Anyone know of any other current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity?

[stufield]

Does anyone out there know of any other current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity - interest groups, negotiations with local fraternites regarding affiliating with KS, attempts to revive presently dormant chapters, etc. - in addition to the recent colonizations at Arkansas State, Arkansas Tech, Southwest Oklahome State, RIT, North Florida, and Idaho State, all of which are now shown on the list ofactive chapters and colonies uner Current Locations subpage of the Join a Chapter page of the IMH website? The Idaho State colony was never first listed as an interest group on the Website; it jwas ust suddenly listed out of nowhere as a colony. So perhaps there are some other such groups that have not yet received offical status from IMH, but are working to become part of our fine Order. If anybody knows of any such group, I for one would enjoy reading about it.

[KSigIdahoState]

Umm...from what I heard at our Colonization weekend...In Utah there are 3 possible colonies. University of Utah is in the process of recolonizing after losing their charter last year, Weber State, and Utah State all have interest groups at them. I'm sure there are more than we even know about.

[HollisterDXiChi]

I believe some guys are trying to reactivate a chapter at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah GA!

[jggnoedig]

recently, we had mike olivas come help us with rush. while he was here, he let it slip that it looks like a chapter is restarting at UC - Santa Barbara and he mentioned one other southern california school, but i cannot remember for the life of me what it was.

AEKDB

Josh

[stufield]

HollisterDXiChi:

Thanks for responding to my enquiry.

Kappa Sigma has never had a chapter, or even a colony, at Armstrong Atlantic, or Armstrong State as it was previously called. So whatever interest group we might have there would be attempting to establish an altogether new chapter, not reactivate a dormant one.

Personally, I don't give that interest group much chance of succeeding. Armsrong has never had a strong Greek system and other fraternites have established chapters there which had short-lived existences before folding. But Kappa Sigma is definitely the strongest fraternity in Georgia (despite the fact that we are the only major fraternity that does not have a chapter at Emory University, one of the best private universities in the entire South, and a glaring omission from our activer chapter roll). So if any fraternity CAN establish a successful chapter at Armstrong, it could well be Kappa Sigma.

Please post again if you learn anything more about that group, or about any other Kappa Sig expansionary activity.

[stufield]

jggnoedig / Josh:

Thanks for responding to my enquiry.

I was very pleased to read your advisement that Mike Olivas had mentioned Kappa Sigma possibly returning to UCSB. It is long overdue. Epsilon-Theta Chapter at UCSB was once a prominent Kappa Sigma chapter, whose membership included future NFLer Johnny Morris. But it has been inactive since 1970. Since then, several other fraternities have chartered or rechartered at UCSB [and some have closed]. But Kappa Sigma has never yet returned. So if and when Epsilon-Theta is indeed revived, it will be a most welcome addition to our active chapter roll ... especially since we are SERIOUSLY underepresented in Southern California, with only three active chapters (at USC, Cal State Long Beach, UC Irvine) [or four, if one regards Cal Poly SLO as being in Southern California] and one colony (San Diego State). Several of our major rivals, like SAE and Sigma Chi, have over 10 Southern California chapters!!!. If we were able to restore our presently inactive chapters at UCLA, UCSB, Cal State Fullerton, and Occidental College, that would at least double our representation to eight chapters.

The other school that Brother Olivas mentioned may well have been any of those other four inactve chapters, or Pepperdine, to which we have been trying unsuccessfully to expand ever since its local Greek system 'went national' about ten years ago.

On another topic, congratulations on your chapter's successful rush this year. I hope it is the start of a new period of prominence for Theta-Delta Chapter.

[HollisterDXiChi]

Originally posted by stufield
HollisterDXiChi:

Thanks for responding to my enquiry.

Kappa Sigma has never had a chapter, or even a colony, at Armstrong Atlantic, or Armstrong State as it was previously called. So whatever interest group we might have there would be attempting to establish an altogether new chapter, not reactivate a dormant one.

Personally, I don't give that interest group much chance of succeeding. Armsrong has never had a strong Greek system and other fraternites have established chapters there which had short-lived existences before folding. But Kappa Sigma is definitely the strongest fraternity in Georgia (despite the fact that we are the only major fraternity that does not have a chapter at Emory University, one of the best private universities in the entire South, and a glaring omission from our activer chapter roll). So if any fraternity CAN establish a successful chapter at Armstrong, it could well be Kappa Sigma.

Please post again if you learn anything more about that group, or about any other Kappa Sig expansionary activity.

Hey :) All I've really heard from the guy thats organizing it is that it is a reactivation thing. I havn't really gotten into details with that but I will find out more for ya. I don't even know if they keep year books here so there is no way for me to check out how the greeks and what greeks were on campus. I know they had like a bunch of two letter frats...
They had a meeting on Wed. and had about 10-11 guys show up-which is pretty good. Im pullin for them and helping them out in any way I and my sorority can. From checkin' out KappaSig chapter websites and pages, there are a lot of guys, in my opinon, on this campus that would fit the bill.
I'll ask the guy more questions about the the fraternity and I'll be sure ta get back with ya! Who knows, they just may be trying ta bring a whole new chapter ta Armstrong. I'll will get back with you all though when the information becomes available!

[HollisterDXiChi]

They've met thier quota with over 26 guys so they'll be colonizing(?) in the Fall. For more info contact Chris at newaasufraternity@yahoo.com.

[James]

Congratulations:)

Originally posted by HollisterDXiChi
They've met thier quota with over 26 guys so they'll be colonizing(?) in the Fall. For more info contact Chris at newaasufraternity@yahoo.com.

[HollisterDXiChi]

:) I'll send Chris your congrats :)

[KSigkid]

There's a colony currently under development at Suffolk University in Boston.

[KappaSig1018]

The Kappa-Omincron Colony is in the process of re-colonization at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. I played baseball for one year with these guys before I joined Kappa Sigma at the Lambda-Xi Chapter at Georgia College & State University. I know most of the guys and Kappa Sigma should know that they have a great bunch of guys helping to get Kappa Sigma back on the map at LaGrange College!


A.E.K.D.B

[James]

Very nice :)

[NealKappaSigDH]

I'm at the Delta-Eta Chapter (USC), and it's really great to hear about UC Santa Barbara's possibility of colonizing in the near future. It is a great school with a rapidly growing greek system.

I agree it would also be nice to have a chapter at ucla again, although we generally hate those guys ;)...well, maybe I'd like a few people over there if they were Kappa Sigs

[stufield]

Kirk Chewning, the Fraternity's Expansion Commissioner, informed me that there was an interest group at UCSB several months ago, but that it collpased.

If anyone knows of a renewed attempt to return Epsilon-Theta chapter to UCSB, I'd sure like to hear about it.

Equally unfortunately, the Fraternity does not seem to be doing much of anything about, or at least making any progress towards, returning to UCLA.

With only nine active chapters (at Sac State, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Stanford, San Jose State, Cal Poly SLO, USC, Long Beach State, and UC Irvine) and two colonies (Fresno State, which has been recolonized seemingly forever and apparently can't seem to build up sufficient strength numbers to meet SEC rechartering requirements and is probably doomed to close altogether; and San Diego State, which I had expected to have rechartered before the end of the school year, but hopefully will recharter soon) in all of California, KappaSigma remains very weakly represented in the Golden State. A return of inactive chapters at UCSB, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, and Occidental College, all in Southern California, and expansion to at least one new Southern California school (Pepperdine, Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly Pomona, Loyola Marymount, Chapman, UC Riverside, UC San Diego ... there's certainly lots of schools whre we are presently unrepresented) and one new Northern California school - Chico State, which has a strong Greek system at which we are conspicuously absent, and the Univeristy of the Pacific, a really fine school with a slowly expanding Greek system - would be the most obvious choices. But given the second-rate schools at which the Fraternity presently has so many colonies (CW Post, Suffolk, Armstrong Atlantic, Nova Southeastern, SW Oklahoma, York College, etc., none of which enhance the Fraternity's prestige at all), our next California expasnion will probably be at some similar second-tier school like Cal State Hayward, Cal State San Bernadino, or Cal State Bakersfield. I suppose that any expansion in California would be welcome. But some schools obviously would be more preferable than others.

Anyway, a return to UCSB and/or UCLA certainly WOULD be GREAT. But, unfortunately, nothing seems to be happening for us at either school at present.:( :(

[stufield]

Hey KSigIdahoState.

How is your colony progressing? How many members did you finish the school year with? How do your group's numbers compare with the other fraternites at ISU? Any idea on when you might be receiving your charter? Have you petitioned for a charter yet?

[KSigkid]

Or any of the other expansion activity. From my understanding things are going well with the Suffolk colony here in Boston.

[AASUBeachChic]

Hola Kappa Sigmas! I am the president of a local sorority at Armstrong Atlantic State University (Theta Xi Alpha). We will be colonizing next month to become Sigma Sigma Sigma....

All of the sisters and I are SO excited that KE is colonizing at AASU. Most of us are really close with the guys who are so it has been great supporting each other's group throughout the process(es).

My uncle was (is) a KE and now I am dating one myself here at AASU. There ain't nothin' better than a KE! :D :D :D So far the guys have done so much on campus through service and socially. Let's hope greek life can make a huge comeback here. :-)

Take Care,
Megan
TZA/EEE @ AASU in Savannah, Georgia

[James]

Hey thanks for posting AASUBeachchic. . . and congrats on going Sigma. :)

[KSigkid]

Thanks for the post; it always feels good to read stuff like that in here.

[KSigIdahoState]

Originally posted by stufield
Hey KSigIdahoState.

How is your colony progressing? How many members did you finish the school year with? How do your group's numbers compare with the other fraternites at ISU? Any idea on when you might be receiving your charter? Have you petitioned for a charter yet?

Hey, just an update from the Idaho State colony! Our colony is very strong and we are nearing sending in our petition to charter. We just returned from leadership conference with a couple of awards and I had a long meeting with Kevin Kaplan about my colony. If everything stays on track we are looking at the start of november to charter!! We are ready. Our size is at 31 and we expect to pick up at least 20 this fall. We are already the largest on campus, so that is good too.

Thanks for the support,

Tyler Applonie
GM Idaho State Colony

[stufield]

Does anyone have any information on new colonizations or interest groups this Fall, and/or about chartering dates forany of the 22 colonies that we have carried over from the last academic year?

22 colonies sounds good, but it's just window dressing until those groups progress to chartering or rechartering, as the case may be. Hopefully, at least SOME of those colonies (San Diego State, Ohio State, North Florida, College of Charleston, RIT, Arkansas State, Arkansas Tech, and Idaho State would seem the most likely) will receive their charters this Fall.

Hopefully, we will also establish at least one new colony for each of the present colonies that does receive its charter, thus maintaining or even increasing the Fraternity's present rate of growth in schools at which we are represented by an active chapter or colony.

So does anybody have any updated news?

[KSigIdahoState]

Hey...just have an update from the Idaho State Colony. We just finished rush week and we have pledging tomorrow night. It looks like we will be pledging in 27 new guys! Which is huge for my campus and a big boost for the colony. This number will put us well over 50 guys. As I said in an earlier post...plans are for us to charter on November 12th. That is still the plan...which will work out great because that is the same time that this new pledge class will finish its 60 day pledge ed. We are excited to be so close. Also from what I heard at leadership in denver...the san diego state colony is on the schedule to charter as well. But I do not know a date or anything like that.

[stufield]

Hyethere, Ksigkid.

Thanks for providing updated inforamtion regarding your colony, and congratulations on the colony's continued success.

Actually, you did not state in your previous e-amil that "plans [were for you] to charter on November 12th". You simply said that "we are looking at the start of november to charter!!" But I am pleased to read not only that you are still on track in that regard, but also that an actual chartering date has now been set. November 12th will be a big day for ISU and every chartering member of your new chapter.

It will be a big day for Kappa Sigma as well. Not only will we be making a new addition to our active chapter roll, which is, of course, significant in itself, but also thechartering of your colony will give Idaho the disticntion of being only the third State in which Kappa Sigma has an active chapter at every college or university in that State with a national, or international, Greek system as opposed to just a local Greek system.

In your most recent previous posting you stated that you then had 31 members. Is that still the case, not counting, of course, your Fall pledges? If so, and if you do in fact pledge 27 and all of them complete their pledge education and want to join the Order, you would have a very healthy founding fathers class of almost 60. That would be terrific.

So if you don't mind, please do confirm the colony's present size, and how it ranks with the other fraternities at ISU. What other groups are there (I think Delta Sigma Phi is one). How large are those other fraternities and how did they do in Fall rush?

We'd apprecaite reading whatever else you care to psot, because Idaho State, having no previous Kap Sig history, is not a school whose Greek system we know much about.

[jggnoedig]

anyone hear anything about colonization activities starting up at eastern oregon university? i went to the kappa sig site and found a section talking about colonization coming soon and eou was on the list. anyone with any new info would be cool.

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by stufield
Hyethere, Ksigkid.

Thanks for providing updated inforamtion regarding your colony, and congratulations on the colony's continued success.

Actually, you did not state in your previous e-amil that "plans [were for you] to charter on November 12th". You simply said that "we are looking at the start of november to charter!!" But I am pleased to read not only that you are still on track in that regard, but also that an actual chartering date has now been set. November 12th will be a big day for ISU and every chartering member of your new chapter.

It will be a big day for Kappa Sigma as well. Not only will we be making a new addition to our active chapter roll, which is, of course, significant in itself, but also thechartering of your colony will give Idaho the disticntion of being only the third State in which Kappa Sigma has an active chapter at every college or university in that State with a national, or international, Greek system as opposed to just a local Greek system.

In your most recent previous posting you stated that you then had 31 members. Is that still the case, not counting, of course, your Fall pledges? If so, and if you do in fact pledge 27 and all of them complete their pledge education and want to join the Order, you would have a very healthy founding fathers class of almost 60. That would be terrific.

So if you don't mind, please do confirm the colony's present size, and how it ranks with the other fraternities at ISU. What other groups are there (I think Delta Sigma Phi is one). How large are those other fraternities and how did they do in Fall rush?

We'd apprecaite reading whatever else you care to psot, because Idaho State, having no previous Kap Sig history, is not a school whose Greek system we know much about.

Actually, I'm not the one with the colony - I am an alumni from the Mu-Psi chaper at Boston University (past GM, GS and AAA). Any results I give are only those I receive over the listserve. I think you meant KSigIdahoState

[stufield]

KSigkid.

You are correct. My careless, inattentive error.

Hopefully, however, KSigIdahoState will see the posting and reply to it.

Do you know anything about the progress of the Suffolk University colony, and/or how it, and the MIT, Northeastern, and BU chapters fared or are faring in Fall rush?

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by stufield
KSigkid.

You are correct. My careless, inattentive error.

Hopefully, however, KSigIdahoState will see the posting and reply to it.

Do you know anything about the progress of the Suffolk University colony, and/or how it, and the MIT, Northeastern, and BU chapters fared or are faring in Fall rush?

Don't worry about the mistake...with so many Ksig_____ names, it's easy to get confused.

As far as I knew, the Suffolk colony is doing well; I'm unsure of exact progress. I know Boston U. is just starting up school again, so they're getting right into the nitty gritty of rush (although, as we know rush is 365 days a year, they've been doing much work over the summer).

I'll see if I can get any info on how NU and MIT are doing...now that I'm no long an AAA the flow of info has slowed considerably.

[bluebeacon]

I'm undergoing pledge ritual this weeken, tomm. to be exact and can't wait to become a founding father of Kappa Sigma's newest colony, Kappa Lambda at Shippensburg University. Any tips on helping us with fundraising, in addition to acquiring a house would be great. The only way, the one way, Kappa Sigma all the way.

Hit me up at my im: TheSorgeman...

[goldendelta]

Hi Kappa Sigs! Sorry to crash your board but I heard that there is a group of guys at my school, Adelphi University, that are trying to start up a Kappa Sigma interest group. I believe they sent in a petiton last week and are hoping to be recognized sometime this month. I really hope all goes well for them. They are a great bunch of guys and Adelphi is in desperate need for another Fraternity on campus. Kappa Sig would be a great addition.

[James]

Ask away:)

[KSigIdahoState]

I am a founding father of the Idaho State Colony, as of today we have submitted everything required by the SEC to charter. We are waiting to hear back now and we should know if we are approved in the next week or two. I will keep everyone updated. Exciting times here at Idaho State. As for help with you, bluebeacon, I would recommend not trying to rush things, it just stresses people out and makes it not very much fun. Another tip would be to not lose focus on the brotherhood side of things. Make sure to plan out regular brotherhood events to go and have fun and forget about the stresses of being a colony. Keep current on your finances. Don't carry dead weight, if a guy is not pulling his weight, it may be time to review his membership in the colony, sounds mean, but chartering requires the help of everyone! To get all of the workshops done, we've found that it is easiest to do them all in one intense weekend, we just call it our BIA weekend. If you are on the EC, make sure to keep the other EC members fired up and excited, it helps keep every other guy motivated!! Good luck!!

[KSigIdahoState]

There is always help with recruitment. That is the reason for our Area Recruitment Managers. You can ask to have the one for your area come out and help you recruit, it costs some money, but it is well worth it. That is the kind of help from nationals you will probably get. Have you guys already fundraised all of the money needed to charter?

[bluebeacon]

Yes we have everything done, including workshops, we're just needing ten men right now, to obtain our charter. The SEC has just voted on our re-instatement as a chapter here at Shippensburg University, so we are all ready to go, I have a good feeling that on April 16th we will be undergoing our initiation ritual at the Zembo Shriner Mosque in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania...I literally cannot wait, neither can the rest of my fellow founding fathers to enter the order as full-fledged brothers, long live Kappa Lambda! Long Live Kappa Sigma!

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by bluebeacon
Yes we have everything done, including workshops, we're just needing ten men right now, to obtain our charter. The SEC has just voted on our re-instatement as a chapter here at Shippensburg University, so we are all ready to go, I have a good feeling that on April 16th we will be undergoing our initiation ritual at the Zembo Shriner Mosque in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania...I literally cannot wait, neither can the rest of my fellow founding fathers to enter the order as full-fledged brothers, long live Kappa Lambda! Long Live Kappa Sigma!

Good luck in getting the last few guys needed for charter status. I've always said I'm impressed by founding fathers who are able to start a chapter; I can't imagine how much work it must take to establish something like a fraternity chapter.

Good luck, and hopefully your hard work will bring another chapter to the Fraternity.

[ksigcanuck]

Hey guys, to give you all a heads-up there are colonies in the works in District 47 for the University of Alaska in Anchorage and the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada (Quite close to Montana)...

Also the colony in Kamloops, British Columbia, is now 8 months old and getting close to seeking installation approval.

That will bring Canadian chapters/colonies to 7, including UWO colony, UCC colony, and UL colony. I have heard a couple other colonies in Ontario and Manitoba are also not far off.

Keep the good news rollin...

AEKDB
Mike

[bluebeacon]

Guess what everyone, we did it! Kappa Lambda of Kappa Sigma is officially back, I'm still overwhelmed by it all, in one week, we signed on 11 great men as pledges and fellow founding fathers! We fundraised the $2500 chartering fee! We completed all workshops and are on our way to April 16th 2005 initiation into the order. I can't wait, we can't wait, long live kappa sigma, long live kappa lambda forever!

[clarkmsulm]

I'm not a Kappa Sig as they were kicked off of our campus here at ULM before I started here... I do know that their time table has elapsed and there are several, several guys interested and attempting to revive the ULM chapter....Any in Louisiana or close by they could use all the help and support possible becauase it will be very hard for them to get back on campus here

[ksigcanuck]

If you speak to any of them, tell them to get in contact with Kappa Sigma HQ, I am sure they will help them to the best of their ability.

Mike

[stufield]

bluebeacon:

Congratulations on your colony's success in attracting the necessary number of members and raising the sufficient funds to enable the colony to progress to the rechartering of Kappa-Lambda chapter.

It will be terrific to see Kappa-Lambda restored to the roll of active chapters, especially since Kappa Sigma currently does not have a particluarly strong presence in eastern Pennsylvania. Hopefully reinstallation of Kappa-Lambda will be soon followed by similar returns to our chapters at Bucknell and Dicksinson which have closed over the alst couple of years, thechartering of our present colony at York College, and new expansion to some other Pennyslvania schools.

Please note that in Kappa Sigma, chapter designations with two Greek letters are hyphenated. So the correct designation of your chapter is Kappa-Lambda, thus making it one word, not Kappa Lambda, which is two words.

What other fraternities are presently at Shippensberg, and how would you rate them comparative to one another and your own group?

[Darlinglilred]

Hi guys sorry for hijacking your thread but I wanted to let you know about one of your other new chapters at Carleton University in Ottawa. Ontario, Canada.

[kappasigma1869]

At Edinboro University in North west PA there is an established colony, which is good because there are plenty of oppurtunities for expansion in Western PA.

[ksigcanuck]

Hey everyone, lots of news I guess...

3 new Canadian colonies, at the University of Lethbridge, Carleton University, and the University of Western Ontario.

I heard from our ADGM that a colony at the University of Alaska - Anchorage is very close to being created.

Also, UCSB is once again colonized, along with Kappa Sigma's first colony in Hawaii at UH-Manoa

Congrats to all Kappa Sigs for their hard work!

Keep it up!

AEKDB
Mike

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by ksigcanuck
Hey everyone, lots of news I guess...

3 new Canadian colonies, at the University of Lethbridge, Carleton University, and the University of Western Ontario.

I heard from our ADGM that a colony at the University of Alaska - Anchorage is very close to being created.

Also, UCSB is once again colonized, along with Kappa Sigma's first colony in Hawaii at UH-Manoa

Congrats to all Kappa Sigs for their hard work!

Keep it up!

AEKDB
Mike

From what OTW has said, the Hawaii colony is doing well and has gotten a good reputation on campus.

An Alaskan colony? That would be quite a roadtrip for the DGM and any SEC members who were to visit. Have we had any chapters in Alaska? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Thanks everyone for the news. Hopefully these colonies solidify their standing on campus and keep moving towards chapter status.

AEKDB
Collin

[AGDee]

Sorry for crashing your forum, but I was just chatting on AIM with one of my first ever internet buddies (back from CompuServe days in 1994) who is a Kappa Sigma. He has been involved with the recolonization at the University of Vermont, Alpha-Lambda. He said they rushed 25 guys last fall and hope to rush another 25 this fall. I told him about GreekChat and he said he bookmarked it, so hopefully he'll show up here and can give you more details himself!

Dee

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by AGDee
Sorry for crashing your forum, but I was just chatting on AIM with one of my first ever internet buddies (back from CompuServe days in 1994) who is a Kappa Sigma. He has been involved with the recolonization at the University of Vermont, Alpha-Lambda. He said they rushed 25 guys last fall and hope to rush another 25 this fall. I told him about GreekChat and he said he bookmarked it, so hopefully he'll show up here and can give you more details himself!

Dee

I hadn't heard too much about the re-colonization at Vermont, so thanks for the update. I believe they would be a part of my chapter's district, although with the re-allignment I'm not completely sure.

[KSUColonyGS]

Representing the Kennesaw State Colony in Kennesaw (Marietta), GA.

We've made close contact with the Southern Poly Colony in Marietta, GA. Gotten support from the chapters at Georgia Tech and Georgia State.

We hope to earn our charter by December. A year after we started as an interest group.

[stufield]

KSUColonyGS:

Thanks for your post. Good to read that your colony seems to be succeeding, perhaps even thriving, and that you have contact with other Kappa Sigma groups on some nearby campuses. One appreciates the Fraternity more when one has contact with members at other schools and thus realizes what a large Brotherhood the Order actually is.

What other fraternities are presently at Kennesaw State, and how does your colony compare to them in size. I know that Delta Tau Delta chartered there last year, but I don't know what other fraternities are presently on campus.

I understand that Sigma Pi also presently has a colony at KSU. Do you know anything about it?

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by KSUColonyGS
Representing the Kennesaw State Colony in Kennesaw (Marietta), GA.

We've made close contact with the Southern Poly Colony in Marietta, GA. Gotten support from the chapters at Georgia Tech and Georgia State.

We hope to earn our charter by December. A year after we started as an interest group.

Great job, and as stufield said, it has to be a help that there's another colony in the area that you've been contacting. If you're already making connections with other chapters, that's a great start.

Good luck with the colonization and keep us posted.

[KSUColonyGS]

We are currently at 36 men after organizing in December and being allowed to represent ourselves on campus in March. We've pledged in 50+ men so far and had a few quitters... which is understandable, colonization isn't the most rewarding (short term) process.

Other (NIC) fraternities on campus are:
Delta Tau Delta
Sigma Pi (colony)
Theta Chi (largest at 48)
Pi Kappa Phi

And only two (NPC) sororities:
Phi Mu
Delta Phi Epsilon

Student life isn't the biggest thing on campus right now. Greek life especially. But this school has grown to be the third largest in Georgia and becoming less and less of a commuter school. We just moved to Division I sports, so that'll help also.

Sigma Pi is a colony. A good friend of mine was Sigma Pi at Southern Poly but doesn't like the guys here, and frankly, I only like 1 or 2 of them. I don't know too much of their progress or position on campus. They're a lot like us when it comes to IFC, we don't like it and would rather not be forced into it.

We have a great AA that gets us in contact with all these other chapters. Dan Holland. He has very close ties with the Atlanta Alumni Chapter which helps a lot. Kirk Schuening (spelling?), the AA from GaTech, has been a lot of help also. He's been more than happy to help us with Recruitment training and whatnot.

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by KSUColonyGS
We are currently at 36 men after organizing in December and being allowed to represent ourselves on campus in March. We've pledged in 50+ men so far and had a few quitters... which is understandable, colonization isn't the most rewarding (short term) process.

Other (NIC) fraternities on campus are:
Delta Tau Delta
Sigma Pi (colony)
Theta Chi (largest at 48)
Pi Kappa Phi

And only two (NPC) sororities:
Phi Mu
Delta Phi Epsilon

Student life isn't the biggest thing on campus right now. Greek life especially. But this school has grown to be the third largest in Georgia and becoming less and less of a commuter school. We just moved to Division I sports, so that'll help also.

Sigma Pi is a colony. A good friend of mine was Sigma Pi at Southern Poly but doesn't like the guys here, and frankly, I only like 1 or 2 of them. I don't know too much of their progress or position on campus. They're a lot like us when it comes to IFC, we don't like it and would rather not be forced into it.

We have a great AA that gets us in contact with all these other chapters. Dan Holland. He has very close ties with the Atlanta Alumni Chapter which helps a lot. Kirk Schuening (spelling?), the AA from GaTech, has been a lot of help also. He's been more than happy to help us with Recruitment training and whatnot.

It sounds a little bit like my school, in that Greek Life was a small part of the community overall. It's a good thing you're getting alum support, as that can be huge to a chapter surviving. Kirk (Chewning I believe, if we're thinking of the same guy) has been very involved on a nationwide level with recruitment, so he's a good resource to have.

Here's to continued success, as it certainly sounds like you're on the right track.

[KSigSB]

Originally posted by stufield
If anyone knows of a renewed attempt to return Epsilon-Theta chapter to UCSB, I'd sure like to hear about it.


Well... here we are! 5 months old and already the second largest fraternity on campus with 70+ members!

(BLATANT FUNDRAISING PLUG)
We are also starting our first fundraiser, which is a Girls of Santa Barbara calendar (http://www.girlsofsb.com). we are selling them through our website: http://www.girlsofsb.com. If you are a brother, you can get a discounted rate by e-mailing me for the brothers website. The calendars won't ship until 9/15, but trust me, they will be wonderful. The price is $6 for brothers, $10 for everyone else. Shipping is around $2. The website is literally 10 minutes old, but I just wanted to spread the word about it and happened upon this website. [we are also looking for advertisers... e-mail me if interested]
(END BLATANT PLUG)


Hopefully you guys will all make it out to conclave this week. I can't because of summer school, and I'm jealous of my brothers who are making it out there.

Eric.

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by KSigSB
Well... here we are! 5 months old and already the second largest fraternity on campus with 70+ members!

(BLATANT FUNDRAISING PLUG)
We are also starting our first fundraiser, which is a Girls of Santa Barbara calendar (http://www.girlsofsb.com). we are selling them through our website: http://www.girlsofsb.com. If you are a brother, you can get a discounted rate by e-mailing me for the brothers website. The calendars won't ship until 9/15, but trust me, they will be wonderful. The price is $6 for brothers, $10 for everyone else. Shipping is around $2. The website is literally 10 minutes old, but I just wanted to spread the word about it and happened upon this website. [we are also looking for advertisers... e-mail me if interested]
(END BLATANT PLUG)


Hopefully you guys will all make it out to conclave this week. I can't because of summer school, and I'm jealous of my brothers who are making it out there.

Eric.

Good luck with the fundraiser and excellent job with recruitment. Seventy guys in 5 months - not too bad at all. Hope all other aspects are going well.

[ksigcanuck]

Hey guys,

just to keep you posted...

I hear Alaska is again being talked about... not Canada but close...

Thompson Rivers (formerly College of Cariboo) is being initiated in the first week of January and chartered. This will mark the second chapter in British Columbia.

I understand that U of Lethbridge is also progressing well and should be looking at chartering in the new year, bringing Alberta to 3 chapters.

U of Western Ontario folded after a problem with $$ but is apparently being re-formed with new leadership and many of the former members...

There are also plans in the works for at least 2 more BC schools, U of Manitoba, and a number of schools out East in Area 1.

