Women will have a chance to gather information about the greek system and, specifically, NIU’s Phi Beta Chi sorority at a meeting sponsored by the sorority tonight.

Meetings will take place tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Heritage North Room of the Holmes Student Center and Thursday in Room 506 of the student center.

According to Kathleen Blanco, Phi Beta Chi member, members of the sorority will not only give students information but also invite them to come back to join the sorority.

“It’s a big informational meeting and a Rush all in one,” Blanco said.

The members from NIU’s chapter of the sorority and from the national sorority will speak at the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting is to reorganize NIU’s Phi Beta Chi, which has eight members, by encouraging girls to join the sorority.

“We are at the lowest Rush rate,” Blanco said. “We hit an all-time low.”

Blanco said there are several reasons the sorority does not have many members, one of them being the loss of seniors.

“We were once the largest sorority at NIU,” Blanco said. “Most of our seniors graduated and we did not get many girls at Rush.”

Members of the sorority sent out invitations for the meeting to women at NIU.

“I sent out over 200 invitations,” Blanco said. “Realistically, we’re expecting about 50 to come to the first meeting and about 100 at the second.”

Phi Beta Chi’s national sorority was founded in 1978 at the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. The sorority now has 10 chapters around the country.

The national sorority’s major philanthropy is the Bethesda Lutheran Homes for the Developmentally Disabled.

Phi Beta Chi focuses on academics, socials, community service, fellowship, sisterhood and spiritual development.

The sorority also practices positive membership training and leadership development.