Seems like a lot of schools who have thriving Greek communities are missing the same sororities... ASA, AST, Tri Sig, Phi Sigma Sigma...

Is it just that these sororities are smaller nationally?? Are their nationals hesitant to colonize?? (I know that Kappa only colonizes in places where our nationals are confident we can thrive... for example, Theta chapter at Mizzou was founded in 1870 and it was 112 years before another chapter, Zeta Zeta at Westminster, was founded in the state.)

...But that doesn't seem to be true (for my school at least) for these particular sororities... ASA has eight other chapters in Missouri (I believe they're all active, too!!) but has never colonized at Mizzou. Delta Zeta is the same... eight chapters at other schools in the state, but never a successful colonization at Mizzou. (Although I believe it was tried a few years back...)

As far as Mizzou is concerned, except for KD all those groups have been there since the 1920's at the latest. ASA, AST and Tri Sigma all were still social/educational sororities at that time. I'm not surprised that we haven't been banging down the door to get into a school that's only had one (ultimately) successful colonization in the last 80 years.

University of Illinois and Indiana U have both had ASA at one time or another...so it looks like Baird's is wrong on this one.

Haha, I've never read Baird's but it seems like it being wrong has happened a few times. From what was posted (perhaps earlier in this thread??) as time goes on and GLOs keep growing nationally, sometimes things are omitted.

Newest Bairds can and will omit many things to conserve size of The Tome!

Look at any World Atlas from 1940s to 2000s. History is lost.:(

Go to Your Library and look up Bairds. Get more than several printing Editions.:)


Compare and plan to spend time!

There are many IFC and PHC GLOs who concentarted on ceratin profiles of Schools. ASA and Tri Sigma I beleive being two.

TKN which Merged With LXA in 1939 were one of the IFC along with Phi Sigma Epsilon, Merged with Phi Sigma Kappa, and Sigma Tau Gamma, HQ in Warrensburg Mo.

I beleive there is an NPC with HQ in Columbia, Mo. Cannot Remember which one? Was NE of Campus.

just to follow this up .. do you know what the chapter designations are for these two chapters? ASA isn't listed under the UofIll or Indiana lists nor are these universities listed in the ASA chapter list.

oh for crying out loud in a stainless steel bucket. (Baird's, not you)

Illinois - Epsilon Beta
Indiana - Epsilon Phi

Actually, if you have the latest one, they probably wouldn't be in, because when I saw it they had our old info from the previous
Baird's (1977) in it. They were chartered in (roughly) 1982 and 1992 respectively.

So if you want me to send you our chapter list from 1977 on let me know. :)

From what I was told by one of our national officers, Delta Zeta has never colonized at Mizzou. Back in 2001, when MU decided to open to expansion, NPC groups not currently at Mizzou were invited to present. The 3 finalists were Delta Zeta, AOPi, and Phi Mu. Phi Mu won the vote and had a successful colonization. Delta Zeta is still very interested in Mizzou, provided that competitive housing is available. If MU opens up to expansion again, I'm sure that they would love to present. Considering that close to 200 women dropped out of recruitment this past Fall, with many being cut after only the first round, it would seem like a good idea to consider expansion.

I'm not sure what you mean by saying that many women were cut after the first round... by all thirteen sororities?? Technically, yes... many women are cut from some houses after the first day. But I was in a group with 60-70 PNMs and no one was cut completely after 16 Party Day. And, in the defense of the rare situation that a PNM was not invited back AT ALL, many women don't consider that chapters know exactly who you are and if they're interested in you before you walk through their door on day one... in my opinion, if someone is cut from ALL chapters, the issue is more likely a problem with the individual's grades or high school activities than with the Greek system being too small. Also, there were quite a few chapters who did not make quota this year... leading me to believe that, if 200 women did in fact drop out of recruitment (assuming that we're considering being cut and dropping out as two different things), they could have potentially received a bid had they chosen to stay.

WITH ALL THAT SAID!! :)

There is currently a vacant house at MU due to the closing of Sig Kap in 2004. (A rumor or two has flown about fraternities trying to get the house, but nothing official. Plus, I would hate to see a beautiful house that's been home to two sororities get run into the ground by a bunch of boys!! :p) Personally, I feel that MU's Greek system is very strong... and I would love to see our campus open to expansion.

Finally... I find it interesting that DZ was was one of the sororities chosen to present in 2001. (This is only because of what was talked about in the thread about PHC History at Texas-Austin.) Someone theorized that if that campus was open to expansion, the groups most likely to present would be those who have previously had chapters at the school that eventually became inactive. And, as you said, DZ has never had a chapter at Mizzou. Still it's a wonderful sorority that's VERY well known in the state... so it seems like a great decision! Now if only they would decide to bring another group in!!

Tri Sigma seems to be mostly at smaller schools. It's just our strongsuit at the moment. :)

I think the Emory expansion thread is sorta an answer to your question.
Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Phi and a few others had a chapter there before; Gamma Phi Beta had not. All three have strong alumnae chapters in Atlanta. I am not in the decision makers' heads, so I can't obviously say what their criteria was, but a campus open for expansion may want to see a fresh face. And a group that hasn't been on campus before may still have an exceptional reputation in the state or region. (this could apply to the systems at Mizzou and Texas as well)

Does anyone know what eventually brought the SK house to a close? What caused them to struggle so much? Just curious, I hate when SK chapters close!

sigmaK619


We all hate when our or others Chapters are close for sure.:(

It is funny to see that some Sororitys are or were for smaller Schools. That is what I thought ASA and SSS were. but look at Founding Times.:)

They aint that New. Granted, they may have started out that way, but times have changed. I have nothing but deep respect for these Ladies!

But, as far as Colonizing on Large U's. it is tough because of the longevity and size of many Local GLOs who have been there for a while.

So, the option seems to be to expand to other Colleges where there is less compitetion.

Or for example carnations School where there were only Locals and The College Decided to go with Nationals only with Locals being absorbed by Nationals.

It is still a work in progress.

The reason the chapter closed was simply that they were struggling with numbers. The SK chapter had about 55 members going into 2003 recruitment. Nationals said that in order to keep their status as a chapter, there would need to be at least 100 members by December 31, 2003. (The other 13 sororities at Mizzou had totals between 150-200... give or take a few!) When that was not achieved, the chapter voted on January 28, 2004 to become dormant. Both the chapter and Greek Life said they could not "pinpoint a specific reason" why the numbers declined... Sigma Kappa's number were declining even though recruitment numbers were increasing.

I have several good friends who became Sigma Kappas at another chapter, and one urged me that this was not the "real" reason the chapter closed... but I'm confident that was speculation or rumor because she (and I!) were still in high school when the SK chapter at Mizzou closed... leading me to believe she may not know all the facts.

And to kind of update my post about the house... apparently Sigma Kappa decided to keep their house and they still have it, although it's been vacant.

There have been a lot of proposals flying around this past year regarding the chapter. One suggested that panhel waits four academic years to consider a recolonization of Sigma Kappa so that all the Greeks who were members at the time of the chapter's closing will have graduated. (I guess just so there will be no knowledge or speculation of why the chapter closed in the first place.) Another that if the campus is opened for expansion, SK should be approached first to recolonize before other organizations are invited to present... but I really don't know the outcome or if decisions have been made on any of these things.

In 1998, the Alpha Phi chapter at Mizzou was struggling and disbanded and recolonized all in that year. I wonder if Sigma Kappa considered something similar?

Hope this ridiculously long post answers your question and then some! :D

Didn't the Alpha Phi chapter at Duke do the same thing? Maybe the national org prefers that technique?

Thank you STL Kappa!