We are beginning to rival Sigma Chi as the Fraternity with the most Canadian chapters... i believe they have 9 and we will be at 7 in the very near future (hopefully)....

Anyone know of any new efforts??

AEKDB

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by ksigcanuck
Hey guys,

just to keep you posted...

I hear Alaska is again being talked about... not Canada but close...

Thompson Rivers (formerly College of Cariboo) is being initiated in the first week of January and chartered. This will mark the second chapter in British Columbia.

I understand that U of Lethbridge is also progressing well and should be looking at chartering in the new year, bringing Alberta to 3 chapters.

U of Western Ontario folded after a problem with $$ but is apparently being re-formed with new leadership and many of the former members...

There are also plans in the works for at least 2 more BC schools, U of Manitoba, and a number of schools out East in Area 1.

We are beginning to rival Sigma Chi as the Fraternity with the most Canadian chapters... i believe they have 9 and we will be at 7 in the very near future (hopefully)....

Anyone know of any new efforts??

AEKDB

Thanks for the update; I'm not sure about any colonies, but from what I've heard, the chapter at Suffolk here in Boston is doing really well. They're relatively new, around a year old, and things seem to be going really well with them.

AEKDB

[aopirose]

I ran across this article last night. I wish them luck!

"Kappa Sigma colonizes at "Greek-free" Gonzaga
Gonzaga Bulletin
December 2, 2005

Students interested in frat

By Virginia Moore

With the exception of academic honor societies with Greek names such as Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society, Greek life on campus is sparse. In fact, non-existent. However, 53 young men would like to pursue the good qualities and intentions of a social fraternity at Gonzaga.

"Not all Greek life is frivolous," sophomore Taylor Rickard said. Rickard, a transfer student from Arizona State University (ASU), was active within the Kappa Sigma community at his previous school. Since the beginning of the fall semester at Gonzaga, Rickard has received a substantial amount of interest from the male student body at the prospect of starting a fraternity..."

http://www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/paper375/news/2005/12/02/News/Students.Interested.In.Frat-1118833.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.gonzagabulletin.com

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by aopirose
I ran across this article last night. I wish them luck!

"Kappa Sigma colonizes at "Greek-free" Gonzaga
Gonzaga Bulletin
December 2, 2005

Students interested in frat

By Virginia Moore

With the exception of academic honor societies with Greek names such as Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society, Greek life on campus is sparse. In fact, non-existent. However, 53 young men would like to pursue the good qualities and intentions of a social fraternity at Gonzaga.

"Not all Greek life is frivolous," sophomore Taylor Rickard said. Rickard, a transfer student from Arizona State University (ASU), was active within the Kappa Sigma community at his previous school. Since the beginning of the fall semester at Gonzaga, Rickard has received a substantial amount of interest from the male student body at the prospect of starting a fraternity..."

http://www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/paper375/news/2005/12/02/News/Students.Interested.In.Frat-1118833.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.gonzagabulletin.com

Thanks for the info - from what the article is saying, it seems like they have a long road ahead in convincing the school. I don't really understand the "paperwork" comment; it looks like there's an assumption that a Greek org wouldn't be willing to do the proper work to become recognized.

Either way, I hope things work out for them and that all there work pays off in the end.

[kegman83]

Brothers,

It pleases me greatly that there is so much activity on this board about the Epsilon-Theta colony at UCSB. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Jameson Tyler Drew, I am the current Gand Master of the Epsilon-Theta colony. I am one of two legacies who created the colony back in the fall of 2004 (my father was a Beta-Theta and Tristan Handland's father an Epsilon-Delta).

The story of the Epsilon-Theta colony is one of legend. Beginning as a promise to a dying father, I strove to become something I knew nothing about. It was along the way that I met 67 men of varying religions, incomes, races, and creeds. I also became friends with one Steven Alonzo Jackson, Ed Rogers, Bill McCormick to name a few. The dream of Kappa Sigma gradually evolved froma promise, to a challenge. Make no joke about it, the greek system (and its advisor) at UCSB are extremely hostile to newcomers. However, with some zeal (and my knowledge of real estate) we managed to grab a house formally owned by Lambda Chi Alpha. It is there, where we reside currently, that our roots have begun to take hold. We also hold the number 2 spot for recruitement in the country at the moment and are number 4 in community service hours.

It must be noted that none of this could not have been possible without the help of one Brother Julian Ungano of Pratt Institute and Mathew Gajeski (of Hofstra fame). They are currently serving as both GP and GMC, and I cannot thank them enough for their efforts.

Our current numbers, according to our grand scribe, are at 44. We have just rushed another 15 new members (despite the schools constant protest) and are well on our way to completing all of the workshops required to charter. Our DGM Chris Cooley (Fresno State) has also been extremely helpful in this task, bring the long arm of the law down on those greek advisors who wish to stunt our growth. Our only obsticle is one of money. Our current fundraiser, the Girls of UCSB Calendar, is going well but more calendar sales are needed if we ever want to be initiated. The website is located here (http://www.girlsofucsb.com) . Im sure if you contact Eric he can negotiate a good price for you. Winte rush is coming up, and we will not rest contentedly until we are once again the largest (and oldest) chapter on this campus.

Last, we cannot thank enough our two awesome ARMs: Mike Olivas (Sac State) and Kevin Madsen (UCI). they have been instrimental in kicking our asses when we thought we couldnt do it.

If you guys have any questions, or if you feel ike dropping by to surf to class, feel free to contact me at jamesondrew@umail.ucbs.edu or visit our website www.kappasigmsb.org
Im also on AIM: Kegman83

Thanks

Jameson "TheGodfather" Drew
Grand Master, Epsilon-Theta Colony
UCSB
And soon to be A.E.K.D.B.

[AGDee]

I talked (for over 4 hours) on AIM today to my Kappa Sigma buddy in Vermont and got this update on their recolonization:

They are up to 25 guys and are back in their house. He believes they are close to Initiation.

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by AGDee
I talked (for over 4 hours) on AIM today to my Kappa Sigma buddy in Vermont and got this update on their recolonization:

They are up to 25 guys and are back in their house. He believes they are close to Initiation.

That's great - it would be nice to end up with another New England chapter. I hope everything works out and those guys achieve chapter status.

[hayden83]

Chartering this fall:
CSU Bakersfield - Omicron-Mu
Murray State - Omicron-Nu
ULethbridge - Omicron-Xi

Looking good for this fall or early '07:
William & Mary
Kutztown
Monroe (LA)
UMontana

There are 25 other colonies, and 15 interest groups.

I'll second kegman83's comment about Kappa Sigma's ARMs - they're making Jackson's dream come true.

[KSigkid]

Chartering this fall:
CSU Bakersfield - Omicron-Mu
Murray State - Omicron-Nu
ULethbridge - Omicron-Xi

Looking good for this fall or early '07:
William & Mary
Kutztown
Monroe (LA)
UMontana

There are 25 other colonies, and 15 interest groups.

I'll second kegman83's comment about Kappa Sigma's ARMs - they're making Jackson's dream come true.

Do you happen to know if William & Mary used to have a chapter? I would be kind of surprised if this was the first go around; I don't know, it just seems like a school that would have been colonized by now.

[hayden83]

Do you happen to know if William & Mary used to have a chapter? I would be kind of surprised if this was the first go around; I don't know, it just seems like a school that would have been colonized by now.

They did, Nu chapter. I don't know when they originally lost their charter or became inactive. The current colony will of course become Nu chapter again when they complete their colonization period.

[KSigkid]

They did, Nu chapter. I don't know when they originally lost their charter or became inactive. The current colony will of course become Nu chapter again when they complete their colonization period.

Thanks, I thought that was correct, but I really wasn't sure. It's always good to get an old chapter up and going again.

[gruber]

Indiana Univ. of PA is also working hard at re-chaptering the Kappa Theta chapter. We had about 45 guys pledged in about 2 weeks ago... I'm serving as the Ast. GS and also trying to figure something out for a website.

We've got most of the policies down, and we're going to have all of the lecture things done (MBK, etc) by Monday, pretty much leaving us with raising the chartering fee & getting our community service hours in...

We're hoping to have everything in before we leave for break on the 15th of Dec & be ready to become a chapter and full brothers around valentines day!

[KSigkid]

Indiana Univ. of PA is also working hard at re-chaptering the Kappa Theta chapter. We had about 45 guys pledged in about 2 weeks ago... I'm serving as the Ast. GS and also trying to figure something out for a website.

We've got most of the policies down, and we're going to have all of the lecture things done (MBK, etc) by Monday, pretty much leaving us with raising the chartering fee & getting our community service hours in...

We're hoping to have everything in before we leave for break on the 15th of Dec & be ready to become a chapter and full brothers around valentines day!

Wow, three months from colony to chapter? That would be some sort of record, wouldn't it? Good luck with everything and let us know how it goes.

[gruber]

That’s the plan anyway, and we're making some good progress.

The EC has all of our bylaws and policies, making sure they all jive with each other and nationals, and I believe we're going to vote on them as a chapter to make them official at our next meeting on Monday.

Patrick Corr (from Xi-Epsilon) is coming on the 3rd of Dec to do the Code of Conduct workshop with us. Our attendance was a lil less than it should have been for MBK, so we’re going to try to find a local chapter that’s doing it (so anyone out there in the Pitt area that is holla back) or get him back here some time to present again (I was out of state for a conference myself).

Other than that, it just leaves us raising the chartering fee, which we have a fundraiser set up for next week that should kick most of that out, and make sure our GPA is high enough…

IFC requirements are pretty similar to nationals so we’ll be able to kick that out as well...

We’ve got a great group of guys here, I’m tremendously glad to call them all my brothers!!! I’m sure if anyone can do it, it’ll be the men of Kappa Theta!

[PeppyGPhiB]

Pepperdine's student newspaper last week included a story on Kappa Sigma coming to campus. Unfortunately I can't read the full article, so am wondering if any of you know anything about it?

[jjason82]

Omicron Mu was installed on Saturday (Nov. 18). It was a beautiful thing after two years of work. I am now the GMC for OM, as a sidenote.

[hayden83]

Pepperdine's student newspaper last week included a story on Kappa Sigma coming to campus. Unfortunately I can't read the full article, so am wondering if any of you know anything about it?

Check out this article. (http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2006/2006-11-16-kappasigma.htm)

Kutztown University is confirmed as Omicron-Omicron. In total five more colonies will charter before the end of the year, and HQ is predicting seven more will complete their charter requirements and petition for installation for the beginning of 2007.

[KSigkid]

That’s the plan anyway, and we're making some good progress.

The EC has all of our bylaws and policies, making sure they all jive with each other and nationals, and I believe we're going to vote on them as a chapter to make them official at our next meeting on Monday.

Patrick Corr (from Xi-Epsilon) is coming on the 3rd of Dec to do the Code of Conduct workshop with us. Our attendance was a lil less than it should have been for MBK, so we’re going to try to find a local chapter that’s doing it (so anyone out there in the Pitt area that is holla back) or get him back here some time to present again (I was out of state for a conference myself).

Other than that, it just leaves us raising the chartering fee, which we have a fundraiser set up for next week that should kick most of that out, and make sure our GPA is high enough…

IFC requirements are pretty similar to nationals so we’ll be able to kick that out as well...

We’ve got a great group of guys here, I’m tremendously glad to call them all my brothers!!! I’m sure if anyone can do it, it’ll be the men of Kappa Theta!

Sounds like you guys have a good plan; luckily there are a lot of alums in place to help out with things if you run into any snags.

Congrats to the other chapters that are being chartered; it seems like almost every month we have a new chapter. Have we lost any chapters lately?

[hayden83]

Not sure how HQ generally communicates this info to alumni members, but here's a brief summary of recent events:
-Gamma-Omicron has been reinstated;
-Theta-Upsilon, Beta-Xi and Xi-Phi have had their charters suspended;
-Delta-Chi has been fined;
-Recognition of the Spokane Colony has been withdrawn.

[KSigkid]

Not sure how HQ generally communicates this info to alumni members, but here's a brief summary of recent events:
-Gamma-Omicron has been reinstated;
-Theta-Upsilon, Beta-Xi and Xi-Phi have had their charters suspended;
-Delta-Chi has been fined;
-Recognition of the Spokane Colony has been withdrawn.

Thanks - there used to be a listserve, but now it is only for alumni officers. I had access when I was a AAA, but not anymore. I try to keep a lookout in the Cadeucus, but usually the only news in there is good news.

[hayden83]

Folks, an update: along with 29 current colonies, we have 22 confirmed interest groups across the United States, and in Toronto (Delta-Epsilon lost their charter this fall but we hope to see it returned soon). We will be kicking off a colony at U of Alaska-Anchorage on December 8.

[Duchovnysfan]

Chartering this fall:
CSU Bakersfield - Omicron-Mu
Murray State - Omicron-Nu
ULethbridge - Omicron-Xi

Looking good for this fall or early '07:
William & Mary
Kutztown
Monroe (LA)
UMontana

There are 25 other colonies, and 15 interest groups.

I'll second kegman83's comment about Kappa Sigma's ARMs - they're making Jackson's dream come true.

Add Loyola Marymount to the chartering list....well actually they chartered a few weeks ago :) I only know b/c I know someone in it and saw he was wearing his letters in a picture, good for them! :)

[UTKappaSig21]

Kappa Sigma Announces Historic Return to the University of Tennessee

by Matthew Bott
Jan 10, 2008
Source: Charlottesville, VA

The Kappa Sigma Fraternity is preparing for its historic return to the University of Tennessee this January with the re-colonization of the Lambda Chapter, one of the campuses’ oldest and most historic fraternities. The Fraternity will be meeting and interviewing hundreds of students on the Knoxville campus in January and plans to establish a 70 man-plus pledge class of students who are committed to the Fraternity’s values of fellowship, leadership, scholarship and service.


“Kappa Sigma’s goal is to make the chapter again the leading, most respected and most active fraternity chapter at the University of Tennessee” said Mitchell B. Wilson, Kappa Sigma’s Executive Director. “I believe that this will be Kappa Sigma’s most successful re-colonization in history…we are that committed to seeing excellence in Knoxville.”


“I am personally very excited to welcome our historic Lambda Chapter back to the Fraternity” said Kappa Sigma’s Worthy Grand Master (National President) H. Phillip Bell, IV “Kappa Sigma has an extraordinary legacy at SEC institutions and I know that the men at the University of Tennessee will rush to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a founding father.”


Over 30 men have already been identified for membership prior to the spring semester, when the fraternity plans an aggressive marketing and recruitment plan to identify current or emerging student leaders looking for the opportunity to take a leadership position in the chapter. Kappa Sigma will have at least two Headquarters staff members, Matt Rippetoe and Matt Bemister, on campus in January and February meeting with potential new members.


The original Lambda Chapter was founded in 1880 and is one of Kappa Sigma’s first chapters, and one of the first at the University of Tennessee. The chapter was closed in 2006 after the Fraternity decided that the then-members were not living up to the Fraternity’s high ideals of fellowship, leadership, scholarship and service. The Chapter has initiated notable members including William B. Stokely III, the namesake of the Stokely Athletic Center and Stokely Management Center; John T. Ward, 31-year “Voice of the Vols” and many others.

[OleMissGlitter]

http://media.www.thedmonline.com/media/storage/paper876/news/2008/01/28/News/Kappa.Sig.Granted.New.Charter.Saturday-3170961.shtml

[tkehippy06]

As you guys can probably tell, I'm not a Kappa Sig. But theres one of your guys' interest groups trying to get started at my school (University of Southern Indiana).

Now, normally, I would be fine with this, but unfortunately the tactics they are using are not quite what they should be, including taking a guy who has been affiliated with, and subsequently kicked out of, all six other fraternities on campus (Lambda Chi Alpha, TKE, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Pi, Kappa Alpha, Alpha Sigma Phi) and they aren't abiding by the University's rules(or the NIC's, which here everyone, even the Phi Delts, follow) about colonization.

In addition, we are already straining for numbers. At a 10,000 student school, all of Greek Life makes up only about 3% of the students. us guys are lucky if we can get half a dozen pledges per fall semester, and maybe half that for the spring. At this time our University cannot support another fraternity. Maybe in a few years, but definitely not now.

Just thought I'd let you guys know about this. Good luck in your expansions elsewhere.

[hayden83]

Was this individual initiated by any of these groups, or just pledged? Or by affiliated do you mean he was simply rushed by them?

As for your other complaint, I would honestly say step up your game. If a football team is losing a game they don't expect the other team to stop playing.

[tkehippy06]

Was this individual initiated by any of these groups, or just pledged? Or by affiliated do you mean he was simply rushed by them?

He wasn't initiated by any of the others. I don't know about any of them pledging him though. He tried to join us, missed the induction night, and then complained that he was being treated unfairly when we told him he would have to wait.

Unfortunately this individual also had problems with aggression and a possible rape.


As for your other complaint, I would honestly say step up your game. If a football team is losing a game they don't expect the other team to stop playing.


Its not just us suffering though - its all six fraternities. The three sororities on campus are all hovering at about sixty girls each - its been that way for at least 5 years.

Spring Rush has always been difficult for all the fraternities here.

[stufield]

hayden83:

You seem to have some inside knowledge of the Fraternity's affairs. Can you advise as to the schools at which the Fraternity is presently actively attempting to colonize (or recolonize, as the case may be)? Also, can you advise of the schools at which the Fraternity presently has interest groups? These two lists would not be identical, as in several instances the Fraternity could be attempting to colonize at a school at which we do not presently have any interest group ... recruiting from scratch, as has recently been done with the Lambda recolonization at UT Knoxville ... and as some (if not most) interest groups will never progress to colony status, but instead will lose interest, not be able to compete for new members with already established groups on their campuses, decide that they are more comfortable with some other fraternity, and so on. Nonetheless, it would be interesting to know where we do presently have interest groups, so we can see which ones do progress to colony status.

In a November posting on this site, you mentioned a possible recolonization of Delta-Epsilon Chapter at the University of Toronto. Any progress there? It would be great to see a return of our first/oldest Canadian chapter.

[chicostateksig]

Chico State is currently in the works for chartering its Colony. We have 40 guys and rush is this coming week all the other requirements have been taken care of. So we are hopping to get our charter by this semester. I would like the return of Beta Phi Chapter @ UC Davis and UCLA to come back hopefully they will soon.

[stufield]

Thanks for your informative reply. Please advise at the end of the week how your colony fared with rush. What other fraternities are presently at Chico State. I know that the Greek system has had lots of disciplinary/hazing problems in recent years, and that several fraternities closed there in that time. I also know that Beta Theta Pi closed there withing the past year, although I don't know what caused that to happen. But I would like to know what fraternities are presently at Chico State, and how you rate them.

[chicostateksig]

Dear Stufield

Chico State has traditionally been a party school with a bad rep. and the greek system was strong but right now its doing okay. Our relations with other fraternities are good everyone voted us in IFC unanimous and show their support. A couple of my friends are in Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, and Theta Chi. currently there are 10 IFC Fraternities. so far 50 guys have gone to our events we are going to probably get 25 and maybe hopefully 17 at least will accept our bids (ill report this to you friday once rush is over). About the other fraternities we have: in order of what i think they rank

1. Theta Chi: they are the biggest, known for their parties and socials
2. Sigma Chi: Just took over Beta Theta Pi in sports have the nicest house on campus, i know a great amount of sigs and they are cool kids.
3. Delta Chi: they are also sports but mostly all of them are rich blond kids
4. Kappa Sigma: despite being on campus for less than a year we are the 4th biggest fraternity on campus, we have the highest GPA and best rep (we havent fucked up yet), also sororities like us and everyone is happy that we are giving the greek system a new image. plus the friendly comp. that we bring.
5. Sigma Pi: they just got chartered 5 years ago they are cool guys as well, but their numbers are falling they only got 2 guys in fall.
6. Phi Delta Theta: despite only having 27 members their impression is felt on campus, usually the AS student body president is a Phi Delt, they win greek week, and greek man of the year.
7. Alpha Gamma Rho: i dont really have nothing to say about these guys but they all have pick ups and a nice house.
8. Sigma Nu: they have been here for a long time since the 70s the 2nd oldest greek fraternity on campus (recognized) but they are idk strange none the less a good group of guys i know 4 of those kids well and 2 of them are close friends
9. Phi Kappa Tau: Well they were a important fraternity the oldest one on campus untill they decided to make a porno film a couple of years back once a thriving chapter of 80-100 men is has only 12 guys.
10. Gamma Zeta Alpha: they are just a fraternity that is a Hispanic focused one, they are a good group of guys, but their small.

PS: Beta Theta Pi: was the best fraternity in campus when it came to Sorority relations and Sports no one could hold a candle to them. But they got booted because they hazed, i knew a couple of their pledges last semester and they made them do scavenger hunts, ice baths, locked them in the closet and threw stuff at them etc.

[hayden83]

Can you advise as to the schools at which the Fraternity is presently actively attempting to colonize (or recolonize, as the case may be)?

Currently there are interest groups at Willamette, Rutgers, Drexel, Villanova, Washburn, Colorado State, UCLA, UBC-O, Millikin, UMass, Indiana State, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John's, Bentley College, Vanderbilt, Widener, Nebraska, Wyoming and Notre Dame. We have ten other schools on our watch list. And we have 29 current colonies.

[chicostateksig]

WHOA fellas we got 16 quality men to join the Kappa Sigma Fraternity today, more than any other pledge class in CSU Chico. WE beat Theta Chi, Sigma Chi, and Delta Chi YES!!! the last check on the check list is complete we have 52 members we are going to send our stuff to nationals and hopefully get chartered soon.

[stufield]

That is fantastic news, chicostateksig. Topping the Theta Chis, Sigma Chis, Phi Delts, Delta Chis, and others is a real achievement. Hopefully, you will be able to do it again in the Fall.

Hopefully your colony will now prepare and forward to IMH a petition that the SEC will find satisfactory. It certainly will be excellent to have another Northern California chapter. As we presently only have active chapters at UC Berkeley, Stanford, San Jose State, Sacramento State, and Cal State Stanislaus, we are moderately, but not highly, represented in Northern California. A sixth chapter at Chico will be a significant and long-overdue addition (we should have been at Chico years ago). Hopefully, your colony/chapter will be followed soon by a recolonization of Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Davis, and a colonization of the University of the Pacific, an excellent school we should also have been at years ago. THEN the Fraternity would have a really strong Northern California presence.

First things first though. Congrats on your pledge class and good luck with your petition. Keep us posted on developments.

[stufield]

Currently there are interest groups at Willamette, Rutgers, Drexel, Villanova, Washburn, Colorado State, UCLA, UBC-O, Millikin, UMass, Indiana State, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John's, Bentley College, Vanderbilt, Widener, Nebraska, Wyoming and Notre Dame. We have ten other schools on our watch list. And we have 29 current colonies.

Historically, not all, or even half, of our interest groups ever become colonies. Do any of those interest groups, or which of those interest groups, have a serious/realistic likelihood of becoming colonies this Spring, i.e. before the end of the school year?

[thaloccsta]

hey chico state congrats that you met all the requirements, if this is josh, whats up bro its steve from sac state, we came up and pinned you guys... cant wait to come up and initiate you guys

and definitely dotn expect uc davis back anytime soon, they were given a chance recently and i believe they fucked up again with the same problem.

[hayden83]

Historically, not all, or even half, of our interest groups ever become colonies. Do any of those interest groups, or which of those interest groups, have a serious/realistic likelihood of becoming colonies this Spring, i.e. before the end of the school year?

HQ expects 14 of those interest groups to petition for colony status by the end of the year.

[tmorton3]

I'm a sigma nu at the university of wyoming but i've been hearing rumors about the nationals of kappa sig being very interested in starting back up here. (They had the charter taken a few years back) They had the most elegant house next to use, a huge stone mansion, but the damn honors kids are taking it over, so i'm not sure how well that is gonna work out for the kappa sig peoples...

[stufield]

Hayden 83:

You listed 19 interest groups in your February 21st posting on this thread. HQ may well "expect" 14 of them to petition for colony status "by the end of the year" [does "year" mean the end of the academic year, i.e, say the end of April, or the end of the calendar year, i.e. by December 31, 2008].

However,

1. I seriously doubt that 14 WILL actually end up petitioning. Although I'd love to be wrong, I'd bet the number will be closer to seven or eight. At least one out of every two interest groups folds for some reason or other. For instance, I was advised a couple of days ago that interest groups which we had as recently as less than a month ago Drexel, Seton Hall, and Towson have all since collapsed.

2. Just because an interest group petitions, does not mean that HQ (whoever that includes) accepts the petition. HQ may feel, correctly or incorrectly, that the group is not yet strong enough to succeed as a colony ... although that has not stopped HQ from granting colony status to at least 10 colonies in the past two years or so that any outside observer would say had NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER of succeeding, and all of which did subsequently fold.

The Fraternity website had a big announcement a few months ago, complete with a picture of the campus, that an interest group at Florida Atlantic University was preparing its petition for colony status. That was the last mention of that group; not a word about it since on the Website, in The Caduceus, or anywhere else that I have seen. Do you know if that group did submit a petition, which was not accepted? Or did it not get that far, and folded?

I would be very pleased indeed if 14 of the aforesaid 19 interest groups you have identified DO petition, and even more pleased if all of those petitions are accepted. But I'll never know, because the Fraternity is absolutely terrible about reporting to its membership about expansionary matters (or much else, for that matter). Colonies suddenly appear on the list of active chapters and colonies (like Dickinson did in the list few days) without any prior mention of our having an interest group there. Likewise, colonies and chapters simply
disappear from the same list, without any announcements or explanations ... most recently, in terms of colonies, Academy of Art University, University of Texas/Brownsville, and Troy University, the first two of which are among the aforementioned 10 or more colonies that had no chance whatsoever of succeeding and should not have been colonized in the first place. But unless one is paying close attention to the list, one would not even notice such disappearances ... which I suspect is the way HQ wants it ... trumpet the big rush numbers, don’t mention the failures.

Furthermore, we presently also have the opposite and completely ridiculous situation of a colony that is to be receiving its charter on March 8th that is NOT EVEN INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF CHAPTERS AND COLONIES. Until two days ago, the only reason one would even know the colony exists is because a notice of its chartering has been posted on the home page of the Website!! And that announcement does not name the colony or the school at which is located, just that it is in Charlotte, NC. Really now, how goofy is that!! Does HQ seriously think that the administration of the school at which the colony is located (the Charlotte campus of Johnson & Wales University) does not know the colony exists, and will not know if it is not mentioned on the Website??? In the last two days, the situation has been made even more ridiculous in that the colony is included in the list of top 25 rushing groups for 2007-2008, but again does not name the school in the list ... just an empty space where the Johnson & Wales, Charlotte should be! Will the school be added to the chapters and colonies list AFTER it has been chartered, or will it continue to exist in anonymity??? The whole thing is a complete farce.

In any case, my point is that neither I nor anyone else "outside of HQ" will ever know how many of those 19 interest groups eventually petitioned for colony status, because the Fraternity does not announce when such a petition has been received or from what interest group. We can only see which interest groups eventually become colonies when they are added to the chapters and colonies list. The others just disappear without a mention.

If it were not for people like you who clearly do have some knowledge of the Fraternity's affairs, posting on sites like this, those of us who are interested in such matters as expansion would know nothing other than the bare minimum that is posted on the Website. So please do keep posting!

[KsigAkron]

Myself and two others from the Akron Colony were down at headquarters this week, and we are going to help start interest groups at Kent State (Epsilon-Rho) and Walsh University. We are also looking at several other schools around Ohio such as Ohio University, Dayton, Youngstown State, and etc.

-Jon

[chicostateksig]

So we got 52 Guys and everything is done but apparently some of the brothers didn't deem it necessary to pay dues so we have to wait another semester to get initiated so Chico State will be a chapter by Fall 2008 for sure now that we got the money.

[stufield]

It's great that you now have over 50 members in your colony and appear to have met all the requirements for chartering.

Has your colony submitted its petition for chartering to the SEC?

I was hoping that your colony would be receiving its charter before the start of the 2008-2009 academic year, so that you could participate in Fall Rush as a chapter rather than as still just a colony. But a Fall chartering is something to look forward to. Another Northern California chapter will be a terrific addition to the Fraternity's active chapter roll.

How does your 52-man membership compare with the other fraternities presently on the Cals State Chico campus?

[stufield]

As you guys can probably tell, I'm not a Kappa Sig. But theres one of your guys' interest groups trying to get started at my school (University of Southern Indiana).

Now, normally, I would be fine with this, but unfortunately the tactics they are using are not quite what they should be, including taking a guy who has been affiliated with, and subsequently kicked out of, all six other fraternities on campus (Lambda Chi Alpha, TKE, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Pi, Kappa Alpha, Alpha Sigma Phi) and they aren't abiding by the University's rules(or the NIC's, which here everyone, even the Phi Delts, follow) about colonization.

In addition, we are already straining for numbers. At a 10,000 student school, all of Greek Life makes up only about 3% of the students. us guys are lucky if we can get half a dozen pledges per fall semester, and maybe half that for the spring. At this time our University cannot support another fraternity. Maybe in a few years, but definitely not now.

Just thought I'd let you guys know about this. Good luck in your expansions elsewhere.


tkehippy06 will no doubt be pleased. I see that our University of Southern Indiana colony has closed.

[stufield]

Was this individual initiated by any of these groups, or just pledged? Or by affiliated do you mean he was simply rushed by them?

