PHC President Colleen Briley said the council implemented these changes to help make the process more organized as well as to give the potential new members and the chapters a better opportunity to meet each other.

"This year Panhellenic decided to give spring recruitment more structure by requiring any potential new members to register online, just like the fall formal recruitment process," she said.

Marpe said steps taken to increase recruitment numbers also include the creation of PHC's new motto "Great Women Go Greek," advertising recruitment on thefacebook.com and hosting information tables throughout the week.

IFC Vice President of Membership Kenton Bulson said the council's main focus is to increase advertising and marketing to reach more potential rushes.

"We have done this by advertising ... hanging fliers throughout campus, and distributing postcards in residence hall mailboxes," he said.

Bulson said the spring improvements are the precursor for what the council is planning to do for recruitment next fall.

"This includes a revived, four-council Web site, a recruitment video showing the benefits that Penn State greek life has to offer, a greek life handbook showcasing all of our chapters and the greek experience as a whole, as well as involvement with Late Night Penn State," he said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Vicky Triponey presented a report on the recent decline of greek life at Penn State during last Friday's Board of Trustees meeting.

According to the report, total membership has dropped 16 percent since 1990 with female membership dropping 50 percent since 1990.

Jane Neitz, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, said there has not been a large decrease in PHC spring recruitment in the past years, although fall recruitment has been experiencing a decline.

Neitz said that in fall 1991 there were 2,309 sorority members at Penn State and in fall 2004 there were 1,527 sorority members.

"This is partly because of the high retention rates we've been experiencing as well as the fact that we had two new sororities come to Penn State in 1991, which sparked interest," she said.

Neitz said the numbers have remained fairly constant since the large drop in the 1994-95 academic year. As of 10 a.m. yesterday, 181 women were registered for recruitment through the new online system. "The new changes will help our membership numbers rise and all the sororities are hoping to fill their 85-member limit," she said.