinion Editor

Campus Life took a much different approach to social club bids this year than it has in the past, attempting to bring more attention to smaller social clubs that have been suffering from lack of numbers in the past and present.

“During rushing, a particular effort was made to try to encourage girls to consider all the clubs and not simply focus on two or three,” said Autumn Sutherlin, adviser for Tri Kappa Gamma women’s social club.

The approach began with an informational meeting where an announcement was made explaining that not all women who rushed a club would receive an invitation

Mike Spell, adviser of social clubs, said that this was difficult because in the past, there have always been certain clubs willing to offer invitations to women who didn’t receive bids from their first, second or third choices.

This former approach was not an option this year.

At this meeting, said Spell, one of the women advisers talked about how in college she did not receive a bid from her first choice, gave her second choice a chance and ended up becoming an adviser for this club.

“We worked to emphasize that there are positives to being a part of a smaller organization,” he said.

After the first meeting, the spearheading advisers organized two meeting times for women who did not receive bids from their first choices, a time that was designated to bring these girls together and hopefully get them to form a group and pledge a smaller club.

No one attended either meeting, said Spell; however, the department was informed that members of the smaller clubs had been in contact with some of the girls in this situation.

“The purpose of this idea was not to benefit social clubs,” Spell said. “The purpose was to minimize as much as possible the feeling of rejection some people were feeling from certain social clubs.”

Tri Kappa Gamma member Brittany Groves said that their bidding experience was somewhat discouraging this year.

Groves, junior graphic design major from Yukan, Okla., said girls who didn’t receive their first choice simply dropped out of the bidding process altogether without giving smaller clubs a chance.

“It only worked out for us to send out five bids this year,” she said. The club only received three new women in this pledge class.

Some of the girls were ranking Tri Kappa Gamma as their second or third choice, Groves said.

“Three-fourths of our club will be graduating in May,” Groves said. “It’s a little disheartening because we know the numbers are eventually going to go way down.”

Groves said TKG is excited about the three new women they’ve received.

“We know that in order for [Tri Kappa Gamma] to survive, we all need to work together,” she said. “We’re not a larger club that if 30 girls have to work, 80 can still make it to an event-everyone has to put in their part.”