As for your other complaint, I would honestly say step up your game. If a football team is losing a game they don't expect the other team to stop playing.


It would seem that Kappa Sigma did not "step up [its] game". I see that the University of Southern Indiana colony has closed. Another hole in the "most preferred fraternity" myth that the SEC keeps promulgating. We clearly weren't the most preferred fraternity at USI (or any of the 26 other colonies the fraternity has closed in the last three to four years).

[chicostateksig]

We are doing pretty good i believe we are 3rd largest in campus and next year 45 people are all going to come back so we are going to be pretty stable for at least the next 2 years. Rush went bad for everyone no one really wants to join fraternities here as much as they used to. That alot of the Fraternities are going to get suspended for poor academic integrity, so that will be another blow to the system as a whole. We have the Highest GPA so we are good and we already sent the binder to the SEC so we are just waiting for their approval. Which i hope we get the charter, we are expected to get initiated by members of the Theta Zeta Chapter in New Mexico idk how accurate that is but it sounds good, idk why anyone would make this up.
WE lost in the fraternity league softball semi finals to the Champs by 1 run so that kind of blew but its our first year we can take them next year.
but we are doing good we need to fix minor things and people need to start paying dues because they are holding us back.

I really dont like how you have to have 50 men. Honestly its not fair that some are dedicated and some arent just to keep the "number one second to none" thing going. Our Docets are not even that elaborate on certain things unlike for example Sigma Chi's Norman Shield. I love Kappa Sigma but i dont like the way nationals handles some aspects of the Order. I also hate how they dont keep you updated on anything. For example i have a friend who is in KS in Mu-Delta UC Irvine and i told him i was about to be a founder in Chico and he was like i have no idea they were starting a colony there. Someone else told me that 70 guys were signed up to restart UCLA's chapter and that was 3 months ago wtf happend???

oh well i really want to go through the ritual so i can finally understand the meaning behind all of this. :(

[nate2512]

We are doing pretty good i believe we are 3rd largest in campus and next year 45 people are all going to come back so we are going to be pretty stable for at least the next 2 years. Rush went bad for everyone no one really wants to join fraternities here as much as they used to. That alot of the Fraternities are going to get suspended for poor academic integrity, so that will be another blow to the system as a whole. We have the Highest GPA so we are good and we already sent the binder to the SEC so we are just waiting for their approval. Which i hope we get the charter, we are expected to get initiated by members of the Theta Zeta Chapter in New Mexico idk how accurate that is but it sounds good, idk why anyone would make this up.
WE lost in the fraternity league softball semi finals to the Champs by 1 run so that kind of blew but its our first year we can take them next year.
but we are doing good we need to fix minor things and people need to start paying dues because they are holding us back.

I really dont like how you have to have 50 men. Honestly its not fair that some are dedicated and some arent just to keep the "number one second to none" thing going. Our Docets are not even that elaborate on certain things unlike for example Sigma Chi's Norman Shield. I love Kappa Sigma but i dont like the way nationals handles some aspects of the Order. I also hate how they dont keep you updated on anything. For example i have a friend who is in KS in Mu-Delta UC Irvine and i told him i was about to be a founder in Chico and he was like i have no idea they were starting a colony there. Someone else told me that 70 guys were signed up to restart UCLA's chapter and that was 3 months ago wtf happend???

oh well i really want to go through the ritual so i can finally understand the meaning behind all of this. :(

When I was Grand Scribe we would get all kinds of letters congratulating colonies on their acceptance as chapters, so it's not that IMH that isn't putting the information out there. Also, each member of the executive gets all kinds of e-mails with such information in it, so it gets passed along. I believe there is an email group thats open to everyone -- I can't remember though, when I was on EC the two groups I was required to be in were Kappa Sigma One and 46 East Lawn.

[chicostateksig]

It was pretty contentious among our brothers about the change to the new BD. Our last Bononia Docet, the one from the '90s, was a really great exhibition of our history and traditions. The new one has good ideas but it seems so scant - maybe the SEC is scared of chapters making pledges "learn" all that material in 60 days (i.e. hazing). It's also differently designed to guide pledges along the four pillars as opposed to a much more "historical account" like the old one was. The expansion of the fraternity is hardly touched in the new one which is a travesty if you ask me. If you want more info on this send me an e-mail, I can probably help you out if, say, you want a copy of it to peruse.

I also heard of two other colonies they closed down this winter - Troy Univ. and one other I can't recall. BUT there's good expansion prospectively going on at (I also heard) UCLA (maybe in the fall?), Ohio (Univ.), and Denison.

The "Number One, Second to None" thing was really played up at Conclave. It's too bad that it's already becoming so cliche. We spout that off but we're shutting down chapters left and right like Nu-Omega, Kappa-Upsilon, Epsilon-Pi, Nu-Zeta, Lambda-Psi, and Gamma-Nu. All of these last winter. The one at Clemson (Kappa-Upsilon) was particularly nasty with the SEC mandating that a letter be put in the school newspaper informing the community of the chapter's closing (I was a bit taken aback by this extremity). See the Star & Crescent for more info on Brothers Services.

Thanks for the info... BTW today i received an old Docet circa 1979 by my friend in Kappa Sigma in an other chapter. i am reading it and its so much better than today's version but thanks for willing to help. I really cant wait to get initiated

[chicostateksig]

oh yeah Kappa Sigma has got 2 other colonies aside from us. Academy of the Art which i have no clue how they are doing or how thats going to work as there is no Greek System present, and they closed but suddenly came back. CSU Northridge also has a colony but this colony is special for the mute and def etc. this colony is bound to fail because one this school is a commuter school with more fraternities present. 2nd Sigma Nu has had a colony since 2004 and hasn't chartered to this date, SAE currently re-colonized a dormant chapter and the fact that half the members or the majority are mute/ or def means that its going to be different to get 50 men and other things. I talked to their grandmaster and he told me the same thing. A couple of friends go to that school and they haven't heard anything or rarely hear any Kappa Sigma Activity.

I hope i am wrong and they get established soon...

[nate2512]

I'm about a month late on this, but Kappa Sigma has begun the recolonization process at Vanderbilt.

[KSigkid]

I'm about a month late on this, but Kappa Sigma has begun the recolonization process at Vanderbilt.

That's great. It's good to hear we're coming back to a lot of these schools, hopefully things go well.

[chicostateksig]

So gentlemen i got news from our GP that today Nationals has approved us to be the newest chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and its going to be at Chico State. I am proud of the hard work we have done and cant wait to get initiated. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[stufield]

Terrific news. Congratulations to the entire colony. Has your chartering date been set?

[chicostateksig]

Terrific news. Congratulations to the entire colony. Has your chartering date been set?


yeah i believe it is September 6, 2008.

We have to wait longer than those 60 days or w.e but yeah ive waited for this every single day since May 6, 2007 when we were officially colonized.

Cant wait and thanks this is just the first big step for Kappa Sigma's tradition in our campus.

From the looks of it we are going to be Pi-Theta chapter idk why i had this freaky dream around sept last year and saw the letters Pi-Kappa so i was like oh that would be cool if we had those letters but no. ahha. anyways i am happy.

[chicostateksig]

And from the looks of it Delta-Nu UCLA is back as a colony

http://www.kappasigma.org/chaptersByRollNumber.php

http://www.kappasigma.org/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=178&ref=

[stevenscarfia]

Hey guys, I am not currently a Kappa Sigma, but I plan on pledging when I move to Anchorage, Alaska next summer. I hope to be at least a pledge of the new Alaskan chapter, but would love it if I could be a founding father (dependent on whether they get their chapter status by next year). I can't wait to become a Kappa Sig!

[nate2512]

Hey guys, I am not currently a Kappa Sigma, but I plan on pledging when I move to Anchorage, Alaska next summer. I hope to be at least a pledge of the new Alaskan chapter, but would love it if I could be a founding father (dependent on whether they get their chapter status by next year). I can't wait to become a Kappa Sig!.

Do you even know any of the Kappa Sigmas there? If your main goal is just to become a Kappa Sig, or be a founding father of a colony, or just to be in a fraternity at all, then I would hope the guys at Anchorage will see through that and refrain from bidding you. So your post should have looked much like this:
Hey guys, I'm not a Kappa Sigma, but I am going to be moving to Anchorage next summer, and am interesting in rushing Kappa Sigma, I have heard about all the great things Kappa Sigma is doing there, and if the brothers see fit, I would very much like to join such a fine organization.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but your words and thoughts should be differently at this point, cause there is no guarantee you'll get a bid.

[nate2512]

We have to wait longer than those 60 days or w.e but yeah ive waited for this every single day since May 6, 2007 when we were officially colonized.


Why would the sixty days apply to a colony?

[chicostateksig]

because your supposed to be installed 60 days prior to the SEC vote i have no clue why that is, but it is what it is.

[nate2512]

But generally, over breaks, they offer extensions. So this could be a very similar strategy, if you accept the midterm rush challenge, the time over the christmas break does not count. So over the summer could be considered very similar, since no one else has pledges. There are a few other reasons but they shouldn't be discussed.

[akwilcox]

Stevenscarfia: Will you be in Anchorage this summer (08) or next summer (09)? If you're in the area now, drop us a line-- we're semi-active over the summer...as active as a group can be with so many of us out in the bush or out to sea. We'd love to talk with you about the colony and our upcoming rush.


John

[tkehippy06]

tkehippy06 will no doubt be pleased. I see that our University of Southern Indiana colony has closed.

I'm not really pleased per se, but I'm a bit relieved. Maybe in a few years, if the college grows enough and the chapter size grows enough to where another chapter on campus wouldn't be a genuine threat to the survival of all the other chapters... I have no problems with another fraternity joining our campus, other than the fact that Greek life here is barely surviving at 3% of 10000 students.

[KSigkid]

I'm not really pleased per se, but I'm a bit relieved. Maybe in a few years, if the college grows enough and the chapter size grows enough to where another chapter on campus wouldn't be a genuine threat to the survival of all the other chapters... I have no problems with another fraternity joining our campus, other than the fact that Greek life here is barely surviving at 3% of 10000 students.

That's not necessarily determinative, though. My alma mater had a similar issue (low Greek turnout), and Pike was able to come on campus and be successful (from what I've heard).

I understand what you're saying, but there can be situations where an extra Greek org could thrive. Then again, you're on campus, and know better than the rest of us if it has room for another fraternity.

[stufield]

Okay, so Fall is here again, and the new academic year has begun.

I see that one new chapter has been chartered ... Pi-Theta at Coastal Carolina University, located at Conway, SC, not far from Myrtle Beach. The IMH Website has not posted anything yet, but I believe that the CSU Chico and PSU Harrisburg colonies are also set for chartering soon, and that the Lambda-Gamma colony at Jacksonville State is likewise set for rechartering. Hopefully, some other colonies will also receive their charters this Fall. There's no point having colonies if they don't progress to chapter status.

Meanwhile, does anyone know the identities of any schools which we will be colonizing or recolonizing this Fall?

[chicostateksig]

so chico state got installed yesterday. and the worthy grand master was there i am happy to be a full on brother of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. They said UC davis will be back next spring and they want to start stuff in UN Reno, UC Merced and University of the Pacific.

[stufield]

chicostateksig:

Congratulations on the installation of your chapter.
How many founding fathers were initiated?
What is your chapter designation, Pi-Iota?

Thanks for the news about, hopefully, the return of UC Davis and possible new colonies at Nevada, UC Merced, and UoP.

As we should have been at Nevada decades ago, a colony there can't come soon enough.

UoP is a first-rate school, another one we should have been at years ago. However, its Greek system is still expanding, so hopefully we WILL colonize there soon.

So with both Neavada and UoP, as it was with Chico, it's better late than never!

I, for one, have never even heard of UC Merced.

[chicostateksig]

Thanks alot i was almost about to cry but i maned up ahah. it felt great bringing or helping in bring KS to our school. I believed it was a perfect time to do so due to beta's absence and we came in. Yet your right this chapter should have been installed during the rigorous expansion period in which half of these fraternities came into campus the 80s. or late 70s. The ritual going through it was special and i will take its teachings at heart. Yet answering what you asked. we had 51 founders. 3 were already initiated, and about 40 were initiated that day some graduated or are studying abroad so they will have to return to be initiated. The chapter is the 325 Pi-Iota chapter.

Uop is perfect for expansion and you previously stated it. Our Grandmaster's brother is going to be a founder of the future Davis Beta-phi colony which should return spring 09. and UC Merced is a great place to start. This is a new University in the prestigious UC school system. There are presently no Greek letter organizations on this campus. I see this campus doing great things like the rest of its UC counterparts, and its a perfect time to get a foothold in the university that just opened its doors 4 years ago. This will make us a big in that campus and start out pretty easily. I hear that Sigma Chi is in the midst of starting a colony. However i cant wait for future expansion another colony in U of Pacific, Davis will make 5 kappa sigma locations in our district. Nu-Lambda, Omicron-Omega, and Pi- Iota with Beta-phi Colony, and Uof P colony would be great.

I forgot to note that Nu-Alpha Chapter at Cal Poly SLO may also return the DGM talked to me about it, they need to clear things out and they may possibly return spring or next fall as well.

Its a really great time to be a Kappa Sigma.

[flffydg9]

I am willing to be an alumni advisor for a colony at UC Riverside, but it looks like it would be a daunting task. There are only about 300 students in 10 fraternities out of a total enrollment of almost 20,000 and growing. There is no alumni chapter in the Inland Empire, although there are in LA and San Diego Counties. Most or all of the existing fraternities at Riverside don't have houses which reduces the incentive to join. The largest fraternity there numbers only 50 men (as it happens, it is a chapter of the nation's second largest fraternity), the minimum required by our National for chartering. The only way I see a Kappa Sig chapter succeeding is strong alumni support from a to-be-created Inland Empire alumni chapter, and a housing corporation. The strongest sorority on campus seems to be the Pi Phis. As it happens they have a house and a strong alumni chapter. My view is that Kappa Sig has the strength to put a chapter anywhere it wants to given the resolve to do so, but National can't do it alone, it's a question of the resolve of the brothers who live in the area. How badly do alumni want a meeting place. I see UC Riverside as a part of a strong presence in Southern California because it's big and geting bigger, and some students transfer to the other college campuses in SoCal from there, and it is well located geographically to support colonization efforts throughout SoCal, there is no place too far from there. They have an undergrad business major there which always seems to be a good source for members.

Is there any interest and support for the idea of starting a chapter out there and becoming the 11th fraternity on the campus and the largest?

[hayden83]

In my District, I have chapters of 20 members on campuses of 25,000 with a total of 100 Greek students, so you're not alone.

There may be an interest group forming at UCR. I will PM you the contact information of our recruitment manager who can help you get connected.

I am willing to be an alumni advisor for a colony at UC Riverside, but it looks like it would be a daunting task. There are only about 300 students in 10 fraternities out of a total enrollment of almost 20,000 and growing... Is there any interest and support for the idea of starting a chapter out there and becoming the 11th fraternity on the campus and the largest?

[als463]

Sorry for crashing but, I felt compelled to leave a message in the Kappa Sigma forum. I hope you all don't mind.

The other night on campus (Penn State Harrisburg-where I am now a Graduate Student) I walked out of class early after a test. I was excited to get a chance to go home early. Generally my Wednesday class is over at 9:15 p.m. and I have an hour and a half drive home from there.

I had gotten done with my test as I walked out to the parking lot. I hopped in my car and my engine wouldn't even turn over. I didn't leave the lights on and I had no idea why it wasn't starting. I freaked out because I was about an hour and a half from home-so, for anyone to even come pick me up-getting home could have been a total of 3 hours when all is said and done.

I quickly hopped out of my car to find someone who was willing to help me try and jump start my car. I carry my own jumper cables and all I needed was someone with a car that worked. I walked around the parking lot until I came upon two young-attractive guys dressed up in suits. I felt bad asking them because they were dressed so nice and obviously had some place to go. As soon as I walked up to their car (because they were hopping out of it) without even having to say a word-they stopped talking and greeted me.

I asked them if they would be willing to help me jump start my car and they were more than happy to help out. I was so thankful. Even though I had an idea how to do it, the one guy took charge of the cables and told me not to worry because he works on cars all the time. After hearing that-that made my night. I went from being tired and ready to go home-after freaking out...to meeting some great guys who were willing to help at the drop of a hat.

Maybe I got lucky because they noticed my hat. Who knows? I forget how it came up but, I began to tell them about how I was in graduate school. The one guy made a comment about how he realized I was most likely there for graduate school because he noticed my Penn State Phi Mu (lettered hat) that I was wearing. I smiled and said, "Oh-are you guys Tekes?" The reason I asked is because from all I knew they were the only IFC/NIC group on campus. They both smiled and said, "No-we are brothers of Kappa Sigma!" We began talking about Greek Life as my car was getting jumped and I took down their names and information so I may send them "thank you" cards and let them know how thankful I am.

Apparently, the guys were dressed up because they had something going on with the fraternity that night-I want to say it was something like a sorority's pinning ceremony (if that's something fraternities do). They were dressed very nice and willing to help me out. Had it not been for them-I would have never made it home. I just wanted to let the brothers of Kappa Sigma know how wonderful their new chapter/ colonization/ expansion is at Penn State Harrisburg because if those two guys are an example of Kappa Sigma brothers on this campus-you will have great pledge classes for years to come!

[chicostateksig]

well we are losing chapters fast too. I believe SDSU is in probation. and UC Santa Barbara is gone. wow that sucks.

[irocz89]

Penn State Harrisburg,, made into Pi Lambda Chapter on November 1st 2008

[stufield]

A New Year's Rant:

The Fraternity did reasonably well with charterings and recharterings in the first half of the 2008-2009 academic year, chartering new chapters at Coastal Carolina University (Pi-Theta), Cal State Chico (Pi-Iota), Bentley College (Pi-Kappa), PSU-Harrisburg (Pi-Kappa), Methodist University (Pi-Mu), Ramapo College of New Jersey (Pi-Nu), and Colorado State University (Pi-Xi), and rechartering at Dickinson College (Beta-Pi) and Jacksonville State University (Lambda-Gamma). Lambda and Gamma-Phi chapters were rechartered at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and West Virginia University, respectively, but I can't recall whether those recharterings occurred prior to or since the commencement of the 2008-2009 academic year.

Unfortunately, four colonies, the Okanagan (i.e., Kelowna) campus of the University of British Columbia, The College of New Jersey, the so-called Colony at South Bend (which was actually at the University of Notre Dame) and, most sadly, the Kappa-Psi recolonization at Villanova University, all folded during the first half of the year, bringing to 34 the number of colonies that have closed in the last three to four years ... an unbelievable number, and clear evidence that the Fraternity is establishing many colonies that never should have been established in the first place. While I suppose one could always advance such platitudes as "noting ventured, nothing gained" and "you'll never know unless you try", the actual fact of the matter is that the status of Greek life, or the absolute lack of any Greek life, and in some cases the absolute opposition of the school administration to the introduction or expansion of Greek life on its campus, meant that about 20 of those 34 colonies were doomed to failure from the outset. The aforesaid South Bend / Notre Dame colony was one of those.

As for new colonies, the fraternity seems to have established ten new colonies in the first half of the current academic year: altogether new colonies at (1) the University of California at San Diego, and (2) Central Michigan University (both are schools at which we should have colonized/chartered 20 to 30 years ago, and at which we have been conspicuously absent ever since); recolonizations of (3) Kappa Chapter at Vanderbilt University, (4) Alpha-Psi Chapter at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, (5) Delta-Nu Chapter at UCLA, (6) Alpha-Alpha Chapter at the University of Maryland, College Park, (7) Epsilon-Rho Chapter at Kent State University, (8) Delta-Gamma Chapter at the University of Wyoming, and (9) Kappa-Iota Chapter at Middle Tennessee State University; and, most recently, (10) another altogether new colony at Texas Women's University. Some of those recolonizations may actually have commenced before the beginning of the current academic year. But as they were not posted on the Fraternity Website until the current year, I'm counting them as having been established this academic year.

It may be that another colony was, or another two or three were, established before school let out for the Holiday Season, and simply has or have not yet been posted on the Website. The Website's postings are not always up to date, and what is posted is often inaccurate. But I understand that the long-anticipated recolonization of Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers University, and an altogether new colony at Florida Gulf Coast University, located in Fort Meyers, may already have been established ... or perhaps soon will be.

The establishment of ten colonies in one-half a school year would ordinarily be a noteworthy expansionary achievement. But in a year when (a) the Fraternity had set an objective of having 300 active chapters and colonies at the time of the 2009 Biennial Grand Conclave this July, (b) had 250 active chapters and colonies at the beginning of the school year, and (c) shortly thereafter closed at least two active chapters (Epsilon-Nu at the University of Southern Mississippi and Epsilon-Theta at the University of California at Santa Barbara), ten colonies falls far short of the desired objective. I know that the Fraternity wanted to have established colonies at a minimum of ten other specific schools by the Holiday Season. Hopefully, those schools will all be colonized in the second half of the academic year, although I suspect that some of those specific projects have failed. But even IF those ten other schools ARE colonized, and all the present colonies and active chapters are still active in July (a most unlikely prospect, given the penchant of the SEC for closing chapters and the high failure/closure rate of our colonies, in large part because many of them are at schools where they have little or no chance of ultimate success), that would still leave the Fraternity over 30 chapters and colonies shy of the 300 mark. That objective was totally unrealistic when it was set, and it clearly now unattainable. In fact, the most recent issue of The Caduceus does not even mention it, and I suspect we will never read another word about the "300 by Conclave" objective. The Fraternity simply is not going to establish 40 new colonies between now and July, and close no chapters or colonies.

Having mentioned the Texas Women's University colony, I would be astounded if it survives. It is just the latest example of the Fraternity establishing colonies at schools with no fraternity system, either never having had one or once having had one but every previous fraternity at the school having failed, or with just one or two other fraternities with low campus presence ... colonies with little or no prospect of success. Meanwhile, there are over 250 schools throughout the USA and Canada with well-established Greek systems at which the Fraternity is presently unrepresented (over 50 of these are schools at which we have a dormant/inactive chapter) and at which a Kappa Sigma chapter would thus have a much better chance of succeeding, if a colony could first be established there. Of course, many of those schools are closed to further expansion at this time. At some other schools, the fraternity system is expanding, various fraternities have been invited to make presentations for acceptance as the next fraternity to expand to that school, and Kappa Sigma either was not invited to make a presentation or did make one but was subsequently not selected. But for the most part, Kappa Sigma remains on the outside looking in at these schools because the Fraternity's present expansionary plan ... if one could even call it a plan ... is NOT to target specific schools where the Order is conspicuously absent and to attempt to expand there, but instead to 'take what comes', to only deal with interest groups who approach the Fraternity about possibly becoming a colony/ chapter, and with alumni who want to see a return of their dormant chapter. So the Fraternity receives solicitations from interest groups at all sorts of schools, many of which are obscure, minor schools that almost nobody has ever heard of, that have no fraternity system on campus, that would not enhance the Fraternity's status much even if a colony were to be established and ultimately chartered. Look at the list of present colonies and the schools in the Xi, Omicron, and Pi chapter series and you will see what I mean. Chapters and colonies at a number of schools that most of us have never even heard of, let alone that would advance a fratenity's reputation. Texas Women's University is the latest of these. Yet just in the State of Texas alone, we have at least four inactive chapters that could be recolonized (the University of Texas at Arlington [which the Fraternity has been attempting to return to, and may even recolonize this school year], Texas A & M, Kingsville [formerly Texas A & I], West Texas A & M [formerly West Texas State], and St. Mary's University), there are at least three other public universities with well-established Greek systems (Tarleton State University, Angelo State University, and Texas A & M, Corpus Christi) and a few other private schools with established Greek systems (Houston Baptist University, Schreiner University, and the University of the Incarnate Word) at which we have never had a colony or chapter. But rather than actively seek to colonize those schools, we instead colonize Texas Women's University, which has no fraternities, because a group from there approached the Fraternity. I'm sure nobody at IMH know it, but Phi Kappa Psi had a colony there about five years ago. It flopped miserably. Anyway, such are the vagaries of the Fraternity's curious expansion policy, such as it is or if one even exists.

The rationale for this is that the fraternity gets approached by so many interested groups that it does not need to actively attempt to establish interest groups or colonies, and can just sit back and deal with those groups that approach us. But this policy does not take into account the iffy nature of so many of the schools where these groups are located, and the fact that few of these approaches actually materialize into an actual colony ... thus, as aforesaid, only three altogether new colonies this past half-year. Meanwhile, the Fraternity continues to be unrepresented at so many schools with strong Greek systems that we should be a part of, but at which we not only are not a part of, but are not even trying to be a part of unless some interest group approaches us. As a result, the Fraternity has only one active chapter in the entire State of Illinois, only four in Indiana, three in Michigan (but happily, the new colony at Central Michigan, if it survives), four in Ohio, one in West Virginia, to name just a few States where we are seriously underrepresented (the Fraternity is seriously underrepresented throughout the entire Northeast and Midwest; yet see how few colonies we have in those regions; but instead of actively attempting to expand the number of those schools, the Fraternity sits back and takes what comes to it).

Here is another example of the Fraternity's goofy expansionary practices. We have a chapter as far away from the Fraternity's founding and headquarters location at Charlottesville, Virginia, as the University of Hawaii, and a colony equally as far away as the University of Alaska at Anchorage. The Fraternity has had chapters in all 48 other States (although there are presently three such States in which we have no chapters or colonies, and are just barely hanging on in a couple of others), and in three Canadian Provinces. Yet there are two universities within an hour or so's drive of Charlottesville with well-established Greek systems at which we have NEVER had even a colony, let alone an active chapter: Longwood University, in Longwood, just a mile or two from Upsilon Chapter at Hampden-Sydney College, and Lynchburg College, in Lynchburg (beautiful campus). Yet several other fraternities, some with no historical connection to the State of Virginia and with half the number of chapters as Kappa Sigma has, have chapters at one or both of those schools ... right under our proverbial noses, in our figurative back yard! How can the Fraternity allow that to have happened and to continue to happen? One would think that the Fraternity's very first expansionary priority would be to actively colonize both those schools, located so close to our mother chapter and International HQ. Yet year after year passes, and still no Kappa Sigma chapter at either school ... or at Old Dominion University, another, more prominent, Virginia school at which Kappa Sigma has never had a colony or chapter. But sure enough, we've had colonies at such little-known and far-flung schools as Eastern Oregon University, Southwestern College, Wayne State College, West Liberty State College, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, UBC Okanagan, none of which had a ghost of a chance of succeeding. Meanwhile, Sigma Nu, which was also founded in Virginia (at VMI) has chapters at BOTH Longwood AND Lynchburg, which makes perfect sense. Apparently too much sense for Kappa Sigma. I was told in September that we have (had?) a VERY STRONG interest group at Lynchburg (again, the Fraternity waiting to be approached by a group, rather than going out and starting one as we did until a few years ago). Yet even apparently with a strong interest group at Lynchburg, and despite its proximity to Charlottesville, still no colony there.

In South Carolina, a State with a strong Kappa Sigma presence, we have no less than seven active chapters, as well as an inactive chapter at Clemson, which the SEC closed with considerable rancour and resulting hard feelings. Yet we have never had a chapter at Furman University, one of the best small, private colleges in the South, and which has had a fraternity system for over 100 years. This is a school at which we should already have had 1,000, 1,200, or more initiates over those 100 years, just as we have had at such comparable regional schools as Davidson, Mercer, and Wofford. Yet it is now 2009 and we still have no presence at Furman (and have never even had a colony there in the 40+ years that I have been following the Fraternity's expansion ... or lack thereof). One would think that Furman is another prime example of a school to which the Fraternity is actively and aggressively seeking to expand. But no, we are waiting year after year for some group to approach us.

Well that is enough raving to start the New Year. Here's hoping that the first few months of 2009 see a rash of new colonies and recolonizations. Chicostateksig's Fall postings referred to new colonies at the University of the Pacific and the new Merced campus of the University of California, as well as a recolonization of Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Davis. No evidence as yet of any of those colonies; hopefully we'll see them all this Spring.

If anybody does know of any other expansionary prospects for this year, I'd love to hear about them.

[stufield]

The month of January has no passed, and not much seems to have happened expansion-wise.

The one especially positive development is that the long-anticipated recolonization of Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers University, referred to in the fourth paragraph of my January 2nd posting, evidently HAS formally occurred, as the Gamma-Upsilon Colony is now included in the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website.

Two other positive events, though they are not strictly expansions, but rather successful completions of prior recolonizations, are that the Kappa and Mu-Omega Chapters at Vanderbilt and Southeastern Louisiana Universities, respectively, have now been restored.

Unfortunately, however, the only other new expansion shown on the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website is an altogether new colony at the Brooklyn College unit of CUNY, the City University of New York. This is another example of the Fraternity expanding to a school that has no, or, in this instance, almost no pre-existing fraternity system, as opposed to a school with a well-established fraternity system with a variety of fraternities. The only other fraternities at Brooklyn College are Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Zeta Beta Tau, all predominantly Jewish in membership, and tiny Alpha Delta Phi. So this may be another example of the fraternity colonizing at a school at which it has little or not chance of long-term success, as it has done so many times in recent years, or a great opportunity for Kappa Sigma to establish itself at a school where it has little competition for members, and thus perhaps a chance to establish itself successfully. I suppose that only time will tell. To me this is another example of the Fraternity's second-rate,'take what comes along' expansion policy, which brings us colonies at many schools where there is little likelihood of long-term success and that do little to advance the Fraternity's stature, instead of actively pursuing colonies at prominent schools with established Greek systems at which Kappa Sigma is notably absent. In NYC, other fraternities expand or return to NYU (where we have a dormant Gamma-Zeta Chapter, founded in 1905, inactive since 1974) and Columbia University (where we have never had a chapter); Kappa Sigma expands to Brooklyn College. It IS a good school, with an attractive and growing campus, a good reputation, and an increasing enrollment. L just don't see a chapter there succeeding long-term. However, I'd love to be wrong.

