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I am a fan of using a point system to reward members for participation, attendance, and scholarship. But, my encouragement of them has a few qualifiers:
1. Point systems are high maintenance. If you're going to have a point system for participation, then you have to maintain it zealously. It can be time consuming, so you have to make sure that a very responsible and organized person or committee is handling it.
2. Having the highest point totals can be a bad thing. You need to acknowledge that a woman who is completely unhealthy about her sorority involvement will get a high point total. We should not reward a woman for getting a ton of points while she is failing her classes, burning herself out, neglecting other relationships and responsibilities, etc. Just think how unmotivating it is for the 3.9 GPA pre-med major who is moderately involved when she sees the chapter celebrating the woman with a 1.9 GPA who scored the most points.
I strongly recommend that you set a reasonable point threshold that you are encouraging all women in your chapter to pursue, then reward EVERYONE who reaches that benchmark. For example, you can say that every woman who achieves (X) number of points will be entered into a drawing for free dues next semester. This way, everyone who is involved in the chapter in a meaningful way has a chance for reward.
3. Make points an incentive, not a source of punishment. It's not wise to say, "If you don't get this many points, you can't go to formal." Instead, offer women who reach a healthy point total a reward, such as a discount on attending formal, or free favors. I do believe it is OK for a chapter to expect a minimum amount of points, but it needs to be a very low number – literally the lowest amount of involvement your chapter can tolerate. If a woman falls below this incredibly low number, she probably doesn't want to be active in the sorority anyway. Basically, the pursuit of some really high minimum standard of points can cause your women stress, and that's not a good thing.
4. Use a transparent system for keeping track of points. I believe the Gin System, Chapter Communications, and some of these online chapter management companies have mechanisms that work pretty well (or they are in the process of developing them). Check with them. However you keep point totals, it's important that you make it clear and easy to understand. No last minute point awards on a subjective basis because the president wants to reward a certain group, for example.
5. Keep the point spread minimal. I think it's a bad idea to have any event be worth more than five points. I support making ritual worth 5 and an intramural game worth 1, for example. But, if you make ritual worth 20 and intramurals worth 1, that's too much of a spread.
Point systems make sense when they motivate women to do more for their chapter. They don't make sense when almost everyone hates the system and feels like it's one more reason to hate their chapter, their leaders, and their letters. If more than half of your members would vote to abolish the point system right now, then you need to fix it or get rid of it, because you're not doing it right.
Many thanks to Lori Stokoe, an Alpha Phi chapter advisor, for the topic suggestion. If you have one, email me.