Perhaps some other colonies have been established but just are not yet listed on the Fraternity Website. Perhaps there is a flurry of expansionary activity going on out there that just has not yet manifested itself in the formal establishment of colonies. If anyone is aware of any such new colonies or expansionary activity, please share what you know or have been told.

[LucyKKG]

I heard whispers of a Kappa Sigma colony starting at UC Santa Cruz. We'll see!

[stufield]

That would be terrific. Another northern California chapter would be a very welcome addition to the chapter roll.

Theta Chi has had a chapter at UCSC for years, and Sigma Pi just chartered there in January. There may be one or two other fraternities there as well ... LucyKKG do you know what fraternities presently have active chapters at UCSC?

Hopefully there are still enough unaffiliated men on the UCSC campus who would be willing to join a new fraternity that a Kappa Sigma colony/chapter there would prosper. Or perhaps there is a strong local fraternity that is looking to 'go national'.

[NinjaPoodle]

That would be terrific. Another northern California chapter would be a very welcome addition to the chapter roll.

Theta Chi has had a chapter at UCSC for years, and Sigma Pi just chartered there in January. There may be one or two other fraternities there as well ... LucyKKG do you know what fraternities presently have active chapters at UCSC?

Hopefully there are still enough unaffiliated men on the UCSC campus who would be willing to join a new fraternity that a Kappa Sigma colony/chapter there would prosper. Or perhaps there is a strong local fraternity that is looking to 'go national'.

I heard whispers of a Kappa Sigma colony starting at UC Santa Cruz. We'll see!

Pardon me for crashing but..
The Academy of Art University in San Francisco has an active colony. I met some of the guys the other night and they are really pumped about being the 1st national fraternity at the school but also being the first Kappa Sigma chapter in San Francisco. They don't' have a website yet but here is the link on the school website: http://my.academyart.edu/case/clubs.html
and a link on the national Kappa Sigma website: http://www.kappasigma.org/chaptersByState.php?state=CA

[LucyKKG]

That would be terrific. Another northern California chapter would be a very welcome addition to the chapter roll.

Theta Chi has had a chapter at UCSC for years, and Sigma Pi just chartered there in January. There may be one or two other fraternities there as well ... LucyKKG do you know what fraternities presently have active chapters at UCSC?

Hopefully there are still enough unaffiliated men on the UCSC campus who would be willing to join a new fraternity that a Kappa Sigma colony/chapter there would prosper. Or perhaps there is a strong local fraternity that is looking to 'go national'.
Oh woah, that's crazy that you know that. I mean, not that crazy. Anyway, Theta Chi is still very active (60+ members) and Sigma Pi is thriving and brand spanking new. I went to their reception after their chartering. We have an AEPi chapter, but they're not very active. The other NIC members here are cultural orgs (Lambda Phi Epsilon, Phi Iota Alpha, and Sigma Lambda Beta) + local orgs.

ETA: I saw flyers for someone trying to start a SAM colony last quarter, but they're not registered with the school, so I don't know what happened to them.

As far as having enough unaffiliated men here...I don't know! I'm sure they'll pop up. Santa Cruz is generally not very friendly towards Greeks, but my chapter and Sigma Pi have managed to start up and thrive, so I'm expecting good things.

[nate2512]

Oh woah, that's crazy that you know that. I mean, not that crazy. Anyway, Theta Chi is still very active (60+ members) and Sigma Pi is thriving and brand spanking new. I went to their reception after their chartering. We have an AEPi chapter, but they're not very active. The other NIC members here are cultural orgs (Lambda Phi Epsilon, Phi Iota Alpha, and Sigma Lambda Beta) + local orgs.

ETA: I saw flyers for someone trying to start a SAM colony last quarter, but they're not registered with the school, so I don't know what happened to them.

As far as having enough unaffiliated men here...I don't know! I'm sure they'll pop up. Santa Cruz is generally not very friendly towards Greeks, but my chapter and Sigma Pi have managed to start up and thrive, so I'm expecting good things.

If we're over here following Sig Pi and Theta Chi around, I think we're in the wrong business.

[KSigkid]

Pardon me for crashing but..
The Academy of Art University in San Francisco has an active colony. I met some of the guys the other night and they are really pumped about being the 1st national fraternity at the school but also being the first Kappa Sigma chapter in San Francisco. They don't' have a website yet but here is the link on the school website: http://my.academyart.edu/case/clubs.html
and a link on the national Kappa Sigma website: http://www.kappasigma.org/chaptersByState.php?state=CA

Have you heard whether the school is welcoming of a fraternity on campus? I with the guys luck, hopefully the school is willing to work with them (rather than treat them as an unwanted group).

Good luck to the Santa Cruz colony as well - coming from a campus that wasn't very welcoming to Greek Life (at least until I was a senior), I know how much of a struggle it can be to get momentum.

[stufield]

KSigkid posted

"Good luck to the Santa Cruz colony ..."

Good luck indeed IF a colony there materializes. Note that Lucy KKG simply posted that she had just heard a rumour ... not even that, "whispers" ... of a possible Kappa Sig colony. Whispers of a possible colony is far short of a colony actually getting off the ground. Over a year ago, chicostateksig advised that he had heard rumours of new Kappa Sig colonies at the University of the Pacific and the University of California at Merced, and a recolonization of presently inactive/dormant Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Dsvis. To date, none of those colonies have been established. So a UC Santa Cruz colony may not be in the works at all.

[LucyKKG]

KSigkid posted

"Good luck to the Santa Cruz colony ..."

Good luck indeed IF a colony there materializes. Note that Lucy KKG simply posted that she had just heard a rumour ... not even that, "whispers" ... of a possible Kappa Sig colony. Whispers of a possible colony is far short of a colony actually getting off the ground. Over a year ago, chicostateksig advised that he had heard rumours of new Kappa Sig colonies at the University of the Pacific and the University of California at Merced, and a recolonization of presently inactive/dormant Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Dsvis. To date, none of those colonies have been established. So a UC Santa Cruz colony may not be in the works at all.
Well, there's a Facebook group, and I've seen a few events announced. I'm just not sure what their status is with Kappa Sigma HQ or my school's office for student orgs. We don't have an office for Greek life, so they wouldn't know anything about it. I know there's the intent, I'm just not sure how far along everything is.

[NinjaPoodle]

Have you heard whether the school is welcoming of a fraternity on campus? I with the guys luck, hopefully the school is willing to work with them (rather than treat them as an unwanted group).

Good luck to the Santa Cruz colony as well - coming from a campus that wasn't very welcoming to Greek Life (at least until I was a senior), I know how much of a struggle it can be to get momentum.

So far so good. :)

[chicostateksig]

KSigkid posted

"Good luck to the Santa Cruz colony ..."

Good luck indeed IF a colony there materializes. Note that Lucy KKG simply posted that she had just heard a rumour ... not even that, "whispers" ... of a possible Kappa Sig colony. Whispers of a possible colony is far short of a colony actually getting off the ground. Over a year ago, chicostateksig advised that he had heard rumours of new Kappa Sig colonies at the University of the Pacific and the University of California at Merced, and a recolonization of presently inactive/dormant Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Dsvis. To date, none of those colonies have been established. So a UC Santa Cruz colony may not be in the works at all.

Davis is in fact going to recolonize soon our recruitment manager has told us that work is already being under way. of course this can take a while. They have to start an interest group a couple guys have already been recruited. one of the brothers has a blood brother in Davis that is going to re-colonize the Beta-Phi chapter. As for UoP nothing yet, Merced nothing as well. On a final note the Academy of the Art Colony is going to get its charter. It has not acquired 50 men however since they are the only fraternity on their campus they can get chartered. We may be one of the teams that initiates them.

[stufield]

Thanks for the update ChicoState.

I am very pleased to hear that the recolonization of Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Davis is still planned to proceed in the near future. Hopefully the colony will be in place by the end of the school year, otherwise that it is established early next Fall.

I am disappointed that you have no word on UoP and UC Merced, especially the former. Did your ARM say anything at all about UoP? It is a quality school with a beautiful campus, just the sort of institution at which Kappa Sigma SHOULD have a chapter but all too often does not .... and in many cases probably never will, because the Fraternity did not take a proactive role in seeking to expand there while other fraternities did, a few years pass, and lo and behold the school is saturated with fraternities, has the maximum number of chapters that its student body will support, perhaps even two or three too many, meaning that there will be some closures, and all the while Kappa Sigma remains on the proverbial 'outside looking in'. I can name three or four dozen, perhaps more, schools throughout the continent where that has happened, where Kappa Sigma has been, remains, and likely will continue to remain conspicuously absent. I sure hope that UoP will not become one of them. We should have been there decades ago. But its Greek system is still slowly expanding. So perhaps a Kappa Sigma chapter there is still a viable possibility if the Fraternity does not delay too long in attempting to colonize there. The problem, of course, is the Fraternity's current passive policy towards expansion. It does not target desirable schools, and proactively attempt to expand there. Instead, it sits back and waits for groups from various schools to contact it ... without regard to how prominent the school might be, whether or not it already has a Greek system, how strong that system is if it does exist, and so on. The result: all sorts of colonies at minor schools that do little to enhance the Fraternity's position and image as a leading fraternity, and many of which are doomed to failure from the outset (35 colonies closed in the last four years, an astounding number), and still no presence at a large number of major and mid-major schools with Greek systems where the Fraternity has never been represented. To date, UoP is one of them. Farther south in California, Pepperdine is another, although a couple of years ago we did have very short-lived colony there. UCSD was another; we should have been there 20 to 30 years ago; at least we finally do have a colony there; hopefully it will succeed. But UoP reamins the major expansionary target school in California.

I am one of those who is very sceptical about the long-term prospect of success of a chapter at the Academy of Art University. I just do not see an art school as the type of institution that is conducive to Greek life or that would be conducive to it for any length of time. I am also generally sceptical about the prospects of ongoing success of any fraternity or sorority at any school where it is the only Greek organization on campus ... where there is, in effect, no Greek system. Kappa Sigma has colonized at a number of such schools in the past three to four years, and most of those colonies have closed. The colony at Bellarmine University, a small Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky, which had/has no other fraternities, is the most recent of those closures. It was just removed from the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website this week. But some other such Kappa Sig colonies have progressed to chartering, such as those at Thompson Rivers University (Omicron-Theta), the University of Lethbridge (Omicron-Xi), LSU-Alexandria (Pi-Alpha), Johnson & Wales - Miami (Pi-Gamma), and Johnson & Wales - Charlotte (Pi-Zeta), to name just a few. Time will tell whether or not they continue to survive. The crisis period is usually four or five years after chartering, when the founding fathers, with all their enthusiasm, dedication, and determination, have all graduated; the challenge is continuing to recruit new members who have the same zeal and commitment. Many fraternity chapters just wither away and eventually close just a few years after the founding fathers graduate. They initiate and pledge eight or ten fellows for a year or two, then just five or six, then just a couple, and membership shrinks to unsustainably low numbers; meanwhile, of course, the chapter's presence and influence on campus diminishes accordingly. The best thing that can happen with chapters that begin as the only fraternity on campus is that the chapter stimulates a wider interest in Greek life on its campus, and one or more other fraternities and/or sororities then also establish interest groups-colonies-chapters there, so that a Greek system emerges and Greek life becomes an entrenched part of campus life. I, for one, just do not see that happening at a school like Academy of Art University, in a city like San Francisco. I would love to be proven wrong, but if our colony there does indeed receive a charter, I will be very surprised if it is still an active chapter five or six years thereafter. The fraternity should have a chapter in San Francisco; I just think that a chapter at San Francisco State, which has other fraternities and thus and established Greek system, even if it is a small one, has a better chance of long-term success than does a chapter at AAU.

Now to contradict myself somewhat. There ARE some fraternity chapters that survive, even flourish, as the only fraternity chapter on their respective campuses. Every fraternity has a chapter or two like this. Our Nu-Gamma Chapter at Pratt Institute in NYC is one. I gave it virtually no chance of long-term success. But it was chartered in January, 1990, and thus has survived for 19 years now ... in fact, it has thrived for much of that time. So what do I know? But if a chapter at Academy of Art University on the other side of the continent can do likewise, I will be truly amazed.

[chicostateksig]

Our ARM has created a few facebook groups for Kappa Sigma in UoP as well as Cal Poly (Which may start this spring as well, one of our members who was in it our colony will re-colonize at cal poly). but i also agree, i doubt AAU chapter will flourish or any greek life there at all. In California we should have been in Chico years ago (1980') as all the biggest chapters in our campus were started in the 80's. UCSD should have had a chapter by now. Personally i think santa clare university, Uof SF, Pepperdine ( they however have strict control on allowing expansion) and CSU San Marcos which has potential to become or have a great greek system should have chapters. Unfortuanatly UCSB soon after the founders re-established the chapter closed down its doors. I hope that our chapter shall not suffer the same fate. Many fraternities on our campus have sat still and have let us slowly take over. Delta Chi unfortuantly is struggling and is reorganizing its chapter, Beta Theta Pi has closed its doors in chico. Both of these chapters were top houses when we were freshman 3 years ago. I would honestly rank our fraternity in the top 3, we really just need to get a house. Our expansion has also caught interest in Pi Kappa Alpha which is said to start a colony at the Chico State Campus this month. So if the members of our chapter decided to mess around after we the founders leave its going to be hard to come back. However i have faith that this chapter will still be here 50 plus years from now.

[KSigkid]

KSigkid posted

"Good luck to the Santa Cruz colony ..."

Good luck indeed IF a colony there materializes. Note that Lucy KKG simply posted that she had just heard a rumour ... not even that, "whispers" ... of a possible Kappa Sig colony. Whispers of a possible colony is far short of a colony actually getting off the ground. Over a year ago, chicostateksig advised that he had heard rumours of new Kappa Sig colonies at the University of the Pacific and the University of California at Merced, and a recolonization of presently inactive/dormant Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Dsvis. To date, none of those colonies have been established. So a UC Santa Cruz colony may not be in the works at all.

As a former GM, GS and AAA of my collegiate chapter, I'm quite aware of the colonization process, having talked extensively with the Founding Fathers of the chapter. Thanks for the clarification, but I understood Lucy KKG's post quite clearly, and was merely wishing luck to those who were contemplating starting a chapter.

ETA: As I noted before, if you have some issue with my posting, etc., I'd appreciate it if you PMd me.

[stufield]

Nobody was suggesting that you are or are not "aware of the colonization process" and I don't think that anybody has any issues with your postings. But wishing good luck to a colony [which does not even yet exist and may never exist] is much different than wishing good luck to those who are or might be contemplating trying to start one. The latter clearly comes before the former. But thank you for clarifying the intention of your initial posting.

As for my posting, I just wanted to be sure that anybody who read your posting ,perhaps without having read the prior postings or without having read them carefully, did not form the mistaken idea that Kappa Sigma now has a colony at UC Santa Cruz.

[stufield]

More colony and chapter losses:

As stated in my February 18th posting, the colony at Bellarmine University was recently closed.

Also, the SEC has also recently closed Gamma-Kappa Chapter at the University of Oklahoma for unspecified "rules violations". Gamma-Kappa had been in continuous existence since receiving its charter in June, 1906, and is the chapter of former Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens.

In its customary 'head in the sand', 'we never post anything negative', 'even though you are fraternity members we don't think you have the right to know' modus operandi, IMH has not announced the Oklahoma closure or explained what rules were violated. Gamma-Kappa has just quietly been removed from the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website, as were Epsilon-Nu at Southern Mississippi and Epsilon-Theta at UCSB earlier in the school year. Likewise, of course, no announcement of the Bellarmine colony closure or reasons given; it, too, simply vanished from the lists.

In the last decade or so, the SEC has closed a number of chapters at the flagship universities of their respective States, including Gamma at LSU, Tau at Texas, Beta at Alabama/Tuscaloosa, Lambda at Tennessee/Knoxville, Alpha-Alpha at Maryland/College Park, Alpha-Delta at Penn State, Alpha-Lambda at Vermont, Alpha-Upsilon at Nebraska/Lincoln, Beta-Kappa at New Hampshire, Beta-Rho at Iowa, Delta-Gamma at Wyoming, Delta-Delta at Florida, Delta-Zeta at New Mexico, Delta-Xi at Ole Miss, Delta-Sigma at Utah, Gamma-Alpha at Oregon, Gamma-Phi at West Virgina, Gamma-Tau at Colorado, and Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers ... an amazing number of closures of the foremost public universities in their respective States ... and I may even have missed one or two!

LSU, Texas, Alabama/Tuscaloosa, Tennessee/Knoxville, Vermont, Florida, Ole Miss, West Virgina, and Colorado have since been recolonized and rechartered, and all are apparently thriving.

Hopefully, Gamma-Kappa will spend a minimum amount of time in SEC-imposed Kappa Sig purgatory and return a stronger chapter.

Maryland/College Park, Penn State, Nebraska/Lincoln, Wyoming, Utah, and Rutgers have been recolonized and still are present colonies. Penn State and Utah have been colonies for some time now, and I would have expected them to have been rechartered by now. So they may be struggling with low membership. I sure hope not, and hope to see them rechartered before the end of the present school year.

We remain conspicuously absent at New Hampshire and Iowa. UNH is especially sad because Kappa Sigma was the first fraternity to charter there, and for many decades was one of the dominant fraternities on campus. Kappa Sig is seriously underrepresented in both New England and the Midwest, so the return of Beta-Kappa and Beta-Rho Chapters would be significant expansionary accomplishments.

[KSigkid]

More colony and chapter losses:

As stated in my February 18th posting, the colony at Bellarmine University was recently closed.

Also, the SEC has also recently closed Gamma-Kappa Chapter at the University of Oklahoma for unspecified "rules violations". Gamma-Kappa had been in continuous existence since receiving its charter in June, 1906, and is the chapter of former Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens.

In its customary 'head in the sand', 'we never post anything negative', 'even though you are fraternity members we don't think you have the right to know' modus operandi, IMH has not announced the Oklahoma closure or explained what rules were violated. Gamma-Kappa has just quietly been removed from the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website, as were Epsilon-Nu at Southern Mississippi and Epsilon-Theta at UCSB earlier in the school year. Likewise, of course, no announcement of the Bellarmine colony closure or reasons given; it, too, simply vanished from the lists.

In the last decade or so, the SEC has closed a number of chapters at the flagship universities of their respective States, including Gamma at LSU, Tau at Texas, Beta at Alabama/Tuscaloosa, Lambda at Tennessee/Knoxville, Alpha-Alpha at Maryland/College Park, Alpha-Delta at Penn State, Alpha-Lambda at Vermont, Alpha-Upsilon at Nebraska/Lincoln, Beta-Kappa at New Hampshire, Beta-Rho at Iowa, Delta-Gamma at Wyoming, Delta-Delta at Florida, Delta-Zeta at New Mexico, Delta-Xi at Ole Miss, Delta-Sigma at Utah, Gamma-Alpha at Oregon, Gamma-Phi at West Virgina, Gamma-Tau at Colorado, and Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers ... an amazing number of closures of the foremost public universities in their respective States ... and I may even have missed one or two!

LSU, Texas, Alabama/Tuscaloosa, Tennessee/Knoxville, Vermont, Florida, Ole Miss, West Virgina, and Colorado have since been recolonized and rechartered, and all are apparently thriving.

Hopefully, Gamma-Kappa will spend a minimum amount of time in SEC-imposed Kappa Sig purgatory and return a stronger chapter.

Maryland/College Park, Penn State, Nebraska/Lincoln, Wyoming, Utah, and Rutgers have been recolonized and still are present colonies. Penn State and Utah have been colonies for some time now, and I would have expected them to have been rechartered by now. So they may be struggling with low membership. I sure hope not, and hope to see them rechartered before the end of the present school year.

We remain conspicuously absent at New Hampshire and Iowa. UNH is especially sad because Kappa Sigma was the first fraternity to charter there, and for many decades was one of the dominant fraternities on campus. Kappa Sig is seriously underrepresented in both New England and the Midwest, so the return of Beta-Kappa and Beta-Rho Chapters would be significant expansionary accomplishments.

There was a presence in New Hampshire when I was an undergrad (New Hampshire College, later Southern New Hampshire); I'm unsure when the chapter closed. There are some good stories coming out of New England; the UConn and MIT chapters have been gaining strength over the years, Northeastern has been doing well for quite a while, and my old chapter (Mu-Psi at Boston U.) had its biggest fall class ever this past fall.

That said, New England is a weird area; there are a lot of colleges (especially in Boston), but a number of them have anti-Greek administrations. Maybe that will change in time; my alma mater has become more open to Greeks over the past few years.

[Don03]

Our ARM has created a few facebook groups for Kappa Sigma in UoP as well as Cal Poly (Which may start this spring as well, one of our members who was in it our colony will re-colonize at cal poly). but i also agree, i doubt AAU chapter will flourish or any greek life there at all. In California we should have been in Chico years ago (1980') as all the biggest chapters in our campus were started in the 80's. UCSD should have had a chapter by now. Personally i think santa clare university, Uof SF, Pepperdine ( they however have strict control on allowing expansion) and CSU San Marcos which has potential to become or have a great greek system should have chapters. Unfortuanatly UCSB soon after the founders re-established the chapter closed down its doors. I hope that our chapter shall not suffer the same fate. Many fraternities on our campus have sat still and have let us slowly take over. Delta Chi unfortuantly is struggling and is reorganizing its chapter, Beta Theta Pi has closed its doors in chico. Both of these chapters were top houses when we were freshman 3 years ago. I would honestly rank our fraternity in the top 3, we really just need to get a house. Our expansion has also caught interest in Pi Kappa Alpha which is said to start a colony at the Chico State Campus this month. So if the members of our chapter decided to mess around after we the founders leave its going to be hard to come back. However i have faith that this chapter will still be here 50 plus years from now.

We're closing in on becoming a chapter down here at UCSD and hoping to bring in at least twenty in the spring so we can hit fifty total.
We're excited especially because we want to do so before our current GM graduates.:)

[stufield]

"There are some good stories coming out of New England; the UConn and MIT chapters have been gaining strength over the years, Northeastern has been doing well for quite a while, and my old chapter (Mu-Psi at Boston U.) had its biggest fall class ever this past fall."

Yes, the few chapters that we do have in New England all seem to be doing quite well. The three older Boston-area chapters (MIT, BU, and Northeastern) are all very strong (Northeastern is on of the entire Fraternity's strongest chapter, and easily the most dominant fraternity chapter at NU). Epsilon-Zeta at UConn has also been a strong chapter in recent years. The new Pi-Kappa Chapter apparently is also very strong on the Bentley College campus even though it lacks formal recognition from the school's administration and/or its IFC. Psi Chapter at the University of Maine is not as strong a chapter, but does seem to hold its own at Orono. All of which makes me wonder why the Fraternity does not have more New England chapters.

We did recently have another Boston area chapter, Omicron-Delta, at Suffolk University. It was chartered in April, 2005. But it survived for just a few months before being closed ... I heard a rumour that it was for hazing ... and I have not heard anything about any move to recolonize there. KSigkid do you know anything about the Suffolk situation?

On the positive side, Alpha-Kappa Chapter at Vermont was recently rechartered, and we now have a colony at Sacred Heart University, which is located in Bridgeport, Connecticut ... I understand it is a local fraternity, and the SHU Greek system is going [inter]national. There are other, more prominent schools in Connecticut with well-established Greek systems that would probably be preferable expansionary objectives ... the University of Hartford, Central Connecticut State, the University of New Haven [we had a short-lived colony there about15 years ago] ... but given that we presently have just the one chapter in Connecticut and so few chapters elsewhere in New England, any expansion in Connecticut is welcome. Still, only one active colony in all of New England is pretty lame.

There certainly are a number of other schools in New England with well-established Greek systems. But the Fraternity is not being proactive about expanding to any of them, and instead passively awaits inquiries from interested individuals or groups at whatever schools they happen to attend. At the very least, the Fraternity SHOULD be PROACTIVELY attempting to restore the dormant Beta-Kappa and Gamma-Delta Chapters at UNH and UMass, respectively. Kappa Sigma once had strong chapters at both those flagship schools of their respective States. Ex-NFLers Greg Landry and Milt Morin were UMass Kappa Sigs.

[stufield]

We're closing in on becoming a chapter down here at UCSD and hoping to bring in at least twenty in the spring so we can hit fifty total.
We're excited especially because we want to do so before our current GM graduates.:)

Good to see you join this forum Don03. We're glad to read positive news about the UCSD colony.

What can you advise us about your competition in the fraternity system at UCSD at this time? What other fraternities presently have chapters there (I know that several have chartered and closed, some of which have then rechartered, over the past 20 years), and which of them are strong, which are struggling? Any accurate information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[KSigkid]

"There are some good stories coming out of New England; the UConn and MIT chapters have been gaining strength over the years, Northeastern has been doing well for quite a while, and my old chapter (Mu-Psi at Boston U.) had its biggest fall class ever this past fall."

Yes, the few chapters that we do have in New England all seem to be doing quite well. The three older Boston-area chapters (MIT, BU, and Northeastern) are all very strong (Northeastern is on of the entire Fraternity's strongest chapter, and easily the most dominant fraternity chapter at NU). Epsilon-Zeta at UConn has also been a strong chapter in recent years. The new Pi-Kappa Chapter apparently is also very strong on the Bentley College campus even though it lacks formal recognition from the school's administration and/or its IFC. Psi Chapter at the University of Maine is not as strong a chapter, but does seem to hold its own at Orono. All of which makes me wonder why the Fraternity does not have more New England chapters.

We did recently have another Boston area chapter, Omicron-Delta, at Suffolk University. It was chartered in April, 2005. But it survived for just a few months before being closed ... I heard a rumour that it was for hazing ... and I have not heard anything about any move to recolonize there. KSigkid do you know anything about the Suffolk situation?

I don't know what happened to the Suffolk colony. I heard lots of good things, as I had friends and chapter brothers who were heavily involved with the colony. Then, all of a sudden, I stopped hearing updates.

On the positive side, Alpha-Kappa Chapter at Vermont was recently rechartered, and we now have a colony at Sacred Heart University, which is located in Bridgeport, Connecticut ... I understand it is a local fraternity, and the SHU Greek system is going [inter]national. There are other, more prominent schools in Connecticut with well-established Greek systems that would probably be preferable expansionary objectives ... the University of Hartford, Central Connecticut State, the University of New Haven [we had a short-lived colony there about15 years ago] ... but given that we presently have just the one chapter in Connecticut and so few chapters elsewhere in New England, any expansion in Connecticut is welcome. Still, only one active colony in all of New England is pretty lame.

There certainly are a number of other schools in New England with well-established Greek systems. But the Fraternity is not being proactive about expanding to any of them, and instead passively awaits inquiries from interested individuals or groups at whatever schools they happen to attend. At the very least, the Fraternity SHOULD be PROACTIVELY attempting to restore the dormant Beta-Kappa and Gamma-Delta Chapters at UNH and UMass, respectively. Kappa Sigma once had strong chapters at both those flagship schools of their respective States. Ex-NFLers Greg Landry and Milt Morin were UMass Kappa Sigs.

Actually Sacred Heart is in Fairfield, not Bridgeport. It's a fairly large school, over 5000 people, although I'm not sure of the strength of the Greek system. I grew up in CT (and am back here for law school), but I only knew one person who ended up at Sacred Heart (he played football and didn't rush a Greek org). Central Connecticut is mostly a commuter school, so I'm not sure it's the right environment to colonize. Same thing with the University of New Haven, despite the history with the school.

Wasn't there a UMass colony recently, or at least talk of a UMass colony?

[stufield]

Thanks for the correction on the SHU location. I looked ion my Rand-McNAlly Road atlas and it appeared to me to be in Bridgeport. In fact, when I look again, it still does. But since I received your e-mail, I checked the school's website and it is indeed located in Fairfield. Interesting fact, tied in to you statement that it is a fairly large school: according to its website, SHU is the second largest Catholic university in New England. I assume that Boston College is the largest. It seems like a good school to be at. So hopefully our colony there will succeed.

CCSU may be a commuter school, but I know that Phi Delta Theta has an active chapter there. The Phi Delts are also one of several fraternities with active chapters at the University of Hartford. However, I also know that the Tekes had a chapter at CCSU,a and it closed. So the Phi Delt chapter there may or may not survive.

New Haven may also be a commute school, but Delta Chi has had a chapter there since 1981 and Sigma Chi has a chapter there as well. There are also a couple of locals.

We did have an interest group at Quinnipiac University at the beginning of the current school year (I believe it started late in the 2007-2008 school year), and I was informed by two different IMH sources that both it and Sacred Heart would be colonies before the end of 2008. Neither made it by then, but at least SHU is now a colony. I have made follow-up inquiries about the Quinnipiac group, but have not received a reply. So I don't know what is happening there.

No, unfortunately, there has been no UMass colony. There has been some talk of one in the past year or two, as the UMass administration is now actively supportive of fraternities and looking to expand the school's Greek system back to what it once was. Several fraternities closed their chapters there in the last couple of decades, but several have also returned. Unfortunately, Kappa Sigma is not one of them ... I would like to add a "yet" to that, but as I have stated on several other posts, the Fraternity is not proactive in targeting desirable schools and attempting to establish colonies there. So who knows when we might return there. I did hear that we had a small interest group there last school year. But it obviously did not develop into anything substantive.

Where are you going to law school?

[stufield]

I don't know when it happened or anything about the circumstances of it, but I see that Epsilon-Phi Chapter at Texas Tech University is also no longer included in the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website. Epsilon-Phi has long been one of our largest and strongest chapters. The SEC keeps closing chapters, and never announcing or reporting anything about those closures. The chapters just disappear from the lists, and if one is not paying attention, one would never even know. There are, of course, many good things about Kappa Sigma. But communication from the SEC and IMH to membership is not one of them. Kappa Sigs are among the most poorly informed of all fraternity memberships. It has been that way for years ... decades ... and is very frustrating.

If anyone happens to know anything about the TTU or Oklahoma closures, or any other recent chapter or colony closures, or about any current interest groups or imminent colonies, please post, because IMH certainly isn't going to provide any information.

[UCSDKSIG]

Hi Everyone,
The colony at UCSD is currently 30 something strong in membership. We are very close in getting our charter, and we hope this coming Spring Rush we can get at least 20 more people interested. Our colony was started last spring by some of the original members so its been a great year for our colony. UCSD lacks a frat row like other schools and recruitment is sort of tough especially for colonies like us that are simply trying to meet the 50 member total. On campus we have most of the major fraternities, Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, TKE, Delta Sigma Phi, Sigma Alpha Mu, Lambda Chi Alpha, and FIJI. Colonies that are present besides these established frats are Triangle and ZBT. The last fraternity to turn from colony into chartered member was FIJI. Most of the established frats have excellent turnouts and aren't struggling.

[KsigAkron]

Our colony here at the University of Akron will be getting installed on April 4th. We have around 40 members. Currently we are assisting the Epsilon-Rho colony at Kent State, hopfully they can become a chapter in late spring or early fall.

[stufield]

Our colony here at the University of Akron will be getting installed on April 4th. We have around 40 members. Currently we are assisting the Epsilon-Rho colony at Kent State, hopfully they can become a chapter in late spring or early fall.

Thanks for the update on your colony. We are very pleased that your petition for a charter has been accepted, and that your chapter installation date has been set. Another active chapter in Ohio, where Kappa Sigma is seriously underrepresented with only four active chapters whereas most of the other major fraternities have well over ten, is most welcome.

Have you been advised yet what your Greek letter chapter designation is going to be? I would think it will be Pi-Pi or Pi-Rho, as Pi-Omicron has been assigned to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the next colony to be chartered; I would assume that your colony is to be the next one, or the second next one to receive its charter after UCCS.

What can you advise us about the fraternity system at Akron at this time? What other fraternities presently have chapters there? Which of them are strong, which, if any, are struggling? How does your approximately 40 members compare to the other fraternities? Have you developed a stronger rivalry with any particular fraternity compared to all the others?

What can you advise about the Epsilon-Rho colony? How is it doing?

[stufield]

I found the following article regarding the Fraternity's planned return to Millikin Univeristy, located in Decatur, Illinois, next Fall:

http://www.thedeconline.com/article.php?id=363

[KSigkid]

Thanks for the correction on the SHU location. I looked ion my Rand-McNAlly Road atlas and it appeared to me to be in Bridgeport. In fact, when I look again, it still does. But since I received your e-mail, I checked the school's website and it is indeed located in Fairfield. Interesting fact, tied in to you statement that it is a fairly large school: according to its website, SHU is the second largest Catholic university in New England. I assume that Boston College is the largest. It seems like a good school to be at. So hopefully our colony there will succeed.

CCSU may be a commuter school, but I know that Phi Delta Theta has an active chapter there. The Phi Delts are also one of several fraternities with active chapters at the University of Hartford. However, I also know that the Tekes had a chapter at CCSU,a and it closed. So the Phi Delt chapter there may or may not survive.

New Haven may also be a commute school, but Delta Chi has had a chapter there since 1981 and Sigma Chi has a chapter there as well. There are also a couple of locals.

We did have an interest group at Quinnipiac University at the beginning of the current school year (I believe it started late in the 2007-2008 school year), and I was informed by two different IMH sources that both it and Sacred Heart would be colonies before the end of 2008. Neither made it by then, but at least SHU is now a colony. I have made follow-up inquiries about the Quinnipiac group, but have not received a reply. So I don't know what is happening there.

No, unfortunately, there has been no UMass colony. There has been some talk of one in the past year or two, as the UMass administration is now actively supportive of fraternities and looking to expand the school's Greek system back to what it once was. Several fraternities closed their chapters there in the last couple of decades, but several have also returned. Unfortunately, Kappa Sigma is not one of them ... I would like to add a "yet" to that, but as I have stated on several other posts, the Fraternity is not proactive in targeting desirable schools and attempting to establish colonies there. So who knows when we might return there. I did hear that we had a small interest group there last school year. But it obviously did not develop into anything substantive.

Where are you going to law school?

I'm at law school in Connecticut.

You're correct, BC is the largest Catholic university in New England (and completely anti-Greek, for that matter).

I had heard about Greek orgs at CCSU, but just coming from my personal knowledge about schools, neither struck me as places where Greek life would flourish. If a Kappa Sigma chapter can start and thrive on either of those campuses, that's a situation where I wouldn't mind being completely wrong.

[chicostateksig]

Kappa Sigma to Return to UC-Davis
Dear Brother ,

I am excited to inform you that this fall, the Kappa Sigma Fraternity is looking to begin re-colonizing the Beta-Phi Chapter at UC-Davis

As a resident of California, we are hoping that you could help this cause by referring any student you know who might be attending the school and who would make a great Kappa Sigma Brother. We hope that you will consider friends from your hometown, your place of work, family, church or any other connections you may have to help us identify outstanding young men to be founding fathers of this historic chapter.

Kappa Sigma’s Area Recruitment Managers, Blake Baxter and Matt Rippetoe will be on campus in late February and March if there are any students you can put us in touch with please refer them to me. You can reach me at the below email/phone number should you have any potential rush guests we can speak with, or if you are interested in working with any of these future chapters as a volunteer alumnus advisor.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Fraternally and AEKDB,

Carl Reisch
Director of Recruitment and Expansion
Kappa Sigma Fraternity



Here is an email i got from HQ, Davis will come back this fall.

[stufield]

Thanks for the update, Chico State, but take the e-mail with the proverbial grain of salt ... or with our present IMH staff, perhaps a block of salt would be more appropriate. IMH, under the name of the Director of Recruitment and Expansion, sends out lots of these e-mails. But "looking to begin re-colonizing" [my bolding] is much different than actually recolonizing. Sometimes the proposed recolonizations or colonizations get off the ground, and sometimes they don't. So UC Davis MAY come back this Fall. Or it may not. Time will tell.

What I most get out of the e-mail is that the recolonization is not commencing this Spring, as I had understood and hoped it would, but rather is now scheduled for the Fall. I had been told by IMH that UC Davis was a prospective Spring, 2009 recolonization. By Fall, 2009 it may be a prospective 2010 recolonization.

Whenever if might happen, I am sure we all hope that the recolonization of Beta-Phi Chapter does proceed and that will be a roaring success.

[KsigAkron]

Thanks for the update on your colony. We are very pleased that your petition for a charter has been accepted, and that your chapter installation date has been set. Another active chapter in Ohio, where Kappa Sigma is seriously underrepresented with only four active chapters whereas most of the other major fraternities have well over ten, is most welcome.

Have you been advised yet what your Greek letter chapter designation is going to be? I would think it will be Pi-Pi or Pi-Rho, as Pi-Omicron has been assigned to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the next colony to be chartered; I would assume that your colony is to be the next one, or the second next one to receive its charter after UCCS.

What can you advise us about the fraternity system at Akron at this time? What other fraternities presently have chapters there? Which of them are strong, which, if any, are struggling? How does your approximately 40 members compare to the other fraternities? Have you developed a stronger rivalry with any particular fraternity compared to all the others?

What can you advise about the Epsilon-Rho colony? How is it doing?


Yesterday I found out that we will be the Pi-Rho Chapter.

Basically the fraternity system at Akron is very weak, there are 12 chapters. Right now the average chapter size is about 30, some as low as 12 members. The University has about 26,000 students, but with it being a high commuter school it only has 3% of the students in Greek Life.

We have several rivalries on campus, due to a couple members who have pledged other fraternities but quit before initiation. Also, some of the chapters on campus are worried that we are hurting recruitment for the Greek System, which we know is not true at all.

As for Epsilon-Rho, they are a very strong colony, but they really need to work on recruitment. We are trying to get them ready to come out strong next fall because this spring they did not come out strong at all.

[stufield]

Yesterday I found out that we will be the Pi-Rho Chapter.

KSAkron:

Thank you for the prompt reply.

Interesting that your chapter is going to be designated Pi-Rho. The next chapter to be installed is the present colony at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Somebody from that colony has posted that their chapter is to be designated Pi-Omicron, which makes perfect sense given that the most recently chartered chapter is Pi-Xi at Colorado State University. The Greek alphabet goes ... Nu, Xi, Omicron, Pi, Rho, ... So if your chapter is going to be Pi-Rho, that would mean that some other colony is going to be chartered after UCCS and before your Akron colony ... unless, of course, the powers that be in the Fraternity have decided not to use Pi-Pi because they think that other groups on whatever campus the chapter it would be on would make fun of it, calling it Pee-Pee.

If that sounds ridiculous to you, don't laugh too hard. The Fraternity has resorted to such silliness twice before. First of all, it skipped the entire Eta series of chapters ... the only fraternity that has ever done so. After the Epsilon-Omega chapter was chartered at Georgia State University, the powers that be at the time decided to skip using a Zeta series in honour of mother Zeta chapter at the University of Virginia and to skip using an Eta series for what it called "euphonic" reasons. Then, even goofier, in both the Mu and Nu series of chapters, the powers that be at the time decided not to use the Mu-Mu, Mu-Nu, Mu-Pi, Mu-Chi, Nu-Mu, Nu-Nu, Nu-Pi, and Nu-Chi chapter designations, again for "euphonic" reasons, and again the only fraternity ever to engage in such nonsense.

So the Fraternity may be skipping the Pi-Pi designation. If not, I wonder what other colony is being chartered before the Akron colony, and thus receiving the Pi-Pi designation: Academy of Art? Alaska Anchorage? New Mexico Tech? New Orleans? Salisbury? Does anybody know?

[stufield]

Basically the fraternity system at Akron is very weak, there are 12 chapters. Right now the average chapter size is about 30, some as low as 12 members. The University has about 26,000 students, but with it being a high commuter school it only has 3% of the students in Greek Life.

We have several rivalries on campus, due to a couple members who have pledged other fraternities but quit before initiation. Also, some of the chapters on campus are worried that we are hurting recruitment for the Greek System, which we know is not true at all.

KSAkron:

Thanks also for the somewhat informative reply regarding the Akron fraternity system.

What are the other 12 fraternities (or 11, if you were counting Kappa Sigma as one of the 12)? And which are the largest, and, more importantly, which have as few members as 12?

If there were only a set number of young men looking to join a fraternity, and a new fraternity joined the system, be it Kappa Sigma or any other fraternity, and unless that fraternity was limiting its membership to a specific group of students, such as just Agriculture or Engineering students, or just those of the Catholic or Jewish religion, then that new fraternity would have a negative effect on the pledge numbers of the other, already established fraternities. Such possible negative effect on their membership numbers is often the principal reason why established fraternities and sororities frequently oppose the expansion of the Greek system on their campuses. The argument is not without merit on some campuses where interest in the Greek system is not that strong. The counter-argument, however, and hopefully one that will apply to Kappa Sigma at the University of Akron, is that a dynamic new fraternity could bring a whole new group of young men into the Greek system who would not otherwise have been interested in joining a fraternity, who, in turn, interest their friends, thus increasing the total number of young men in fraternities on that campus, rather than simply dividing the same number of men among the previous fraternities and a new one.

[KsigAkron]

Chapters at Akron:
Alpha Sigma Phi
Kappa Sigma
Lonestar (Local)
Theta Chi
FIJI
SAE
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Kappa Tau
TKE
Lambda Chi Alpha
Phi Sigma Kappa
Sigma Nu

We are the largest on campus with 40 members, Alpha Sig has 38.

The smallest on campus is Phi Kappa Tau with only 12 members, then Sigma Nu and Lonestar have 15 members.

[stufield]

KS Akron:

Thanks for the requested info regarding the Akron fraternity chapters. I find it interesting that the two newest fraternities, Kappa Sig and Alpha Sigma Phi, which just chartered at Akron last year, are the two largest.

It will be interesting to see if Phi Kappa Tau, Sigma Nu, and Lonestar survive.

[LucyKKG]

I finally met some of the guys trying to start up Kappa Sigma here (UC Santa Cruz). It turns out they're still an interest group; they need a few more people before they can become a colony. We don't have an organized office for Greek life (it's just part of student orgs), so I know the school won't care either way. They seemed pretty cool. A lot of them were younger.

[chicostateksig]

I finally met some of the guys trying to start up Kappa Sigma here (UC Santa Cruz). It turns out they're still an interest group; they need a few more people before they can become a colony. We don't have an organized office for Greek life (it's just part of student orgs), so I know the school won't care either way. They seemed pretty cool. A lot of them were younger.

One of my friends from UCSC has also told me of an Interest Group forming at Santa Cruz. She has showed me to the facebook group etc. Yet it may not even go down, I know Sigma Pi has just started a chapter. So this can be hard. Sigma Pi is a fraternity that is furiously expanding in the state of CA recent charters include Chico, Cal Poly, UCSB, UCSC and have chapters in many other schools.

[chicostateksig]

Kappa Sigma has two new colonies. One in Monterey Bay (CSU system) and the lastly UC Santa Cruz. I received an email on updates from new colonies already installed by nationals.

[LucyKKG]

Kappa Sigma has two new colonies. One in Monterey Bay (CSU system) and the lastly UC Santa Cruz. I received an email on updates from new colonies already installed by nationals.
Oh no way! UCSC is a real colony? Cool beans. CSUMB has an interesting Greek life. I wonder if they'll get an NPC chapter any time soon.

[jennyj87]

I'm not sure about the FGCU Kappa Sigmas. We were told by panhellenic and IFC to not let them come to our chapters or do socials with them because they were rude to our greek life advisors and are not recognized by the university.

I don't know any of them, but I have seen them with pins on. Could someone explain to me whats going on with that? How, if they are not recognized by us, do they consider themselves a chapter and recruit and such? I'm just curious, this is not meant to sound bitchy or anything :)

[chicostateksig]

Other updates on recent colonies. I have received more updates on current colonies. In California we have CSU Monterey Bay (40 pledged), UC Santa Cruz ( 27 Pledged), UC Davis (25 Pledged), and UC Merced (33 Pledged). I have updates on other colonies across the nation, but these are some of the California updates. Also i hear that UCSD is almost near the acomplishing its chartering feat. Its good to see UC Davis back on campus, and the establishment of UC Merced as a colony. UC Merced will be great in the future as only 2 other fraternities have been established there.

[KSigkid]

Other updates on recent colonies. I have received more updates on current colonies. In California we have CSU Monterey Bay (40 pledged), UC Santa Cruz ( 27 Pledged), UC Davis (25 Pledged), and UC Merced (33 Pledged). I have updates on other colonies across the nation, but these are some of the California updates. Also i hear that UCSD is almost near the acomplishing its chartering feat. Its good to see UC Davis back on campus, and the establishment of UC Merced as a colony. UC Merced will be great in the future as only 2 other fraternities have been established there.

That's great news from California - always good to have a strong presence on the west coast.

ETA: Apparently we've returned to NYU: http://www.kappasigma.org/content/kappa-sigma-returns-new-york-university . This would be a nice addition to the east coast chapters.

[KSigkid]

So I read. A lot of information at their site: http://www.kappasigmanyu.com/ Hopefully there is some more news coming in the fall of expansion in that region. There are a lot of top academic schools that would be great additions.

Absolutely - I went to school in the Northeast and would love to see more chapters in the area.

[tld221]

The month of January has no passed, and not much seems to have happened expansion-wise.

The one especially positive development is that the long-anticipated recolonization of Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers University, referred to in the fourth paragraph of my January 2nd posting, evidently HAS formally occurred, as the Gamma-Upsilon Colony is now included in the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website.

Two other positive events, though they are not strictly expansions, but rather successful completions of prior recolonizations, are that the Kappa and Mu-Omega Chapters at Vanderbilt and Southeastern Louisiana Universities, respectively, have now been restored.

Unfortunately, however, the only other new expansion shown on the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website is an altogether new colony at the Brooklyn College unit of CUNY, the City University of New York. This is another example of the Fraternity expanding to a school that has no, or, in this instance, almost no pre-existing fraternity system, as opposed to a school with a well-established fraternity system with a variety of fraternities. The only other fraternities at Brooklyn College are Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Zeta Beta Tau, all predominantly Jewish in membership, and tiny Alpha Delta Phi. So this may be another example of the fraternity colonizing at a school at which it has little or not chance of long-term success, as it has done so many times in recent years, or a great opportunity for Kappa Sigma to establish itself at a school where it has little competition for members, and thus perhaps a chance to establish itself successfully. I suppose that only time will tell. To me this is another example of the Fraternity's second-rate,'take what comes along' expansion policy, which brings us colonies at many schools where there is little likelihood of long-term success and that do little to advance the Fraternity's stature, instead of actively pursuing colonies at prominent schools with established Greek systems at which Kappa Sigma is notably absent. In NYC, other fraternities expand or return to NYU (where we have a dormant Gamma-Zeta Chapter, founded in 1905, inactive since 1974) and Columbia University (where we have never had a chapter); Kappa Sigma expands to Brooklyn College. It IS a good school, with an attractive and growing campus, a good reputation, and an increasing enrollment. L just don't see a chapter there succeeding long-term. However, I'd love to be wrong.

Perhaps some other colonies have been established but just are not yet listed on the Fraternity Website. Perhaps there is a flurry of expansionary activity going on out there that just has not yet manifested itself in the formal establishment of colonies. If anyone is aware of any such new colonies or expansionary activity, please share what you know or have been told.


I hope you're wrong too-ive met a couple of the KS guys at Brooklyn and they're cool. One of them is the new IGC president. Good times.

As for nyu hope that works out too-always good times to hear about greek life expanding there. I know pi phi just came there last year (or the year before?)

[stufield]

I created this thread back in November, 2003 in the hopes of acquiring additional information regarding the Fraternity’s expansionary activities to supplement the minimal information that the Fraternity was providing on its Website and in its quarterly magazine, The Caduceus. Kappa Sigma is a terrific fraternity in many ways; but in one respect, Kappa Sigma is one of the worst: its HQ is among the worst of all fraternities in informing its members about fraternity affairs. Kappa Sigs, and those interested in Kappa Sigma affairs, are among the most poorly informed, compared to members of other fraternities, about all sorts of fraternity matters, including expansion (the existence of interest groups, the establishment of colonies, and the chartering of colonies as active chapters) and contraction (the closure of colonies and chapters). Invariably, new colonies would be added to the list of active chapters and colonies, colonies would be upgraded to chapter status, and colonies and chapters would disappear from the list of active chapters and colonies, all without announcement, explanation, or other reportage. So as one response to this lack of information, I initiated this thread.

Unfortunately, and mystifyingly, in the last couple of months the Fraternity’s unwillingness to provide basic information, or lack of concern about providing such information, has actually deteriorated, rather than improved. The primary function of any website should be to inform those who access it, preferably in the most user-friendly manner possible. But the Kappa Sigma website, which was reconfigured about two months ago, does just the opposite in several respects, one of which is the [lack of] provision of information about chapters and colonies. Prior to the reconfiguration, the website contained three chapter-related lists: two of those lists set out active chapters and colonies, one alphabetically by name of school, and one more or less alphabetically by Greek letter chapter designation; the third list set out all Kappa Sigma chapters, active and inactive, in chronological order of their chartering, commencing with Zeta Chapter at the University of Virginia and ending with the then most recently chartered chapter. So although, as aforesaid, the Fraternity almost never announced the creation of a new colony or the chartering of a colony, and absolutely never announced the closing of a colony or chapter, one could by careful monitoring of the lists, note when a new colony had been added, when a former colony had become an active chapter, and when a colony or a chapter had been deletedfrom the lists. But the newly reconfigured website eliminated all three lists and replaced it with a goofy map on which the location of every colony and chapter is marked with a red indicator that looks sort of like an upside down teardrop. So now if one wants to attempt to determine if a new colony has been added to the Fraternity’s rolls, one cannot scroll down the former active chapter and colony list, but instead must call up EVERY SINGLE indicator on the entire map to see if it corresponds to a previously existing chapter or colony, or a new colony!!! Furthermore, because the zoom function must be used to separate indicators for chapters that are located close together (for instance, to distinguish between the two present chapters located in Memphis or the several chapters located in and around Metro Atlanta) one must do this indicator-by-indicator searching in zoom mode in order to be sure not to miss a colony or chapter located in close proximity to another colony or chapter. It is extremely tedious and time consuming!

As if that is not bad enough, the map was outdated when it was introduced as part of the reconfigured website. Some colonies that had been chartered or rechartered prior to the appearance of the map on the reconfigured website, and that had been listed as chapters on the aforesaid active chapters and colonies lists before they disappeared from the website, were shown on the map as still being colonies. Likewise, some newer colonies that had been established before the appearance of the map on the reconfigured website, and had been added as colonies to the aforesaid active chapters and colonies lists before they disappeared from the website, were not shown at all on the map! So the map was out of date the minute it was added to the website.

And as if THAT were not bad enough, two months have passed and the map STILL has NOT been updated. So, for instance, Kappa Chapter at Vanderbilt University, which was rechartered before the website was reconfigured with the disappearance of the active chapters and colonies lists and the introduction of the map, is STILL shown as a COLONY! Also, Pi-Nu, Pi-Omicron, and Pi-Xi Chapters at Ramapo College of New Jersey, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and Colorado State University, which had all been shown as CHAPTERS on the active chapters and colonies lists on the website prior to the reconfigured website being introduced, were shown as COLONIES on the map. Likewise, the Kappa-Iota recolonization at the Middle Tennessee State University, and the new colonies at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Brooklyn College, Central Michigan University, the University of Central Missouri (formerly Central Missouri State University), and Texas Women’s University all of which had been included on the aforesaid lists of active chapters and colonies on the former website, are STILL NOT SHOWN AS COLONIES AT ALL!

Furthermore, any colonies that have been established since the map was introduced are also not shown ... not that we are able to know what they are, because (1) the lists have disappeared, and (2) the Fraternity does not announce new colonizations in all but the most exceptional situations, something it could easily do each time a new colony is formed by simply posting a brief one or two sentence announcement on the News page of the website. Likewise, of course, any former colonies that have since received their charters are still not shown as active chapters.

The map contains a number of inaccuracies that have not been corrected since the map was introduced. Just to select one small area of the map, the chapter indicator for Omicron-Tau Chapter at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is nowhere near Fort Smith, but instead is about 100 miles to the east of there, and the indicator for the University of Kansas is placed in some suburb of Kansas City, not at Lawrence where the University is located.

There is no excuse whatsoever for the Fraternity’s failure to at least make the map accurate and to keep it up to date.

In other words, the whole thing is a near-total disaster. But It does not have to be so. First and foremost, the map could be updated to show all present active chapters and colonies, including upgrading to chapter status the designations of those colonies that have now received their charters. Secondly, the incorrectly placed indicators could be properly relocated. Thirdly, differently shaped or differently colored indicators could be used to differentiate between colonies and chapters. That way, one could instantly tell when a colony has been chartered or rechartered as an active chapter; it would have an active chapter indicator instead of a colony one. For instance, Alpha Kappa Lambda and Delta Upsilon websites both use the same Google map as the Kappa Sigma map, but mark active chapters with blue indicators, and colonies with yellow indicators. The DU map goes one step further, and also uses yellow indicators with a red check mark in it to designate interest groups; when the red check mark disappears one knows that that group had been upgraded to full colony status. The Kappa Sigma map could easily continue to use red indicators for active chapters, but use green ones for colonies ... personally, I would reverse that, and use red indicators for colonies and green ones for active chapters. It could provide even more information by also using black indicators for inactive chapters! It would be great to see a black indicator change to red when an inactive chapter is recolonized, and then to green when it is rechartered, just as it would be disappointing (but nonetheless informative) to see green or red indicator change to black when an active chapter is closed.

Similarly, Delta Sigma Phi uses a map, but uses differently shaped indicators, the shapes being symbols significant to its secrets, to differentiate between colonies and chapters.

Alpha Kappa Lambda, Delta Sigma Phi, ATO, Phi Delta Theta, and many other fraternities use both a map AND chapter lists, to inform their members and other interested parties as to its chapters and colonies. AKL uses not only the same map as Kappa Sigma, but also has lists of (a) its active chapters and colonies, (b) its inactive chapters, and (c) all its chapters, active and inactive, in chronological order of chartering. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why Kappa Sigma could not do likewise, especially since the website prior to reconfiguration already included two of those lists. I simply cannot comprehend who could have made the foolhardy decision to have eliminated those lists.

Check out the aforesaid AKL, ATO, Delta Sig, DU, and Phi Delt websites. Also check out the Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Nu, and Sigma Pi websites to see really good, really informative Chapter Directories, and to see how much more information those fraternities, and many others as well are providing, as opposed to the minimal and out of date information that the Kappa Sigma website provides.

I have e-mailed all the foregoing to the Fraternity webmaster, but have not received even the courtesy of an acknowledgment of receipt of that e-mail, let alone a substantive response. More importantly, no lists have been added to accompany the map, and the map still has not been updated.

If you share any of my aforesaid sentiments, I would ask that you please also e-mail the webmaster ... go to Contact Us on the Website and look for the link. Perhaps if some other people add their dissatisfaction to mine, some corrective action will be taken.

What does all the foregoing have to do with this thread regarding current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity? The answer is simply that because the Fraternity itself is providing so little information, the more additional information that anyone can post on here the more informed we will all be. Unfortunately, my very busy law practice has precluded me from posting at all in the last few months. But I am pleased that some previous posters have continued to post, and that some other people have come along to post as well.

Now on to some specifics in relation to some other recent postings.

Chicostateksig advises of new colonies at CSU Monterey Bay, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC Merced. So it would appear that the alleged interest group at UC Santa Cruz that was the subject of some previous postings actually did exist, and has progressed to full colony status. That is terrific, as is the recolonization of Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Davis. I am rather pessimistic about of the chances of the CSU Monterey Bay colony surviving; a new school, with no Greek system and no Greek culture, poses a difficult challenge for that colony. I feel somewhat the same about the UC Merced colony; it probably stands a better chance of succeeding than the CSU Monterey Bay colony, but I am not as optimistic about its chances as chicostateksig seems to be. I do hope both groups succeed and would happily be proven to be wrong, but I am not confident about either of their long-term prospects.

Meanwhile, however, CSU Monterey Bay and UC Merced ARE colonies, which means that by my reckoning the fraternity presently has no less than seven colonies in California alone: those two, plus the aforesaid UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, plus the Delta-NU recolonization at UCLA and the CSU Northridge and UC San Diego colonies. Add to that the fact that the former Academy of Art University colony was recently chartered as Pi-Upsilon Chapter, and one had to acknowledge that the Fraternity’s expansionary activity in the Golden State has been pretty dynamic these past few months.

However, there still are significant other expansionary targets in California, most notably the University of the Pacific, at which Kappa Sigma has never had any representation, and the return of Delta-Upsilon and Nu-Alpha Chapters at Occidental College and CAL Poly SLO, respectively.

Chicostateksig: You also posted that you “have updates on other colonies across the nation”. I don’t know why you limited your reportage to California, but would you please provide us with whatever updates you have about colonies elsewhere.

Some of you may have noted the announcement in the News section of the Fraternity website regarding the Order’s return to New York University by way of the absorption of a long-standing local fraternity there. This is one of the rare instances of the Fraternity actually reporting or announcing a colonization or recolonization on the website. And Hampton has posted a link to the colony’s informative website. Thanks for that, Hampton. Prior to its selecting Kappa Sigma, I was contacted by members of that local fraternity, who had some questions and concerns that they wanted answered by someone knowledgeable about the Fraternity but not employed by it or acting in an official capacity for it, and that the group was also considering affiliation with at least a couple of our prominent rivals, SAE and Beta Theta Pi. We should all (a) be very pleased indeed that they ultimately chose to join Kappa Sigma, and (b) hope that the Fraternity is able to satisfy all their concerns during their colony status period, and that they ultimately further decide to petition for a charter. It will be wonderful to see the restoration of the long-dormant Gamma-Zeta Chapter at such a prominent school as NYU. It will truly be one of the Fraternity’s most significant expansions in the last several decades if it ultimately succeeds.

Other than the NYU recolonization, and Chicostateksig’s advisement of the new colonies at CUS Monterey Bay, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Merced, I have no awareness of any new colonizations and/or recolonizations, or of the charterings or recharterings of any former colonies, since the aforesaid reconfiguration of the Fraternity website with its elimination of the active chapters and colonies lists. So if any reader of this posting has any other current information, please do post it.

[chicostateksig]

If you guys want to know about colonies I will be able to give some of the information. Just hit me up. I get monthly updates from nationals. I do agree with the website being pathetic in informing the members of the fraternity what is going on. It seems as if only members of the Executive Committee or GM or GP know what is going on with expansion as they receive monthly emails. Unfortunately After the conclusion of next fall I won't be able to provide any info as my term is done.

Here are all the current Colonies of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Microsoft Word - Colony Members1 Birmingham-Southern College Colony
School Name: Birmingham-Southern College

Colony Name: California State University/Monterey Bay Colony
School Name: California State University/Monterey Bay


Colony Name: University of California/Santa Cruz Colony
School Name: University of California/Santa Cruz

Colony Name: Kappa-Iota Colony
School Name: Middle Tennessee State University

Colony Name: Gamma-Upsilon Colony
School Name: Rutgers University

Colony Name: Tusculum College Colony
School Name: Tusculum College

Colony Name: Warrensburg, Missouri Colony
School Name: Warrensburg, Missouri

Colony Name: Ball State University Colony
School Name: Ball State University

Colony Name: St. John’s University Colony
School Name: St. John’s University
*50 members already.

Colony Name: California State University/Northridge Colony
School Name: California State University/Northridge

Colony Name: Delta-Nu Colony
School Name: University of California/Los Angeles


Colony Name: Mount Pleasant, Michigan Colony
School Name: Mount Pleasant, Michigan
*52 Members

Colony Name: Epsilon-Phi Colony
School Name: Texas Tech University
*49 Members

NYU Gamma Zeta Colony


Colony Name: Sacred Heart University Colony
School Name: Sacred Heart University


Colony Name: Texas Woman’s University Colony
School Name: Texas Woman’s University

Colony Name: Beta-Phi Colony
School Name: University of California/Davis

Colony Name: University of California/Merced Colony
School Name: University of California/Merced

Colony Name: Delta-Gamma Colony
School Name: University of Wyoming

Colony Name: Epsilon-Rho Colony
School Name: Kent State University

Colony Name: Lake Erie College Colony
School Name: Lake Erie College

Colony Name: University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Colony
School Name: University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Colony Name: Anchorage, Alaska Colony
School Name: Anchorage, Alaska
Colony Name: University of New Orleans Colony
School Name: University of New Orleans
* Only 10 Members

Colony Name: University of California/San Diego Colony
School Name: University of California/San Diego
*49 Members

Colony Name: Fort Myers, Florida Colony
School Name: Fort Myers, Florida

Colony Name: Utah Valley University Colony
School Name: Utah Valley University

Colony Name: American International College Colony
School Name: American International College

Colony Name: State University of New York at Cortland Colony
School Name: State University of New York at Cortland
*13 members

[stufield]

With the new academic year almost upon us, does ANYBODY have ANY news regarding new interest groups or colonies, the recolonizations of any dormant/inactive chapters, the closures of any colonies or chapters, or anything else of interest? If so, please post, since the Fraternity Websit is of no use whatsoever. It has not been updated in months, and the chapter and colony map, which as is set out in prior posts on this thread, was outdated when it was first added to the Website in the Spring STILL has NOT been updated!!! So any new that anybody can contribute would be greatly appreciated.

The only news that I can add at this time is that the one colony which was not included in the list provided by chicostate in the immediately preceding post on this thread, Brooklyn College, is scheduled for chartering as the Fraternity's newest chapter, Pi-Phi, later this month. So congratulations to that colony.

[Ithakappasig]

It looks like most of the expansion in the Northeast is being aimed at schools that have an non-traditional base for Kappa Sigma (excepting re-colonizations of course) and most of the schools are less known or up and coming. While this is fine if it works it seems that quite a bit is being left on the table in northeast expansion compared to Kappa Sig's competitors.

I know little about these competitors except through inquiring. It's good to have a yardstick to put impressions in context. From what I can tell Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, SAE and Phi Delta Theta are racing ahead of Kappa Sigma among top northeastern schools. To the extent Kappa Sigma has spent effort it is going after the lowest hanging fruit with what may be the least likely to have long term viability and are least compatible with the culture of Kappa Sigma. Why the difference, why is Kappa Sigma not keeping up with its rivals in the region?

Part of it seems to be the degree and manner in which Sigma Chi, SAE Phi Delt and Beta are marketing themselves. It seems to me each of those fraternity has a definite character and it is one that a substantial number of respected young men on campus want to be associated with. They are also viewed as among the harder to get into organizations.

Fraternities with the most success at northeastern colleges are unabashedly about social connections as much as they are about community service. They aid recruiting by setting up alumni chapters and getting involved in housing guidance and job information sharing. (Housing by itself, even it is just an informal rented house is a benefit that students at new chapters appreciate.) And most of all successful fraternities in this region have good alumni groups in the large cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., (or even Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Buffalo.)

SAE, Sigma Chi, Beta, Phi Delt and I assume SPE have all sought to achieve the distinction of being at every Ivy; most are just one or two schools away. This is not just about getting the biggest names for the sake of it. It is a selling point and a healthy chapter at these schools will eventually be a good source of alumni support.

Kappa Sigma cannot compete with all groups such as religious/ethnic based fraternities or even community service organizations at what they do. Kappa Sigma has to maintain a firm and unique identity- it's tradition as a renaissance secret student society offering mutual aid in what can be a hostile world is unique; as is the modern perception as a traditional fraternity of Gentlemen who accept only the best, strive for excellence and have the strongest sense of brotherhood.

In the Northeast it is just such tradition that attracts young men who cannot find it elsewhere. Students from other regions (the South, Midwest and West) attending northern colleges have often found Kappa Sigma to be a welcoming home. Another policy that helps other fraternities in the Northeast more than elsewhere seems to be drawing graduate students. In any case this is about building quality and identity that will attract others in years to come.

An approach worth emulating at schools that do not recognize fraternities and have no history of them can be witnessed at the SPE Georgetown chapter. Many other Catholic schools still do not recognize fraternities but are not in active opposition, viz., Fordham (NY), Holy Cross (MA), Boston College (MA), Georgetown (DC), Providence (RI), Fairfield (CT). There are a lot of other campuses that are good objectives- Colgate (NY), Canisius (NY), Clarkson (NY), Hamilton (NY), Union (NY), Syracuse (NY), Clarkson (NY), Hartwick (NY), Seton Hall (NJ), Stevens (NJ), Montclair St. (NJ), Kean (NJ), Dickinson (PA), Gettysburg (PA), Villanova (PA), Trinity (CT), Wheaton (MA), Duquesne (PA), St. Josephs (PA).

Students at most of these schools are paying over a six figures for their education so they tend to want clarity in benefits. They can volunteer and anti-drug and alcohol abuse, etc. through the school-- though extra education in these areas is good for a number of reasons it is not necessarily a selling point in recruiting.

In summary, successful fraternities are

1. Selective, approaching student leaders, athletic teams, etc. and selling them on setting up a chapter, even if they pull only handful of the best students to start with;
2. Using social networking communities to find targets;
3. Offering off campus housing, parties, exclusive social and business networking and mentoring, alumni events all in an organized framework;
4. Operating in the conditions that are there- whether that is a supportive administration and Greek community or not;
5. Utilizing a few older alumni, and energetic graduate students chapters and colonies introduced to the targets likely make the fraternity more tangible and gives the potential founding group targets a group to feel the fraternity's bonds with.
6. Supporting alumni chapters get involved in housing guidance and job information sharing;
7. Using blogs and forums to communicate to the members and potential members;
8. Posting organizational legal templates and directions for opening housing corporations, group rental contracts, alumni chapter constitutions and guidance and discount partnerships for opening financial accounts;
9. Offering colonies, chapters and alumni website space or templates;
10. Responsive to the input and communication of their students and alumni.

While Kappa Sigma is second to none, that can only continue if we learn from our competition and then do it better!

[KSigkid]

Ithakappasig:

I would have to disagree with your characterization of Boston College as a school without "active opposition" to Greek Life. I attended school in Boston, and have many friends who attended BC. It has quite an active opposition to Greek Life, and I would be shocked if a fraternity was able to get on campus with the blessing of the college.

I'd say the same for Holy Cross, as it has gone the way of other well-respected liberal arts schools (Williams, Amherst, etc.) in discouraging Greek Life.

There may be hope for expansion at some of the schools you listed (Clarkson springs to mind because it has an active Greek presence). However, you listed some upper-echelon liberal arts colleges that just don't want (and, in some way, don't need) a Greek life presence.

[Ithakappasig]

I'm going to have to disagree with you. First- It was a lot of writing dunno if you caught (recommendation)#4, which answers the question of recognition. As we all know fraternity life in the northeast flourishes at schools where there is no recognition- Yale, Princeton come to mind immediately.

Secondly - the schools mentioned - Colgate (NY), Clarkson (NY), Hamilton (NY), Union (NY), Syracuse (NY), Hartwick (NY), Seton Hall (NJ), Stevens (NJ), Montclair St. (NJ), Kean (NJ), Dickinson (PA), Gettysburg (PA), Villanova (PA), Trinity (CT), Wheaton (MA), Duquesne (PA), St. Josephs (PA) all have vibrant greek scenes.

Thirdly, Canisius, G'town, Fordham and Providence already have Greek organizations- the first two SPE- that have opened the door and flourished.

The group of (Catholic colleges) I initially listed in the earlier post have done well in fraternity growth all things considered.

G'town, Fordham, Providence and BC all have great minority GLO presence and some chapters that partner with them allowing their students to rush at nearby colleges. Fordham has one fraternity operating privately and a second openly, a DKE chapter starting from 1990 finally closed a little while ago but is recolonizing I hear.

Anyone aware of Holy Cross (and its societies, informal group houses and 100 days and Tuesday pub nights) knows that the school is ripe for fraternities except their houses have been upsetting the neighborhood. Fairfield has Fairfield Beach, group housing that informal groups set up in that is very much like a fraternity and sorority row. BC, contrary to your assertion also has a conducive culture.

It is important to know the history here. Until a few decades ago most fraternities were Protestant by rule or custom and hostile to Catholic students, often forbidding their membership. That has changed dramatically. Jesuit schools didn't prohibit fraternities, they just frowned upon them as did administrators during a time when Catholic schools were much more in loco parentis than we can imagine today.

You should not confuse the history with Williams and Amherst at all. These schools have the possible penalty of expulsion for membership in organizations that previously included virtually the entire enrollment. This was not decline in popularity. Nevertheless fraternities continue at both schools, underground, a testament to their popularity.

Princeton and Dartmouth reversed their own draconian penalties while still frowning upon fraternities and dissuading membership. GLO's, old and new cleaned up on those campuses, taking in large numbers of students. I imagine the same would occur at Williams and Amherst.

I think it is easy to say sour grapes because Kappa Sigma hasn't done well in the region but our competitors show that this is really our fault.

[KSigkid]

Ithakappasig:

I'm actually quite familiar with the history at many of those campuses (especially Holy Cross and Fairfield), either through my own visits, or through friends (both high school and law school) who have attended.

I'm extremely familiar with the situation at BC - again, I went to school in Boston, lived in Boston for several years afterwards, and have a large number of friends (around 20 that I can think of off the top of my head) who went to BC for undergrad. I've talked to them at great length about Greek life, and whether they think it could survive at BC. There's a great social scene at the college, and undergrads there aren't knocking down the doors to start greek organizations. (Just curious: what is the "great minority GLO presence" at BC to which you refer?)

Again...I didn't say that Greek Life would be doomed at all of the schools. I already mentioned Clarkson in my previous post, but I know that Colgate, Hamilton and others have university-supported Greek life. I never said that "all" of the schools were anti-Greek.

I'm not sure what "article 4" refers to - is that the 4th bullet point in your post?

You also don't tell me about the challenges of Greek Life at a Northeast campus. I was an EC member for two years on a campus that was not hospitable to Greek life, so I understand the challenges as well as anyone. I have attended meetings where University leadership has expressed a desire to see Greek Life "just go away." I've spent late hours in IFC and IFSC meetings trying to plan rush and other Greek activities for a student body with some hostility towards Greek Life. I know that chapters can be successful in the Northeast, and I also know the challenges that can be barriers to that success.

I would love to see the Order flourish in the Northeast and become a force at the schools you mentioned. I think, though, we have to be realistic and educated about the environments at those schools so that there can be an effective and successful chartering process at each of them. Even more importantly, we need to be chartering in places where we can see the chapter thriving for the next 5, 10, 20 years and beyond.

[Ithakappasig]

Was trying to lighten things with "'article' 4" (tongue in cheek) since I knew I was going to disagree but yes, the 4th (numbered) point. It turns out that we do not disagree to the extent that I assumed but this 4th point is important- I'll revisit it in a moment because I think it deals with most of the problems that you present.

I also want to set aside Boston College because I think making an issue of one of twenty listed colleges doesn't serve the point but I have a grad school friend who was in Alpha Phi Alpha and I understand that their metro chapter (and other black and Hispanic fraternities) draw well from their, considering there is such a limited number of minority students there. If a dozen African Americans for all BGLO's were drawn from 5% of the student total at university that doesn't even support greek life I think that's astounding.

The few Catholic colleges mentioned that do not have a Greek scene or a nascent one should not be discounted however. At the Catholic schools with fraternity scenes it took one fraternity (not students usually but an organization) to opened the door at most of these type of schools. In many cases Catholic schools with a dozen fraternities today had none 25 years ago. Right now the fraternity opening the door to these schools isn't Kappa Sigma but aggressively growth minded fraternities that are not as tradition bound such as SPE, PKA, LXA. And Sigma Chi, Beta, SAE and Phi Delt are on their heels. And that is largely because they are flexible and responsive to their environment.

I think it is safe to say that fraternities by far and large grow out of the following: initiative of organizations, absorption of existing organizations, students that observe and take part in fraternities (visitors, discontinued pledges, etc.) but want something they own, transfers and graduate students and other alumni.

No fraternity should expect that a group of students where there is no fraternity life are going to organize themselves and present themselves and let's face it, their money, for a few letters since that is all they could expect from a fraternity that hasn't invested the time to organize and present the possible benefits they could bring.

Fraternities, especially Kappa Sig or Phi Delt (NIC issue) cannot expect that the IFC's to be able to really stand up for students' rights to freely assemble; nor can they expect all colleges to be supportive. There would be no fraternities at many northern colleges in that case.

I mentioned Harvard, Yale, Princeton to typify elite schools in the northeast (where we are incidentally absent while our rivals are present) but one could give a large list of northern schools where fraternity life is not recognized or only some frat-s are recognized or new fraternities are not welcomed by administrators but fraternity life flourishes anyway. I am not sure of the policy but it would be a shame if Kappa Sigma took the position that handicaps itself in ways that others do not by insisting upon university support to start or continue chapters. So the 4th of those ten recommendations seems to be appropriate to the main challenge that you experienced and see as a hurdle at many schools in the northeast.

Incidentally, I read a recent NIC report that said the biggest percentage growth is at (drum roll) Catholic colleges and the Northeast from the past two years. That doesn't mean its easy however.

I know about the challenges of Greek life in the Northeast. That's why I put up what I believe are the methods that successful Greek organizations use. I focused on other extra-regional fraternities instead of just those that have deep roots at top northern schools like ADPhi, etc. or those national competitors who are just very different from Kappa Sig.

The heart of it is though that our rivals- SAE, Sigma Chi, Beta, Phi Delt and even others are having tremendous success in the Northeast being flexible in approach while maintaining the character of their organization- so it is doable. Kappa Sigma just hasn't held the region as a priority, with NYU seemingly an aberration rather than part of a plan if Stufield is right. Not going into Conclave discussions but I think the talk didn't meet the planning.

Perhaps we are going to have to relax 50 guys to charter rule (the national will still bring in lots of money with a third that number if they maintain it) or be flexible in other ways- I listed 10 and would like to hear others. I really believe that despite opposition from some quarters that this is another golden era and that fraternities that fail to take advantage will see themselves in lean times while those that sow now will reap for years to come.

[KSigkid]

On the 4th "article," point taken - people on here tend to be over-the-top on these things, and I didn't recognize the humor. That's my fault.

I understand what you're saying, and I appreciate your point of view on the subject. I agree that the Northeast hasn't been a priority within the fraternity, as you noted. I think it's been more of a part of the general expansion plan, without any special emphasis towards expanding in the region. At least, that's been my impression...

My issue, so to speak, is that I think we tend to overlook some parts of the expansion process. I think it's great that the fraternity is expanding into new areas, and I agree that growth is necessary to keep the Order going. At the same time, there should be a recognition of what happens when things go wrong. If a colony fails at a school, it's not just a cost of doing business: it may be a better environment in a year or two, but we'll have lost our opportunity by having a failed colony. Plus, you have a group of guys who worked really hard to start a chapter, and they're left without a fraternity. Now, that doesn't necessarily account for risk management issues, but it's something to think about.

I also get the argument that a lack of university support, or university non-recognition, isn't in and of itself a complete barrier towards establishing a chapter. At the same time, it's a HUGE hurdle. It's not just a matter of saying to guys "Hey, it will be tough, but it's worth it! Work hard and recruit, and the rest will take care of itself!" There are some serious challenges that come with starting a chapter at a school where there is no university recognition. You can't use school funds, you don't have IFC/Greek Life office resources to supplement your efforts, etc. I won't say that it's an impossible enterprise, but I think there has to be a LOT of support in place (alumni and otherwise) for it to work.

Like you said, I don't think we're far apart in how we feel about all of this. It will be interesting to see how the new SEC (and other leadership) addresses this over the next 2 years, and beyond.

[Ithakappasig]

Totally agree about failures our failure of colonies having a significant impact-- that's why I really think the previously listed ten items and any other useful approaches we can borrow should be employed.

As some previous posters pointed out, the perceived approach has been "start a lot of colonies each year and you will overcome the failure rates." It is part of the quantity over quality which is part of the tension between business/money and higher ups vs meaningful brotherhood (a national organization offering services and seeking quality).

Kappa Sigma shouldn't be singled out though- most of the larger fraternities are doing this as a regular practice whether they admit it or not but it has to be balanced with services and quality. I would say these are the conditions where, if you have a smaller group or some financial constraints with chartering costs, you work with them and go for recognition- set the bar high but have flexibility. Kappa Sigma didn't have 50 men in Charlottesville in 1869. They were selective and it paid off with the organization we have today.

I hear what you're saying about the support from universities (and if you are at a school with all that support you are talking about then I would say great- go for it!) The IFC and the university when actively opposed are by definition a hindrance. But if they are supporting you there really isn't an issue, yes?

Why do you think that at all the schools I mentioned all of our competitors are flourishing and we are not? It just seems like excuses. I don't see the problems you imagine that come from not having university support. Obviously there are examples which I cited and many more.

I'll say this from experience. If other fraternities like yours are flourishing, you have a good recruitment team and plan, you should be able to fulfill basic requirements for most fraternities unless the fraternity has a problem. In some cases the fraternity is just not competitive or compatible in what it is offering or not marketing itself well (or you may have unrealistic goals like 50 members to charter). Just as likely, the team or the plan are not really that great. But it isn't because the college or IFC isn't giving enough money.

In fact I've seen where it is more often a point of contention where IFC orgs are angry that a non-IFC org was operating without the limits that they have. Again I speak from personal experience here. If the IFC and the school welcomes the fraternity however it is a moot point.

In the cases where there are not IFC's and university recognition or it is very limited it has not been a problem. And while I am speaking about personal experiences you need only check with how successful new fraternities have been at Princeton, Yale, G'town, etc. They're there and I know that at these schools that it was just student and organizational efforts since most weren't re-colonizations.

Don't think I'm "downing" Kappa Sig here- I think that if we aren't having honest, constructive conversations about what we need, that is downing Kappa Sig in another way. I know that the archives hold a whole bunch of dirty laundry of the fraternity for better or worse.

The exchange in this thread however is the sort of constructive discussion that should bother no one, on a topic as harmless as recruiting goals (as opposed to money management, politics and other squabbles at the top and the lack of communication with the broader organization.) Anyone reading this from the outside should appreciate the ethic of honesty, constructive self criticism in the pursuit of preeminence. Sure there can be better communication and more responsiveness (something that I see a lot of people talking about around here) but I think that with the amount of people that care and voice their thoughts the message will get across. With all the email groups, social networking sites, etc. just saying someone didn't answer any of your email sounds like some people are giving up too easily in making their legitimate concerns heard-- start a blog or something, they'll hear you and also, contact a chapter and volunteer. My point here however is about expansion in the Northeast.

We can learn from the mistakes and successes of Sigma Chi, SAE, Beta and Phi Delt in the region when we put forth better efforts in the region. We can also come behind other fraternities and give a better option, and frankly get better people and start building some better metro and chapter alumni groups than our competitors. I would hate to come into Brown or Georgetown or Yale 15 years ago but today they are great opportunities. The only thing is that the campus clubs, sports teams, informal groups, etc. begin to dwindle as they are approached by other fraternities.

The SEC has been heavily weighted to the Southwest. P.W.G.M. K aplan is close to Eastern New Mexico University and New Mexico University (where he is an alumni and alum adviser) and his people are such big political players since the foundation /HQ funding squabble and litigation; since then the leaders sort of come from the guys who participated in one side of that. I really like what WGM Betz has to say. While he was a chief litigant in that whole foundation thing (which seems to be requisite for SEC office since that time) he may bring some refocusing being from a small school in Tennessee and based in Florida I believe. Hopefully we will see not a shuffling but fresh faces that are more familiar with the South, Mid-Atlantic, West, the Midwest and New England. We seriously need newer, broader, more representative voices to be heard- for all the obvious reasons but not the least of which is that we are seeing uneven regional growth and a lack of metro or regional alumni associations.

I heard Bro Chris Nascimento (sp?) talk about some issues that related to the Northeast that sounded good at least but I also heard a lot of ear hustling and back patting as is typical of any conclave. Just hope that #10 works out- that the SEC hears that we would really benefit by some quality growth in the Northeast. I'm really confident that some good things will happen if we all let the SEC know what we want and offer our support.

[stufield]

I was pleased to see some spirited discussion about the Fraternity's presence (or relative lack thereof) in the Northeast, and sorry to see it end so abruptly. Hopefully my busy law practice will allow me some time later this month to add to the discussion, as I thought all posters made some valid points, but were also mistaken with regard to some of their purported facts.

Ithakappasig [and any others who also use the word alumni incorrectly]: Please note that one person is not "an alumni". "Alumni" is plural, the plural of the masculine singular "alumnus". Brother Betz is an "alumnus", not "an alumni". He, KSigkid, and I, collectively, are "alumni". The feminine equivalents are "alumna" [singular] and "alumnae" [plural]. I can't believe that anyone went through a pledge training or pledge education period without being taught that. But I see the word "alumni" misused so often that I guess the "alumnus" - "alumni", "alumna" - "alumnae" thing is no longer part of pledge education. Too bad. It should be.

Also Ithakappasig: In your August 23rd post you listed a number of Northeast schools that you think are good expansionary objectives. I agree for the most part with your list, and could even add several other schools as well. But please note that, happily, Kappa Sigma already does have a chapter (Beta-Pi) at one school (Dickinson College) on you list. The chapter had been dormant for about five years, but was recolonized a couple of years ago, and rechartered last year. We also have dormant chapters at two other schools in your list: Syracuse and Villanova, two prominent schools at which we are conspicuous by our present absence and to which we should return as soon as possible. We had a short-lived colony at Villanova last year, but its members decided that they did not want to have to cope with all of the Fraternity's requirements for colonies, and they disassociated. We also had a large and strong interest group at Syracuse at the beginning of the last (2008-09) school year, but because Syracuse has a moratorium on fraternity expansion, the school threatened to sue the Fraternity if it recognized that group as a colony. Although the Fraternity has established colonies at several schools without formal recognition from those schools, and sometimes in open defiance of the schools' administrations, and has even chartered three such groups as chapters (Pi-Zeta at the Charlotte campus of Johnson and Wales University, Pi-Theta at Coastal Carolina University, and Pi-Kappa at Bentley College) it backed down from Syracuse and did not recognize the interest group there. Hopefully, Kappa Sigma will return to Syracuse and Villanova in the near future ... or at least before I die!

[stufield]

Good news.

The Fraternity has FINALLY posted a list of chapters and colonies to go along with the map of chapters and colonies on the Fraternity website. There is a link to the list below the map. Actually there are two complementary lists, as the chapters can be sorted by either school name or chapter/colony name.

Of course, in classic HQ tradition, the list is not free of glaring errors. The St. John's University Colony (which incidentally, I understand is the largest fraternity on the SJU campus and could well receive its charter this Fall, i.e. before the Holiday Season) is simply referred to as "St. John" ... ???. Worse yet, the Texas Woman's University Colony is referred to as "Texas Woman"!!! How anyone who was preparing such a list could dare to post it with such a ridiculous mistake is beyond me, but that is, unfortunately, typical of our HQ staff and our Website. Scholarship may well be one of the four pillars of Kappa Sigma, but one seldom sees evidence of it out of IMH or on the Website.

The list is also out of date in one happy respect. The Lake Erie College Colony, though still shown as a colony on the list, has been chartered as Pi-Chi Chapter. But again, it is just like HQ to post a list that is already out of date when it is posted. HOPEFULLY, the list will be updated frequently.

Meanwhile, the map itself STILL has not been updated since it was put online over half a year ago, and it was seriously out of date at that time. It is absolutely unbelievable that the fraternity could allow the map to go that long without being updated/corrected.

Now that the new academic year has begun, if anyone knows of any new interest groups or colonies, or of any chapter of colony closures, or of any other related news, please post same.

[Ithakappasig]

Brother, I'm going to say this and I am confident that you will take it in the spirit intended. There was a single misuse of alumni though I am sure if you take the time you find other grammar errors (and just errors in style such as contractions, etc.) When the time is taken to write something of this length by busy people there will be some quick additions, rewrites and simple carelessness that causes these errors. I think you can be confident that we all know the difference btw alumni, alumnus, alumna and alumnae. Instead of being helpful, as I am sure you intend it to be, it comes across as snide, condescending and detracts from your contribution.

Remembering that I was told as a child that it was not polite to correct someone else's grammar in informal, non-educational settings and that it may be poor manners to comment upon someone else's manners, I want to get back to the important points you make. I think you add some of the most interesting and informative posts regarding Kappa Sig on this site.

Dickinson is welcome news! I know that they were actively recruiting for the colony in spring of 2008 so that's relatively recent. Kappa Sigma losing a colony at Villanova, and an interest group at Syracuse- hmmm, that's unfortunate. Without knowing the details with Villanova I only hope that it was not because we were not flexible with the 50 men, the $25/25 hrs of service, or something else of that kind that can be worked towards in the long run. I would argue that large numbers are not really an accurate indicator of chapter vitality anyway. I think we are all aware of the outcomes for several large fraternities that chased numbers instead of quality. I am most concerned about the situation at Syracuse because there was no legal grounds there and I think that has been well established.

Putting aside the circumstances with the online presence (frustrating though it is), I think that our growth, support, alumni chapters, and benefits have to keep apace. I was made aware of other fraternity alumni groups being in residence at university or city clubs. I also understand that some fraternities have a program to bring in service academy graduates. These are steps that we might consider as we attempt to constantly better the fraternity. I would rather us try to be "the best fraternity" than "the most preferred", whatever that means. I believe that before that great marketing slogan that was Kappa Sigma's stated mission. We can't put the shortcomings I hear of on the SEC or the internecine struggles or even seeming non-responsiveness among leadership; the fraternity's leaders will respond to the membership if the membership makes its voice heard. If there is complacency then we deserve a complacent organization.

[stufield]

"I think you can be confident that we all know the difference btw alumni, alumnus, alumna and alumnae. Instead of being helpful, as I am sure you intend it to be, it comes across as snide, condescending and detracts from your contribution."

No, I am not confident that "we all know the difference between alumni, alumnus". The fact of the matter is that few people who post on here DO know the difference, as the mistake is made repeatedly. So I simply took this most recent instance to point out the difference.

If you feel that the comment was snide, then you have no conception whatsoever of the meaning of that word. There was no snideness in what I said.

If you feel that the comment was condescending, then I suggest that is simply defensiveness on your part. The comment was not intended to be condescending, and I don't think it contains any condescension. The comment simply pointed out an error that is commonly made these days, but was hardly ever made a generation ago when more attention was made to language usage.

And there is a big difference between the improper use of "alumni" and other grammatical (not grammar) errors such as contractions. And that IS a condescending remark!

Whoever told you that it was impolite to correct someone's grammar in informal and informal situations was simply wrong, and besides which I do regard these postings to be educational, albeit informal. I, for one, have learned far more about what is really happening in and with the Fraternity from boards such as these (and others) than from reading the public-relations, contolled spin that IMH publishes on the website and in The Caduceus.

[stufield]

"Dickinson is welcome news! I know that they were actively recruiting for the colony in spring of 2008 so that's relatively recent."

The chapter was restored almost a year ago.


"Kappa Sigma losing a colony at Villanova, and an interest group at Syracuse- hmmm, that's unfortunate. Without knowing the details with Villanova I only hope that it was not because we were not flexible with the 50 men, the $25/25 hrs of service, or something else of that kind that can be worked towards in the long run. I would argue that large numbers are not really an accurate indicator of chapter vitality anyway. I think we are all aware of the outcomes for several large fraternities that chased numbers instead of quality."

I agree with you about the numbers thing. This could be the subject of a larger post. I know why the SEC set the 50-man requirement, and while I understand their thinking, I don't agree with it. There are many long-running, successful Kappa Sig chapters that never would have got off the ground if the 50-man requirement had then been in force.

Actually, the 50-man requirement is not as rigid as it sounds. An alternative requirement is that a colony have the largest membership, or the same membership as the otherwise largest chapter(s), on a campus where no chapters have 50 men. And the Fraternity has relaxed the 50-man requirement in some other occasions. There are several chapters in the Omicron, Xi, and Pi letter series that were chartered with less than 50 founding initiates. Nonetheless, the 50-man requirement has scared off some interest groups that might otherwise have become successful colonies.

As for the short-lived Villanova colony, I cannot recall the specifics of why they decided they did not want to be associated with Kappa Sigma. It may not have been any one thing, or any two or three specific things, but just an overall thing. In an y case, it was unfortunate because Villanova is a school we should be at, and it would be grat to see a return of Kappa-Psi chapter there.

"I am most concerned about the situation at Syracuse because there was no legal grounds there and I think that has been well established."

You are simply wrong about this. Syracuse is a private university, and thus does have the right to control what organizations it chooses to recognize and not recognize, and would have had solid legal grounds for suing the Fraternity if it had established a prohibited organization there. The Fraternity has established/supported unrecognized groups at a number of other private institutions, and still does so. But those other schools have never taken, and perhaps never even threatened to take, legal action against the fraternity. They simply continued, and in some instances still continue, to grant recognition to the Kappa Sigma group, be it colony or chapter. But Syracuse made it very clear in no uncertain terms that it WOULD take legal action. So even though the interest group was large and strong, the Fraternity decided not to test the Syracuse administration. In the long run, such compliance with the administration may help the Fraternity be selected to expand when the school's administration is more favorably inclined to expansion.

[stufield]

"I would rather us try to be "the best fraternity" than "the most preferred", whatever that means."

I agree wholeheartedly. "The most preferred fraternity" is a shameless marketing ploy by the Fraternity based on the fraternity's assertion that it has pledged more men in each of the last few years than any other fraternity. But even IF Kappa Sigma HAS pledged more mean than any other fraternity, that does not make Kappa Sigma "the most preferred fraternity". The true yardstick, numbers-wise, is which Fraternity INITIATES the most men. Pledge retention is the key. Any fraternity can go out and pledge a large number of men. But if the actives later decide that they don't want some of those pledges and cut them, or if the pledges decide that they made the wrong decision, and drop out, then how many were pledges in the first place means little, if anything. Despite having the largest number of pledges in a year, Kappa Sigma does NOT have the highest retention rate, the highest number of initiates, or the highest average number of men per chapter, all better indicators of preference than the number of pledges. Pledging is based on often first, often superficial impressions in a very short period of time, by rushees who are usually young, inexperienced, and highly impressionable. How many of those pledges stick around and ultimately decide to become initiates of a chapter is a far better of indicator of preference than the number of pledges the chapter takes to begin with. You may or may not have noticed that the Fraternity never publishes / publicizes / brags about its overall pledge retention / initiate numbers. Why do you suppose that is?

So much about the Fraternity's affairs these past few years has revolved around numbers: number of pledges, number of new colonies, number of charterings. But as your posting suggests, there is indeed far more to "quality" than "quantity". There are any number of fraternities with far fewer chapters, far fewer total members, and far fewer pledges that are every bit as good as, and are probably better than, Kappa Sigma in every other respect, measurable and intangible: Phi Gamma Delta, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Phi are four such mid-size fraternities, and there are a number of much smaller ones, such as Theta Delta Chi, Chis Psi, Psi Upsilon, and others that are every bit as good as Kappa Sigma, are just as "preferred" or "preferable" in ways other than simply how many chapters they have or how many men they pledged or initiated.

Still, from the time of Stephen Alonzo Jackson, Kappa Sigma has been an expansionary fraternity, and where the Fraternity has most recently expanded to and where it will or might expand to next are interesting topics. In the Northeast, I have heard that we have new interest groups at Rochester Institute of Technology and Hofstra University, two schools at which our chapters (Omicron-Alpha and Nu-Eta, respectively) became inactive three or four years ago. So it would be terrific to return to both those schools.

[Ithakappasig]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grammar (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grammatical) (Note "the way in which grammar is used." Like "spelling (n) error", "computer error" it still works out and people get away with it. Horror of horrors! ) It's not of importance to me Stufield, I just thought you would be interested. I considered fraternity forums an informal and youthful exchange. I read Greekchat posts in the manner I believe they are intended-- as informal. Perhaps I am wrong and if so I apologize to readers. (People, you are going to have to forgive me but I'm not going to edit forum postings except to add info nor will I pay much attention to much beyond the substance of what is being said.) I don't believe continuing the rest of that line of conversation is constructive and can be characterized as either a difference of opinion or misunderstanding. Brothers have those.

I strongly agree with most of (Stufield's) latest assertions and positions so I won't comment on them or restate them. Hopefully others others read those posts. I also appreciate the additional information about Hofstra and RIT though I have mixed feelings, to generously put it, about the news.

IMO Kappa Sig is an elite, truly national fraternity (Kappa Sigma has been the quintessential Greek letter fraternity) that is in danger of falling well behind a half dozen peers due to recent internal issues that are easily addressed by capable leadership. Some bad ideas have been circulating about lowering standards, trying to be everything to everyone, and being hip and new. In what has been a decade of change, these changes have not been good. We really need greater selectivity and a stronger identity rooted in the past. The last thing we should be is a fraternity for men that might not otherwise join a fraternity!

Kappa Sigma is obviously still recovering; it is not what it was prior to the split with the foundation and the end of the Charlottesville conclaves. (Why we have a $6 million HQ if we don't use it for conclaves like Kappa Sig did in the old HQ does not make sense to me.) Petty seemingly politics have made for stagnation and misdirected effort. Yet the level of criticism that you (Bro. Stufield) believe is due Kappa Sigma or even the SEC is beyond what I think is due. Regardless of variations in perspectives I hope it encourages brothers to consider what improvements are possible and how we can make them happen.

I do not feel that Kappa Sigma should be in terms of quality lumped in with the group of fraternities that you say "are every bit as good as, and are probably better than, Kappa Sigma in every other respect, measurable and intangible". I say this not just because of fraternity pride but because I am very knowledgeable of a number of those fraternities and have been in a position to judge. I think most impartial observers would only see two or three of those fraternities at Kappa Sigma's level frankly.

We may also have a different read on the the authority of Syracuse or any private university to curtail expansion.

I'm a freshly minted member of the bar and I confess to not being as sharp as I might in some areas of the law but I hope I didn't let any ruling pass me regarding a private organization's ability to limit the Freedom of Association of another private organization. You may be speaking in practical terms. (This may be a topic worth being careful about even on an informal forum.)

In some ways the battles between universities and fraternities in the U.S. have hardly abated from the fever pitch of 90's. Universities have undertaken interesting and innovative ways to stop fraternities from being active. The approaches however, even with the most aggressively anti-fraternity administrators, have been aimed at the student, not the fraternity (insofar as they have not banned national fraternity offices from dealing with students independently.)

The university can (and often will) cut off access to campus facilities and in rare cases get incoming students to sign agreements that they will not participate in fraternities. The last step as a compulsory act hasn't been around since the clause in the 1998 Higher Education Amendments, (part of Public Law 105-244) which protects students right to associate with fraternities without fear of retribution from colleges that receive federal funding. This has yet to be tested in a court of law by either side but since that time colleges have not attempted to kick students out of college who participate in fraternities off campus. (I think Congress owed us something after the debacle that was CRA 64 which impinged on freedom of religion and association as it applied to fraternities.)

Apparently even the most stridently anti-fraternity administrators have considered the can of worms they would open by interfering with off campus student activities. Even Amherst has stopped harassing its students in fraternities. Amherst still asks potential Residence Counselors for a list of organizations they are active in, with the implication that if you are a member and say you are in a fraternity you will not be selected. It was an issue a year ago when underground Chi Psi members were found to be Amherst RC's but the students were not fired or otherwise disciplined.

At schools that have driven GLO's underground have both sides have found a modus vivendi it seems: if students don't flaunt organizational membership on campus the administrators will ignore or unhappily accept the organization's existence.

I contacted people I know that work for Kappa Sig and they have not heard of the situation at Syracuse as described. If Syracuse is taking a new and unlawful approach, directly challenging fraternities' off campus, student to fraternity activities I cannot help but think we would her about it. Perhaps it was a more complicated situation.

Kappa Sigma should shy away from certain expansion and reestablishment projects. Among the expansion we probably shouldn't encourage are new or renewed chapters that act as unofficial ethnic fraternities that take the rejected overflow of the official ethnic ones (a danger in the Northeast especially). Nor should Kappa Sigma look to a return of chapters that had repeated and serious problems with poor behavior towards women or violence. At the same time returning a charter to a committed new group should be encouraged and not be used as an reason to pile on exorbitant fees for "reviews" or penalize unrelated parties for the sins of a few bad apples.

At any rate Kappa Sigma should grow and we shall grow, whether by the methods I discussed or better ideas. That doesn't mean we should avoid the best schools and best students to reach for the lowest hanging fruit. It also doesn't mean that growth should be the only or even the chief priority. And Kappa Sigma must make its communication, student and alumni social and business networking and event opportunities (and other fraternity benefits) the best offered if it is to truly be the "most preferred". That's a message worth getting across to leadership.

[akksigwolf]

hey everybody, here's an update about the anchorage, alaska colony. we were established back in october 2007. right now we are planning installment/initiation for this november a little over two years from the date th colony was set up. we are currently at 30 members, the largest fraternity at the university of alaska anchorage.

[stufield]

Thanks for the report, and terrific news. Be sure to post again once you know your colony's installation date and the Greek letters that have been designated for your chapter. There are only two more chapters to be chartered in the Pi series, and I understand from a post a few days ago by chicostateksig that the University of California at San Diego colony is being chartered this weekend with the second last name in that series, Pi-Psi. So your chapter will either be Pi-Omega or early in the Rho series, if one or more other colonies is or are chartered before yours (not counting, of course, colonies of former chapters, which will be rechartered, not chartered, and retain the chapter's prior Greek letter name).

[stufield]

Recolonization of Gamma-Xi Chapter at Denison University, located in central Ohio.

Possibly also recolonization of Theta-Delta Chapter at Willamette University, located in Salem, Oregon? If no actual recolonization yet, it certainly is in the works.

Those are, or would be, significant recolonizations of once-strong chapters at two quite well-known private universities.

Anybody know of any other new colonizations or interest groups this Fall?

[KSigkid]

I know there's a colony at American International College in Springfield, MA. However I haven't heard any word recently on the colony or its status.

[stufield]

I know there's a colony at American International College in Springfield, MA. However I haven't heard any word recently on the colony or its status.

Yes, that colony was established last Spring. So it is not a new one this year.

[Ithakappasig]

Recolonization of Gamma-Xi Chapter at Denison University, recolonization of Theta-Delta Chapter at Willamette University sounds wonderful. Good to hear! I'm sure they will make it happen.

[stufield]

It is now into the third month of the academic year, and the Fraternity STILL has not updated the map or the list of chapters and colonies on the Website. Both were out of date when added to the Website, and neither has been updated since. It's really pathetic.

Notwithstanding the lack of any assistance from the website, there is some news to report:

Brooklyn College has finally been installed as Pi-Phi chapter. That chapter designation was assigned to the colony prior to its anticipated chartering date. Some problems arose (which, of course, the Fraternity is not revealing) which caused the chartering to be postponed. Meanwhile, the Lake Erie College and UCSD colonies were chartered as Pi-Chi and Pi-Psi chapters. Then, last weekend, Brooklyn College was belatedly installed.

Sacred Heart University is being installed this weekend as Pi-Omega chapter, giving the Fraternity another badly-needed active chapter in the Northeast, where Kappa Sig is seriously underrepresented.

So that is it for the Pi series of chapters. The next new chapter (as opposed to a restored chapter) should be Rho-Alpha. It could be the St. John's University colony, which apparently has been prospering, or perhaps CSU Northridge, which is presently the "oldest" colony.

Neither the recolonization of Gamma-Xi Chapter at Denison University or the recolonization of Theta-Delta Chapter at Willamette University, referred to in previous posts on this thread, appears to have got off the ground, or at least not as yet. The Fraternity did have staff at Denison. But perhaps they could not recruit enough sufficiently interested young men to start the colony.

On the other hand, Gamma-Nu chapter at Washburn University, located in Topeka, Kansas, HAS been recolonized, which is excellent news. Disappointingly, however, it is the only presently dormant chapter that has been recolonized so far this academic year.

New colony at High Point University, located in High Point, NC, a small, but growing private university with a small but growing Greek system. Kappa Sigma should do well there. The High Point colony increases the Fraternity's already strong presence in North Carolina (11 active chapters).

New colony at Illinois State University, a school Kappa Sigma should have been at 30 or 40 years ago. ISU only seems able to support a limited number of fraternities. Several fraternities prosper there, but several others have closed or suffer from low membership. Kappa Sigma is weak in Illinois, with only one other presently active chapter, Alpha-Lambda at the University of Illinois. So the Order badly needs a presence at Illinois State. But success there is by no means a sure thing.

New colony at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. This is another growing school with a growing Greek system. Despite its general strength in Texas, Kappa Sigma was not among the initial fraternities there, such as Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi. So, like Illinois State, this is an "its about goddamm time" colonization. Hopefully, the colony will thrive.

Most recent colony is at Central Washington University, located in Ellensburg. This is a classic example of Kappa Sigma's present expansion policy of establishing colonies in response to groups which approach it, regardless of how improbable the chances of success might be on the often-obscure campuses where those groups are located, rather than proactively seeking to colonize at the 100+ schools that already have well-established Greek systems where the Order is not presently represented. This has led to colonies in the past four years at, among others, such schools as Southwest Oklahoma State, Eastern Oregon, Carroll College, Southwestern College, West Liberty State, Gonzaga, Wayne State College, West Florida, Texas-Brownsville, Southern Indiana, Oklahoma Panhandle State, UBC Okanagan, Bellarmine, Notre Dame, and, most recently before Central Washington, Tusculum College, all of which had virtually NO chance whatsoever of succeeding, and all of which, predictably, closed after brief existences. Kappa Sigma does not have a strong presence in the State of Washington, with only two active chapters, Beta-Psi at UW and Gamma-Mu at WSU. Neither chapter is very strong on its campus, although Beta-Psi has at least grown from near-extinction a few years ago to a mid-size chapter on the UW campus. Gamma-Mu used to be strong chapter at Wazzou, but was closed a few years ago for CoC violations, and then subsequently restored, but still struggles with relatively low membership. So a third chapter in Washington would be a big boost to the Fraternity. Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, just a few miles west of Spokane, already has a well-established Greek system that includes Sig Ep, Sigma Nu, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Chi, and Pi Lambda Phi chapters. Central Washington, on the other had, has no fraternities or sororities, and no Greek culture, just as Gonzaga does not. So where does Kappa Sigma colonize. First at GU and now CWU!!! But if, for instance, the Phi Delts and the Betas, who, in addition to having chapters at UW and WSU, also have other Washington active chapters at the University of Puget Sound (where our own chapter closed about 12 years ago) and Whitman College, as well as EWU as aforesaid, have not yet expanded to Central, what would make anyone think that Kappa Sigma could do so successfully? Obviously, I hope that the CWU colony DOES succeed. But I suspect that this colony is destined for the same fate as the Gonzaga colony. Meanwhile, we will continue to remain unrepresented at Eastern Washington, a campus that does support Greek system.

One attractive feature of Central Washington University is that Ellensburg is located on I90, the highway along which the UW and WSU chapters run the game ball for the Apple Cup rivalry football game, one of the Fraternity's longest running (no pun intended) and most successful charitable events. So a CWU chapter could contribute significant support to that event.

Unfortunately, at least two colonies appear to have closed since the academic year began, the aforesaid Tusculum College and UC Santa Cruz.

Some active chapters have closed also, but since the Fraternity never announces closures and simply quietly deletes them from the chapter list, and since, as aforesaid, the chapter list has not been updated in months, I ma not sure how many or which ones. Two that I believe have closed are John Carroll University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the former perhaps for a CoC violation of some sort, the latter probably from low membership (it struggled with low membership throughout its existence). But this is just semi-educated speculation on my part, admittedly a contradiction in terms.

If anyone can confirm, clarify, contradict, and/or otherwise add to any of the foregoing, or provide any other information not mentioned above, such as where we presently have an interest group or are actively seeking to return a dormant chapter or expand to a campus where we've not yet been, please do post.

Chicostate and Ithaca, do you guys have anything to add?

.

[KSigkid]

Thanks for the update. It's nice to have another chapter in Connecticut; if I have any time post-law school, I'd like to get back into volunteering (I served as an AAA for a couple of years after college).

[LucyKKG]

Just confirming that UC Santa Cruz no longer has a Kappa Sigma colony.

[stufield]

LucyKKG:

Do you know what happened with the UC Santa Cruz colony?

[LucyKKG]

I don't know why, but they are now a colony of another fraternity. (Not sure if it's official yet or just an interest group, but they now go by that name.) I heard they had about 20 or 30 members, but I never had much inside info.

[KSUW]

Hey everyone! I'm in Delta-Gamma Colony at the University of Wyoming. We're VERY close to a charter!! everyone's really excited, but we have A LOT of work to do in the next few weeks, but its coming together pretty well so far :]

[Ithakappasig]

KSUW, good to hear. How 'bout them Cowboys! It is obvious that you have the attitude that will yield a chapter. The University of Wyoming is a really good place for us to be as the flagship state school and the American Heritage Center, etc.

Unfortunate news with Dennison and UCSC. I hope that Kappa Sigma keeps the lines open with the fellows from Dennison that stayed the course. One of the greatest disservices we can do is to lose good people and have them turn their heart and tongue against the fraternity. Of course some others around them failed to keep up their end and maybe Kappa Sigma lumps them all in the same boat by policy. Surely there is a better way. UCSC points out that we have to give support and offer benefit because we are not the only game in town for a good group of students.

Washburn seemed like it was poised for a strong comeback, in terms of its former chapter. It has the history and campus environment.

Sacred Heart, congratulations! I hope this is the start of a trend in what is now the weakest Kappa Sigma region. Lake Erie and Brooklyn made a strong showing towards colony status so it is good to see things come to fruition. They begin to fill in some edges of the blank canvas that is Kappa Sig's northeast region.

The situation in the region is not fully ameliorated by the addition of two or three new chapters of smaller or lesser known schools but it is a start. We started with smaller, lesser known schools but if NYU comes in especially, and I hear that looks good (and perhaps their neighbor Columbia) it would establish us well in New York and thus poise us for long overdue future growth in the Northeast.

I entirely agree Stu about the obvious need for expansion in the state of Illinois. Illinois has numerous high quality colleges and is too important to be so under-represented. It would be great to also come into a states with a strong push for the entire area. People are not just choosing fraternities but the local network.

And about the following statement from Stu:

"Regardless of how improbable the chances of success might be on the often-obscure campuses where those groups are located, rather than proactively seeking to colonize at the 100+ schools that already have well-established Greek systems where the Order is not presently represented. This has led to colonies in the past four years at, among others, such schools as Southwest Oklahoma State, Eastern Oregon, Carroll College, Southwestern College, West Liberty State, Gonzaga, Wayne State College, West Florida, Texas-Brownsville, Southern Indiana, Oklahoma Panhandle State, UBC Okanagan, Bellarmine, Notre Dame, and, most recently before Central Washington, Tusculum College, all of which had virtually NO chance..."

That is a good point though I do not so much mind that these colleges are targets. It is just that it should be obvious that these chapters are going to require help in doing things like finding housing, raising money and building fraternity culture.

Additionally I think that there are too many "reach" expansions for schools that will not strengthen Kappa Sigma in ways that other "reach" expansions would. Why not spend the energy on schools with long established reputations for excellence and some fraternal life? It would seem better symbolically and probably as an investment to have taken the same energy and resources to renew the old Kappa Sigma Harvard and stand beside Sigma Chi and SAE among others at that institution. (In the cases of many chapters like that it would mean taking far less than 50 men but quality should always trump quantity.)

Starting Gonzaga and Notre Dame colonies made a great statement that KS is committed to breaking new ground but failing at those two prominent Catholic schools without fraternities did us no favors. Sigma Phi Epsilon is flourishing apparently by itself at Georgetown. I wonder if they want company?

If we do go to Gonzaga or Notre Dame or such colleges again, we should be prepared to help find housing, establish ourselves with other academic or extracurricular groups to serve as feeders. It is also important to bring in alumni support. For a fraternity of our size we seem to under-utilize alumni as a resource, except among our own chapter alumni. Colonies need to have regional and metropolitan alumni networks at their disposal. Thinking of it, this is an approach that is needed for all the colonies and chapters.

[csuksig]

Hey everyone! I'm in Delta-Gamma Colony at the University of Wyoming. We're VERY close to a charter!! everyone's really excited, but we have A LOT of work to do in the next few weeks, but its coming together pretty well so far :]

Good to hear things are going well for you guys. I know all of us down here at the Pi-Xi chapter are looking forward to adding another chapter to the area and helping out with your installation. Feel free to hit us up if you guys need any help or if any of you guys are coming down for the CSU-Wyoming football game.

[Preston327]

One of my friends from high school who's a brother of Kappa Sigma at their chapter at Nova Southeastern University (I believe) tells me that his fraternity is planning to colonize Florida Atlantic University next semester.

[ryquis]

I'm not sure about the FGCU Kappa Sigmas. We were told by panhellenic and IFC to not let them come to our chapters or do socials with them because they were rude to our greek life advisors and are not recognized by the university.

I don't know any of them, but I have seen them with pins on. Could someone explain to me whats going on with that? How, if they are not recognized by us, do they consider themselves a chapter and recruit and such? I'm just curious, this is not meant to sound bitchy or anything :)

They are allowed to wear their pins and letters. Their national chapter recognizes them. That is all they need. They don't have to be recognized by the school to be a fraternity. They are a real fraternity. Not underground. Be respectful. Know your facts before you talk.

[KSUW]

csuksig,
Thanks to you guys for all of your support! it has been tough but I believe we have a lot of momentum going our way. HQ says we're about 72% done, so there are only a few things left, but they are the most important however. we'll see how the rest of the semester pans out in hopes that we hit the ground running after thanksgiving.

PS

GO POKES!!! :P

[Ithakappasig]

I don't think that Jenny meant to be offensive in her comments- she was clear about that at the end of her post. But you are right Ryquis, in that recognition by the university is not necessary. In fact, if it was an independent fraternity they would not need any recognition from any outside party.

I am concerned with that sort of perspective, i.e., that it might not occur to Jenny that students or anyone else can organize independently as they see fit and be just as valid as any other organization. I'm also troubled that brothers might be behaving in a disrespectful way, regardless of not participating with the IFC or the advisers. There may be another side of the story however. The IFC and university advisers may be colored by their disapproval of a fraternity they don't recognize when they warn others away. If you have witnessed them behaving a certain way or you were given actually examples it would be one thing but I wouldn't buy the characterization of them just being "disrespectful" absent of that.

I understand why Jenny's comments might get the hair on someone's back raised. Frankly, with Kappa Sig's troubles that are already apparent in terms of failed colonies, closed chapters, and chapters opting out, etc., that we probably should address errors like that. It may unfairly compound negative perceptions.

[jennyj87]

I was just asking a question. There was no need to get angry. Thank you Ithakappasig for understanding.
I am just going off of what I know as a greek life member, which is being recognized nationally and by the school. Thats at least how it is within MY organziation. I was asking if it was differnt in others. Obviously it is.

[KSigUNC]

Stu and Itha, over the course of these 14 pages of posts, you are both very quick to judge what you perceive as faults from our HQ staff and whine and complain about how you don't know anything and can't get any information about anything, blah blah blah. If you have an issue, pick up the phone and call someone at HQ. Don't hide behind fake screen names and lob grenades at the very dedicated team of individuals that we have working for this fraternity.

I would also ask what you have been doing since the start of this string to change the fraternity for the better. Have you been volunteers? If so, thank you for your service...if not I would say that it is easy to sit on the sidelines and complain when there is nothing personally invested for you aside from your membership. And instead of spending all of this time and energy posting to a chat site, you redirect that energy into volunteering. One of the reasons so many of our colonies struggle is because we can't get any alumni to stand up and remember their obligations. It is one of the most rewarding things I get to do as a member of this fraternity, something that actually helps to affect change, instead of just whining.

We had great kickoffs this past weekend at Illinois State and Belmont-Abbey. Great groups of guys with dedicated alumni to support them. This coming weekend there will be kickoffs at Dennison, Grand Valley State University and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

[Ithakappasig]

KSigUNC, you said that others were quick to judge but have not done anything but complain, and have not picked up a phone, organized and worked, or donated resources, etc. I would say that the first error there is that you assumed that I for one haven't volunteered, or picked up a phone, etc. At least in my case you really couldn't be more off base.

And I don't want to speak for anyone else but some of the people (not just two) who have been critical have generally spoken about a lack of responsiveness from some higher ups, and given some pretty concrete examples. More importantly at least regarding my own comments, I have never been just critical but have also spoken positively, spoken in defense of what is good and I have offered ideas and positive examples of actions being taken inside and outside of the fraternity.

Whether the criticism or examples used are fair or valid is up to others to determine but I know I have not agreed on all criticisms posted here myself. I think your assessment is just as valid as anyone else's and I would never take the approach that the way to make things better is to stifle criticism. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. In fact I am always cautious of institutions or people who feel that the best way to deal with any concerns or differences of opinion is not to discuss them, particularly where others might be able to follow the discussion. (That may be somewhat hypocritical of me since I have avoided topics and made mention of others in such a way that only those who are very familiar with the fraternity and its history may be able to understand.)

I don't worry about the conversations scaring off prospects. The best prospects want to know the good and bad. They (hopefully) aren't joining because they want some Greek letters, the chance to say they belong to something and to know a handshake; they want to invest and get something back in a living brotherhood.

If they hear the bad later they are apt to feel more annoyed (and disenchanted) even if they are gung-ho now. It will be the critically thinking pledges of today who will say for instance, "our chapter alumni or area alumni are not really active so we should reach out and get things going" or "we should have better support or plans for housing improvement so we should ask around for best practices among GLO's and share them with our chapters."

At certain sites or groups I see more hostility and negativity without constructive alternatives offered. That does alarm me. There should not be that level of hostility and frustration towards (and from) the leadership and each other. It seems like in many cases people are talking past each other, instead of hearing concerns, ideas, suggestions, and finding constructive solutions.

I would argue that your exhortation that alumni should get more involved here on this public forum is exactly the sort of thing, coupled with action, that makes positive change! Without discussion, comparisons and criticism there is no possible plan for improvement, and without implementing the plan there is no improvement.

I would also add that Stu, (who has not agreed on everything I stated and vice versa) is obviously committed to KS, well informed about Kappa Sig and the world of fraternities in general. He has done a service for me at least, in sharing information and prodding for still more. Even when I disagree with his sentiments I feel heartened to read that someone cares so much about a better future and truly being "second to none" that he is not satisfied with the status quo.

I really wanted this reply to be general but I can't resist the one specific quote because I think you are on target, i.e., "One of the reasons so many of our colonies struggle is because we can't get any alumni to stand up and remember their obligations." That has been one of my chief topics addressed and I think you do us all a favor by addressing it here. But I also think that there needs to be a more robust framework formally and informally. I would suggest the latter as well because the former is the perfect way to get bogged down with extra fees, strangling policies, politics, and all the other great things that come with such bureaucracies; (and why "depend on that which has not yielded the thing before"?)

Funny thing is UNC, if you had a blog or forum discussing your thoughts, successes and challenges with your activities at your (very fine) chapter in Colorado and that region it would probably exponentially motivate and inform a bunch more people to follow suit and attract a bunch of prospects. If you do though, keep it anonymous so that the "higher ups" don't come down on you, just in case you get a little critical. ;)

OH YEAH, AND SEASON'S GREETING Kappa Sigs at University of Northern Colorado and Everyone Else Out there!

[Ithakappasig]

I'm posting this non Kappa Sig info because I think that whenever we can look at what others are doing (in other chapters or other fraternities) we can pick and choose what works for us and where applicable include or improve upon it. It may be focused on information sharing but I think that it can really be applied towards expansion directly or indirectly. A friend fave me a very discreet (nothing secret or private) look around the Sigma Chi login site below. I was impressed but even the public stuff on these new sites is impressive. We do good things with listserves, etc. but this was so much beyond, and better. (I also like what Phi Delt is doing with template and hosting of any chapter that wants it.) Good things happening in the fraternity world.

The Sigma Chi Fraternity launched a website and ShareSigmaChi www.sigmachi.com (http://www.sigmachi.com/). SigmaChi.com will allow it’s members to connect with one another and will be the most important website for Sigs who want to connect. This website will become the “private” network for Sigs, while sigmachi.org will continue to be the “public” site for Sigma Chi. In this podcast (http://sharesigmachi.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/sigma-chi-headquarters-launches-a-new-website-for-sigs/) on Share Sigma Chi (http://www.sharesigmachi.com/) they discuss what SigmaChi.com is, how it will serve Sigma Chi members... Here is page for podcasts (another pretty good idea and good site) And here (http://sharesigmachi.wordpress.com/) is an unofficial blog that I think is not just a template but also some stuff that Kappa Sigs (and other fraternity men) might find useful.

[CMUKappaSig]

well i dont know if anyone from Central Michigan is on here but if not i just wanted let you guys know that we are finishing the paperwork to offically becoming IFC and from what i'm told we should have our charter by september.

[fumblerooski]

"Two that I believe have closed are John Carroll University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the former perhaps for a CoC violation of some sort, the latter probably from low membership (it struggled with low membership throughout its existence). But this is just semi-educated speculation on my part, admittedly a contradiction in terms."

I wasn't at JCU when they were kicked out, but I came the next year and my brothers told me some stories about them. I'm not going to go into details but they did a lot of bad stuff (and really funny i have to admit) that got them unrecognized by the university. Because of this they were supposed to meet with their nationals, but they skipped the meeting and got their charter pulled, too.

[stufield]

Does anyone know, or has anyone even heard, anything about schools to which the Fraternity will be expanding in the 2010 - 2011 academic year ... either recolonizations of presently dormant chapters, or colonizations of schools at which we have never yet had a chapter. I have not read a word all summer on this forum, twitter, facebook, the Fraternity Website, or elsewhere. So I'm curious if anyone has any solid information or even has heard any rumours.

[stufield]

Four months have passed since I last posted here, and although there have been numerous hits on the thread, not one new posting in that time. So those who have been accessing the thread either have no information to contribute, or have some information they could contribute but are not inclined to post it. That being the case, I will respond with the information that I have, most of which I have simply gleaned from the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity website (unfortunately, unlike most other fraternities, Kappa Sigma does not publish news releases or other announcements of new colonizations, chartering or rechartering of colonies, and colony or chapter closures; instead colonies simply appear on or disappear from, and chartered or rechartered colonies have their status changed to chapters on, the lists of active colonies and chapters on the Website; so unless one is following those lists closely, one would not know what new colonies have been established, what colonies have been chartered or rechartered, and what colonies or chapters have been closed). In any case, so far this academic year:

1. the former Epsilon-Rho and Delta-Chi colonies at Kent State and Mississippi State Universities, respectively, have been rechartered;

2. the former colonies at Belmont Abbey College, Central Washington University, the University of Texas at Tyler, and Eastern Kentucky University have been chartered as Rho-Lambda, Rho-Mu, Rho-Nu, and Rho-Xi Chapters, respectively, following the most recent prior charterings of SUNY Cortland and Cal State Monterey Bay as Rho-Iota and Rho-Kappa Chapters late in the 2001-2010 academic year;

3. new colonies have been established at the University of Southern Indiana, Indiana University Southeast, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and the Midland, Michigan campus of Northwood University (which also has a campus in Florida and another in Texas) ... not an especially distinguished list of schools, but four new campuses nonetheless;

4. the fraternity also showed a new colony at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania for about ten days, two weeks max, before it disappeared from the lists ... perhaps the briefest colony in the history of the Fraternity, perhaps nevera ctually a colony at all;

5. Xi-Zeta Chapter at Northwest Missouri State University and historic Eta Prime Chapter at Duke University have been recolonized, although the latter lacks formal recognition by the Duke administration;

6. Lambda-Epsilon and Beta Chapters at the University of Central Florida and the University of Alabama's main campus at Tuscaloosa were closed for Risk Management violations, but quickly recolonized ... or downgraded to colonies; the same may be true of Kappa-Rho at Boise State University (can anyone confirm);

7. colonies at Ball State, Illinois State, SUNY Oneonta (Risk Management violations), and Limestone College were closed, the latter because of disinterest at a school with no Greek life other than the colony (like many of the Fraternity's failed colonies over the past four or five years, Limestone should never have been colonized in the first place, as its chances of succeeding were almost zero from the outset); presumably, the Ball State and Illinois State colonies also failed to generate sufficient interest/membership to continue on their respective campuses, which is unfortunate because those are two schools at which Kappa Sigma SHOULD have chapters (should have had them decades ago).

8. Rho-Zeta Chapter at Florida Gulf Coast University was awarded formal recognition by the school, and thus no longer is shown on the Website as being located at Fort Myers, Florida rather than at FGCU;

9. the present colony at the University of California at Merced has been approved by the SEC for chartering in the New Year; one or two or more other colonies may also be so-approved, and I have just not heard of it (confirmations anyone).

If anyone has any corroborating or additional news, please post. Lots of people do access it in the hope of picking up news, since the Fraternity itself is so parsimonious about providing any.

[James]

Thank you Stufield.

[stufield]

You're welcome. Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty much a one-person thread.

[sieghart]

Hey, first post, and I probably won't check up much, but at UC Davis, Beta-Phi is coming back. =]. We had a few rough patches, but we've grown 200% in the last month and a half or so. Looking for a June chartering.

[stufield]

Thanks for posting, and for the good news. I, for one, had been wondering about the progress, or lack thereof, of the UC Davis colony. I'm glad to read that the colony now seems to be prospering, and that the rechartering of Beta-Phi Chapter is now in the foreseeable future.

Would like to read similar reports from other colonies.

[sieghart]

The problem was that we were so close, (45 members or so), but with spring graduation and 99% of the colony being Seniors, graduation managed to set us back back to square one.

[1clemson1]

Kappa Sig is being re-colonized at Clemson.

[stufield]

Kappa Sig is being re-colonized at Clemson.

Fantastic news. Do you know when?

[c130jumper53]

Fantastic news. Do you know when?

Kappa-Upsilon at Clemson University was officially Installed April 30th 2011 (I was part of the Installation team)... as well as the Alpha-Upsilon at Millsaps College; Gamma-Nu at Washburn University; Rho-Rho at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College; and Rho-Sigma Chapter at St. John’s University: Staten Island.

[JDCookMS]

I know that the Epsilon Nu chapter at the University of Southern Mississippi is in the process of being re-colonized. I'll be honest, I'm not certain what the process will be since the national guys aren't supposed to be on campus this week. (I'm wanting to join the Interest Group they're going to start and have only talked to the national guys via phone.)

Anyways, here's a link to the article in the USM newspaper: http://www.studentprintz.com/sigep-and-kappa-sig-return-to-usm-1.2575271#.Tm0wdNSshBk

[stufield]

Thanks for posting the informative article.

The Kappa Sigma recolonization begins today!

[JDCookMS]

Thanks for posting the informative article.

The Kappa Sigma recolonization begins today!

Yeah, we have Garrett Atherton down here from nationals and he definitely knows his stuff. So far I know we have about 15 guys interested and we haven't even started any of our IFC recruitment stuff yet. So far it's just been some of us that Garrett has just met, or found out beforehand somehow. I'm definitely looking forward to this though.... 30 for a colony and 60 for a chapter, plus the "checklist" that I haven't seen yet.

[Yonz218]

We're looking into starting somethings up here at Johns Hopkins. We're meeting an alumni tomorrow actually.

[x2silver]

Hey, we have Old Dominion University colony checking in!!!

[stufield]

How is the ODU colony faring? Is your petition for chartering likely to be submitted in the reasonably foreseeable future, such as before the end of the current academic year?

[x2silver]

We are doing good. Honestly we have every check list finished and done with. Attempting to find recruits in a campus with not even a 5% greek life is difficult. Average fraternity size here at ODU is small. Only two fraternitys here have over 40 members. We are one of the larger fraternities on campus yet still growing. We are aiming to get our charter by next semester.

[stufield]

"doing good" ???
"fraternitys" ???

[x2silver]

I apologize for the grammar. The Odu kappa sigma colony has reached all of our goals except the numbers we would like to have. We have another rush planned for this coming semester, which should get us to where we need to be.

[applesofgold]

At the risk of sounding crass, I have to wonder if Kappa Sigma's approach to expansion is sound. While I applaud our big numbers since WGMs Kaplan and McClamroch, I think we have the reputation for being the fraternity at all the universities no one has ever heard of. And I'm not sure that haphazardly blanket-colonizing and trying to be everywhere all at once is the smartest use of our resources. Perhaps we should be taking an account management style approach and really focusing on the colleges and universities that will yield the most 'productive' alumni (i.e., successful, willing to volunteer, eager to donate, model example for future members) for Kappa Sigma.

In my mind, this means going all-in on the very best and most prestigious universities FIRST AND FOREMOST, many of which we have zero presence currently such as Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, Berkeley, UChicago, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and pretty much all the Ivies and U of California schools. These schools should be our tier one and hence, our highest priority. It also includes colonies or faltering chapters at top schools where we are currently (like our chapters at Cornell, Michigan, Duke, UCLA, etc.) and assisting them with DGM and endowment support + recognition. Brothers at these chapters are tomorrow's clear leaders in business, science, politics, academia, and media. And they will have much deeper pockets from which to give back to Kappa Sigma. And their successes will only make our fraternity look better.

In the second tier, we should establish colonies and build solid chapters at large universities with powerhouse athletics programs. The top NCAA Division I BCS schools would be a good start. We currently do a pretty good job in this area, but there are still major schools - big, big programs like Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon, Arizona, Auburn, Miami, VA Tech, Syracuse, Penn State, and Memphis where Kappa Sig is totally absent. It's no secret that big schools with prominent athletic programs have the best athletes - many who go pro (some which may be Kappa Sigmas) - and the strongest Greek Systems. And alumni from these colleges who love their college teams, love their fraternity experience, and have deep emotional bonds to both are much more likely to give money and donate time to us. And again, we should provide support and resources for struggling chapters in this tier because it will absolutely payoff in the future.

Case in point: it's a real pity that the UC Santa Cruz colony mentioned earlier in this thread did not work out. That's a very strong school, full of really smart kids who will move on to lucrative careers up the road in technology (Silicon Valley) or Finance (SF). We should, or should have, been doing everything possible to concert that colony into a Kappa Sig chapter.

Moving on. In the third tier, I suppose, is 'everyone else'. Colonizing in this tier is gravy. Don't get me wrong; it's great to see solid 25 man chapters at Southestern Wyoming State, but if Kappa Sigma is going to be run like a business, then we should treat our expansion (and expansion investments) like a business. And university fundraising studies over the years show consistently that the bigger, more prestigious schools - in terms of academics or athletics - receive have larger giving rates per alumni. The bottom line is that alums from tier 1 + 2 above payout more.

My point is, we can't go chasing after every opportunity to colonize like a chicken with its head cut off. We have to prioritize where Kappa Sigma should be and then organize an expansion strategy around it. Incidentally, I did share this tactic with my DGM and with nationals recently and am waiting to hear back, as I would be very glad to volunteer my time and money into implementing a plan such as this.


AEKDB

[Ithakappasig]

"We have zero presence currently such as Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, Berkeley, Chicago, Georgetown, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, and pretty much all the Ivies..."

Add Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Brown, Rice, Northwestern, ND, Dartmouth, Michigan, BC, NYU, ND, RIT, etc. We aren't at the two biggest UC schools, UCLA and Berkeley.

Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Carleton, Davidson, Wesleyan, Bates, Hamilton, Trinity, Colby, the Pomona schools, Macalester, Lafayette, Skidmore, Gettysburg, Whitman, DePauw, Lawrence, Colgate, Willimette, etc. Also I saw there was talk in this thread about a bunch of colonies that were trying but obviously didn't make it. The Kappa Sigma curse.

I just don't think it will happen. Usually when there is something that is obviously desirable but doesn't happen there is something internally amiss or dysfunctional. Seldom does it just not occur to anyone. If you look at the politics of Kappa Sigma in the past you see where the fraternity simply does not want to have more competitive universities, schools in certain regions, etc. Those successful and wealthy or connected students and alumni you envision would also want to have a say in the fraternity.

And also Catholic and other parochial institutions. Holy Cross, Boston College, Villanova, ND, Fordham, G'town, DePauw, Seton Hall, Providence, Canisius, Manhattan, Marist, St. Josephs, Fairfield, etc. (there is at least 30 more in the Northeast) as well as a number of Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc.

Many like Baylor, SMU, TCU are already in the fold but schools like Pepperdine, Wheaton, Calvin, Biola, Wittenburg, Bethany and a bunch of others come to mind but there are tons that are overlooked that are strong regional schools. Many of these schools used to not have fraternities and would frown on unrecognized fraternities but now they usually at least have a few unrecognized chapters. It is the biggest area for growth among quality colleges.

It would also be a good idea to have a program to bring in guys who went to our military academies, WP, Annapolis, USCGA, AFA, VMI, Citadel, etc.

But when we talk about the Northeast we don't even see the Tier 2 schools, or even the better Tier 3 as you were putting it. Look where we are not in terms of medium sized schools in the area: Hood, Wagner, Rowan, TCNJ, Rider, Rowan, Ramapo, Manhattanville, Suffolk, Farleigh Dickinson, Millersville, St. Joseph (NY), Kean, Westfield, William Paterson, many of the big state schools, (even their flagships) SUNY Albany, UVermont, URI, Southern Conn, Central Conn, UMass, tCNJ, UNew Hampshire, Buffalo St., SUNY Buffalo, Montclair and others.

"Tier 1" schools in the big cities in the Northeast? Pu-lease!

New York City area? No NYU and NYU Poly, no Columbia, no Princeton, no Yale, not even Cooper Union and Fordham. 0/6
Boston? No Harvard, no BC. MIT is there. 1/3
DC? No Georgetown. 0/1. (There is one at GW but none at Catholic, American)

Our New York City area may be the worst of any fraternity.
SAE, Deke and other fraternities are in residence at the Harvard Club or something. There is no NYC alumni network, or a network DC or Boston so there isn't any meeting much less a being in residence.

They can't fix this by going for 50 members or fail. They have to look at the individual college. And there has to be a big change whoever is doing things locally or change what we are doing drastically.

As you noted the fraternity also has to invest- not just money but in getting parents involved, helping find housing, helping with mentoring and graduate school information, helping with getting the students more involved as leaders and active members on their campuses. The recruiting has to be focused at people who have something in common- people who are involved in certain majors and career aims, sports, student government, etc. It is better to have a handful of guys that everyone on campus would aspire to be like and would want to be around than a lot of people with no social skills, or personality and nothing going on. In the long run quality will produce stability and sufficient quantity. Quantity will only produce instability and problems and probably never get you quality.

I was just talking to a couple of SAEs at Cornell. I don't want to give it all away but purely as independents (nothing to do with SAE national) they wanted to go as virtual local for a while and hope that later they could come back informally or merge if they behaved well, so that the multi year ban would not kill SAE at Cornell. I asked why it was so important considering the time element; why not just call it quits and just involve himself in alumni affairs? They said that it is an important point of pride and of membership quality to have chapters on all of the Ivies if possible (as well as most of the little Ivies which in many case requires going it independent and without IFC or university recognition) and at other competitive schools. They also said that they have less behavioral problems when they are not recognized because people are not always trying to duck rules and they know their fraternity's main office is the first point of discipline and that they are likely to be more harsh if they have to take measures. Again though, this has not happened and this is something they were considering independently. Anyway, my point is that if Sigma Chi, SAE , Phi Delt, Deke or even Sig Ep and other fraternities care about getting at and staying at top colleges while Kappa Sig seems like they rather not be at top colleges. It's either political, poor leadership or more likely both.

Instead Kappa Sigma should be targeting many of these schools where it has missed out, putting aside the obstacles like the huge numbers they require to open (bigger than any fraternity) and the big installment fees and get to selling the actual fraternity by doing things like strengthening active as well as alumni gatherings and networking online, assisting with the quality and availability of chapter Kappa Sig websites and social media (gotta show the flag if you want people to rally behind it) and start emphasizing things like higher ed attainment, career and entrepreneurial achievement, mentoring, sharing opportunities, etc. Want to start a new chapter? Find the natural group of guys like sports teams, campus leaders, etc. and ask them if they want to come together under Kappa Sigma. Build that and they will come.

I'm glad I enjoyed my undergrad years and I have great college and chapter networking. And I would always continue to help out in any way I can if they weren't constantly telling alumni who volunteer or submit advice to butt out. I'm not psyched about what is going on at Kappa Sigma in the North East. Maybe it will change.

PS, One thing to correct you on brother- those big schools in the Southeast and Southwest mainly you mentioned mostly have chapters: Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Auburn, Miami, VA Tech, Syracuse, Penn State, but not Memphis, Georgia and Syracuse. I think Arizona was in trouble for some bad behavior but is coming back, not sure though. Georgia had some issues as well but needs to be back sooner than later. Kappa Sig is still a big fraternity.

[Hockeynut]

Well, Cornell is getting Kappa Sig back again... I've looked at some past articles and my own firsthand experience this year to kind of acquaint myself with things. I hope I can do my best to help get this chapter back up to where it should be.

[AXOmom]

In the second tier, we should establish colonies and build solid chapters at large universities with powerhouse athletics programs. The top NCAA Division I BCS schools would be a good start. We currently do a pretty good job in this area, but there are still major schools - big, big programs like Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon, Arizona, Auburn, Miami, VA Tech, Syracuse, Penn State, and Memphis where Kappa Sig is totally absent. It's no secret that big schools with prominent athletic programs have the best athletes - many who go pro (some which may be Kappa Sigmas) - and the strongest Greek Systems. And alumni from these colleges who love their college teams, love their fraternity experience, and have deep emotional bonds to both are much more likely to give money and donate time to us. And again, we should provide support and resources for struggling chapters in this tier because it will absolutely payoff in the future.



AEKDB


Ummm...You aren't absent at Oregon. You have a chapter at there....or daughter's sorority has had two or three socials with guys claiming to be Kappa Sig's (LOL). Either way...she thought they were nice guys, and they represented your fraternity well.

[stufield]

Both applesofgold's and ithakappasig's most recent e-mails contain a number of factual errors regarding where the Fraternity does and does not have chapters, and the strength or lack thereof of certain chapters. As soon as I can find the time from my busy law practice to compose a substantive follow-up to those e-mails, I will correct those errors. Meanwhile, yes, Gamma-Alpha Chapter is active at the University of Oregon and is thriving.

The foregoing does not detract from the sentiment expressed in applesofgold's and ithakappasig's most recent e-mails, with which I and many other Kappa Sigs agree wholeheartedly.

[phoenixconn]

i actually go to one of the Tier 1 Universities mentioned by above and we got into contact with Kappa Sigma, which is why i even look into this page. The problem with why Kappa Sigma has no recent Chapters at Tier 1 institutions is the amount of work it would mean for nationals. Cornell is getting back. yes. But they already have a house. Tier 1 fraternities that do exist have existed for a very long time and are very established within the community. If you want to bring in a new chapter or an old chapter back without a house, it is very hard. Kappa Sigma Area recruitment manager visited us like once every 6 weeks, and that even though we already had a number of people that was already half a fraternity at our college. Empty promises everywhere. No help for going through rush. A box of 6 t-shirts and some pens. And that with a fee of 45 dollars a month... All in all, it did not seem that Kappa Sigma wanted to put in the effort or money to support a new/rechartering in such a difficult environment, when there are houndreds of "Tier 3" colleges out there where it is so much easier. There this kind of support is maybe enough. People at "Tier 1" institutions tend to be very critical and our ARM was bad. Empty promises from him. All the time.

[phoenixconn]

fyi, i feel uncomfortable using a terminology as "Tier 1" and "Tier 3" as it creates a rank. i used it purely for clearification in the groups that were mentioned above. I do not support any kind of discrimination or classification of people/institutions into things that are "better" and "worse"

[tallgreekalum]

I sent you a PM

[Ithakappasig]

First, I'm going to hold off for a moment on the "Tier" discussion.

I'm with you for the most part and will thus paste:

Kappa Sigma Area recruitment manager visited us like once every 6 weeks, and that even though we already had a number of people that was already half a fraternity at our college. Empty promises everywhere. No help for going through rush. A box of 6 t-shirts and some pens. And that with a fee of 45 dollars a month... All in all, it did not seem that Kappa Sigma wanted to put in the effort or money to support a new/rechartering...BINGO! That isn't to say that I don't recognize that you should be able to do it yourself but as I pointed out above, most people won't know how to do this. And from what I keep hearing, the selection tends to get some of the last people you really want for ARMs. I'm going to be flat out about that because I think that eventually someone will say, "aha, there's may be a problem there and some people are offering possible solutions." It will happen.

I'm not going to write and essay to agree with what you and others are saying. But I will say that there are many guys who have some experience in challenging situations and would love to help out. Some really good suggestions have also been put up on this thread. Most of what makes chapters work and grow is informal and doesn't come across well in the PC world where anything that has to do with selectivity, ambition, achievement, cooperation, independence, masculinity, commonality, belief systems and codes or even just having fun is scary and off putting to so many. Many of these things are exactly why people join fraternities and stay committed but sometimes this is exactly what people don't know how to implement and how to sell. And every principle of marketing goes out the window with this bowing to PC too.

Where you are off at IMHO, is that you are claiming that fraternities that don't have a house that try to come in or reestablish can't at Tier 1 schools. Nope. Virtually every fraternity around at these schools, including those who didn't have houses came back Yale comes to mind where only one fraternity had a house to come back to but really the case is that organizations that are at these schools more often than not come without housing and work together to get a formal or informal house, and this is something (as I posted earlier) that the ARM or national should consider helping guys set up. In fact, it's these technical details on recruiting and setting up and maintaining housing, etc. that I think is the most important thing that you can do for guys as a fraternity.

Something you said though (and this is only speculation!) sort of point to why things may have been bound to fail with our group. If you have a bunch of negative, hyper-critical guys who don't believe in things like classification or anything remotely associated with that sort of thinking they are pretty damned from the get go. If it was me I would immediately have gotten rid of any guys like that from the jump because they are just going to kill things or be a dead weight in my experience. Competitive schools are also full of mediocre folks who may have done well on a test but are emotionally unintelligent and just not good at very many things; and some of them hide their inadequacy behind negativity. (This is probably much more common in "competitive" schools more than other places.) And you have to be upfront with guys how that works, i.e., without buy-in as a group and as individuals you are pretty much fucked. That translates to a lot of life by the way. Instead of spending time reading all the stupid, sophomoric criticisms of fraternity life, really prospective fraternity men should spend more time looking at these things through a social science lens and understanding just what the dynamics are of successful groups and why they work when they work. Too many prospective members fail to do that and too many fraternities fail to outline such education.

I appreciate far left idealism that frees us of any distinction, difference of attainment, etc. though I don't share it. I'm not here to argue this and will spare you a subsequent back and forth because there is no argument to be made. Not only are there ubiquitous rankings, some more popular than others, and a widely understood hierarchy in institutions, this plays itself out in important ways, such as graduate school admission, hiring, social relations and status, and universal recognition of education. In fact I was just talking to someone who has a PhD whose education was not recognized in Germany and that sort of "bias" formally and informally regarding U.S. schools is more common than one might imagine. The hiring in "better" law firms (though I suppose the Vault rankings and lawyer rankings also means nothing to you) and upper level management track for many financial firms are heavily predicated towards those school rankings. The same goes for certain areas of upper level government hiring. As to what seems to bother you- I'm not defending (or condemning) elitism and class reproduction as an element of American or international higher education but it doesn't disappear by our pretending it is not there. Universities love to talk shi# but look at how quickly they point to their rankings when they are favorable. The past 40 years only one POTUS elected wasn't an Ivy Leaguer or military academy grad. Check the SCOTUS, ditto with only the top schools. Again though, there are teams of people from Ivy League and other competitive schools destined for never achieving much and others in less competitive or ranked schools that will achieve more so I'm not implying this always is the way of things.

I could go on regarding the "tiers" and so forth, I just think that the whole conversation is sort of without purpose. How can we deny the undeniable just because may not like it? If anyone is being honest they will admit that a large piece of what drives campus fraternity life is determining values and codes and attainment and then trying to be the best at them.

Best of luck if you guys are trying again. Hit me up and I'll help as I can if you'd like. I think if you are part of the group I think you are we may have some connection. TTYS.

[Ithakappasig]

PS To make my own PC plug for myself, the list of schools I mentioned at least were much more inclusive though I do think it is important to be present at top schools like Kappa Sigma's main competitors.

[Hockeynut]

I am happy to say Alpha Kappa is a fully established chapter again. Gee willikers, I haven't posted on this site in a while have I?

[Ithakappasig]

I think it's fair to say that Alpha-Kappa is a cornerstone for regional quality. Fingers crossed that there will be some movement in having some chapters like it in the region, both in terms of quality of school and the chapter. I think it takes some work and some of that work will probably have to fall to very active informal or peer efforts rather than waiting and hoping for the fraternity structure to do it because that ain't happening.

[Hockeynut]

As of now, Binghamton's colony is scheduled to become a chapter in February. My chapter and some others nearby should be headed down for that.

[stufield]

Hockeynut:

Thanks for the post, and the information. It's good to learn that the Binghamton colony is progressing towards a February chartering. Another upstate NY chapter to join Hobart, Cornell, Cortland, and New Paltz will be most welcome, hopefully with the Albany colony also chartering soon thereafter.

Have you heard anything about any other prospective colonies in your area?

[modorney]

Cal Berkeley:

BETA-XI RECOLONIZATION UPDATE – OCT ’12

BETA-XI COLONY OFFICIALLY APPROVED – KAPPA SIGMA RETURNS TO CAL

Dear Beta-Xi Brothers,

Beta-Xi has organized over 30 new members and Kappa Sigma National has formally established a Colony at Cal! We plan to successfully have a fully-chartered Chapter in place for the Fall 2013 school year when we also move back into the house. More news to come soon.

from http://www.calkappasigma.org/fraternity_news/beta-xi-recolonization-update-oct-12

[sieghart]

^Congrats!

BTW, Danville? Did you go to Monte Vista?

Davis got our official charter in October. :D

[Hockeynut]

Hockeynut:

Thanks for the post, and the information. It's good to learn that the Binghamton colony is progressing towards a February chartering. Another upstate NY chapter to join Hobart, Cornell, Cortland, and New Paltz will be most welcome, hopefully with the Albany colony also chartering soon thereafter.

Have you heard anything about any other prospective colonies in your area?


I've heard that there was an interest group in Syracuse, but I don't know how much truth there is to that.

I also do know Albany was fairly close to chapter status, but something was holding them back. They avoided getting into serious problems when the university was trying to crack down on hazing this past November. From what I've known and experienced, they're a good group and should be a chapter very soon.

[modorney]

> BTW, Danville? Did you go to Monte Vista?

Nope, I'm from the East Coast (Wakefield, Mass), and moved to Danville during the dot com boom. My son went to Venture, in San Ramon, and is now a sophomore at Harvard, which has a very limited greeklife presence.

> Davis got our official charter in October.
https://sites.google.com/site/kappasigmaucdavis/Home

That's cool! Is Davis your chapter? It would be nice to see some current news, and pictures of the house and brothers. Danville (and Alamo and San Ramon) is crawling with Greeks, including Kappa Sigs. You might want to do a monthly get together at the Crown Pub with all your local alumni?

[sieghart]

Ah, I see!

Davis is my chapter, I'm graduated now, glad to see it finally take off after everything we went through.

I'll have to see who is around when I head back to Danville (I work for UC Davis now fulltime, but it's close enough to head home).

I believe our Grand Scribe is getting everything setup for current news for the Report, I'll send you any info I get.

[DJKSSLO]

I am one of the pledges/founding fathers for Nu Alpha Colony at Cal Poly. We became a colony in May and received official recognition from Cal Poly' IFC in October; allowing us to formally recruit and rush this quarter (Winter 2013). We plan on becoming a full chapter by the end of the school year in June.

[stufield]

Thanks for your informative post, DJKSSLO. It is great to see somewhat of a resurgence of posts to this site in the past couple of months. Of course, even more posts would be most welcome.

Good news that the Nu-Alpha Colony at Cal Poly SLO is apparently thriving. The recolonizations of Nu-Alpha, Gamma-Rho (University of Arizona), Epsilon-Iota (San Diego State), Beta-Xi (UC Berkeley), Gamma-Zeta (NYU), Beta-Rho (University of Iowa), and Nu-Psi (University of Cincinnati) are by far the highlights of the Order's expansionary activities last summer and over the course of the first half of the 2012-2012 academic year. That is a significant list of recolonizations, each of which, when the colony is rechartered, will be a notable addition to the active chapter roll. Hopefully, even more recolonizations are in the works.

On the other hand, establishment of colonies at schools at which the fraternity has never previously had a presence has been disappointing, to say the least. There have been only three. The first of them, at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville is certainly positive, as it does have a healthy, expanding Greek system, which increases the colony's prospects of success, and is located in a State in which the Fraternity presently has only one active chapter, Alpha-Gamma at the University of Illinois. The second new colony is at Lindenwood University Belleville, a school that almost nobody who does not go there has ever heard of and that is without any Greek system (unfortunate characteristics of too many Kappa Sig colonies). This school is not to be confused with Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri, another State in which the Fraternity is underrepresented (only five active chapters, none at SEMO, St. Louis U, Truman State, and UMKC, all schools with healthy Greek systems at which the Fraternity should have had chapters years ago), The best thing about this colony is that he host school is also in Illinois, and that if it manages to succeed, it will add another school to the Fraternity's minimal active chapter presence there. The third and most recent new colony is at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, further bolstering the Fraternity's already considerable presence in Oklahoma, but, let's face it, not a prominent school and one with a very small Greek system to boot. That is not a very noteworthy list of new colonies, especially given the large number of prominent schools with healthy Greek systems, in all parts of the country, at which the Fraternity has never had a chapter, and, in most cases, never a colony. Hopefully, some more new colonies, at some reasonably prominent schools instead of even more obscure ones, will be established in this second half of the academic year.