Charters revoked by Nationals
 

Has anyone been part of a fraternity or sorority chapter whose charter has been taken away or surrendered? What were teh circumstances around that? What has happened since?

In most instances, when a chapter is revoked, the Nationals will not go back on that campus until all of the existing members are gone from the school. LXA will normally wait 3-5 years before re- sestablishing a house on the campus unless there are over whelming circumstances. What these might be I would not venture a guess.

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

Funnyface - I've seen both surrenders and withdrawls. The only surrender I'm aware of was at the University of Maryland - bad situation, the whole Greek system being forced into seriously limited pledge periods, etc (that's another subject), but the chapter decided they couldn't handle the political/legal struggle between the school and the General Fraternity and they gave up.

I've seen lots of charter revocations - for hazing, alcohol violations, grades, etc. Normally, the members are retired into alumni status, all are allowed to graduate, and then we consider recolonization after 3 to 4 years.

Do chapters always leave for good or do some decide to go local? One thing I've always wondered is that if a national goes local and then decides to go national again like 10 years later, would they have to join up with the same national org or could they go through the process again?

If it was 10 years later, they could easily go with another national, because none of them would be bound to national #1 if they were all locally initiated. However, the alums of national #1 might not be too jazzed about that decision (especially if they have supported the local). But there are times when groups just refuse to come back to certain schools no matter how much the alums want it.

Sounds like a setup to me.

Not really. For example, the chapters that were involved in the anti-gay float at Colorado a year or two ago. Even though the incident was caused by one or two members, the chapters involved knew that the fallout was going to affect the entire chapter. They surrendered their charter to save what little reputation they had left on campus.

Sadly, sometimes a national office is forced to remove charters from chapters for hazing, ongoing membership decline, etc. Trust me, they don't like doing it anymore than the collegiate members like having to be on the receiving end of such action. But, you need to look at the overall health of the fraternity.

I was involved in the chapter reorganization that Hootie spoke of. It was a very, very difficult decision to make. Only 3 members of the 'old' chapter accepted the challenge to make changes to the way things were done and work with the alumnae to reorganize the chapter. The chapter is quite strong now - sucessfully recruiting strong members and winning awards on the province and national level.

Barbara

Chapters can also be recolonized in short periods of time. For example, the Alpha Gam chapter at U of M was recolonized this past fall. It wasn't for because of negative issues or anything, numbers just got really low. Tonya (UMGirl) is one of their new members so maybe she can tell you more about this.

Barbara,

I think what BillyMac (scuse me,KABillyMac http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif) is saying is that he thinks the poster's question is a setup - hoping someone will say "My chapter got yanked for doing hideous hazing XYZ" so they can repeat it, blow it up etc, etc. Am I right KABM?

Either KABillyMac is saying that or that he thinks it was posted by the tag team, who continue to scream their butts off because Chi O keeps operating on the SHSU campus, and they haven't got anything better to do than obsess on that and on the fact that it shouldn't be long until the Chi Omegas regain full recognition.

PnguinTrax,

Your point is good, but the university in question was Colorado State as opposed to Colorado. That situation was particularly eggregous (sp?) because it allegedly alluded to the murder of Matthew Shepherd, the gay student from the Unviersity of Wyoming who was murdered shortly before the Homecoming float incident.

DeltAlum

33, you got it. Just sounds like a question for someone to use against us. Speaking of the tag team, I think that one of our new regulars could possibly be one of them so dont touch that dial and I will be open for any side bets yall would be interested in http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

Geez...

Two more chapaters bite the dust for alleged hazing.

DKE at Washington and TKE at Ohio State.

And the Dekes at Washington are in the middle of wrongful death litigation regarding a suicide which happened just after a "hell week" type of initiation a couple years ago. The University and DKE Nationals are also named in the action.

Are we ever going to learn?

DeltAlum

KABillyMac,

I second that bet.

Kevin

Delta Alum, E-M on way to you!

Remember folks, if they screw up and get yanked, kicked off of campus, HOW many of you would go back to see the school?
I for one only go back to see my BROTHERS! I try to work with New Memmembers as much as possibel and so do some other Hard Core Alums

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

Sorry, this is not meant as a set-up. My chapter voted to surrender our charter because of some risk management issues and I just want to know what our options are for staying strong and together? Any help would be appreciated.

The best thing you can do is to join your local alumnae chapter and participate. If you don't have an alumnae chapter, now is the time to work with your regional officer to form a strong chapter. While it won't be the same as having your campus-based chapter, it will allow you to stay in touch with your fraternity and maintain the bonds you've formed.

If there is already an established alumnae chapter, work with them to form a sub-group for younger alumnae like yourselves. The sub-group would plan some events separate from the 'main' alumnae chapter AND would participate with the 'main' group for some events like Founder's Day, etc.

A couple national groups already have programs in place. Alpha Gamma Delta has their Junior Circle program and Zeta Tau Alpha is developing their Loyalty Link program.

I can offer some additional suggestions - please e-mail me.

Barbara
Rush & ZTA Forum Moderator
President, Tallahassee Alumnae Chapter

fancyface, why give up you charter instead of fighting to keep it? If there are some bad apples or oranges get rid of them!
We almost lost our charter and I fought my butt of to keep it! I even called the President of the International to beg to keep it. I got a bunch of Alums and we have been working with the chapter ever since! Never ever give up what you have but fight for it! It was and is to hard to come by!

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

I totally agree with Tom!!

Unless the school itself is making you do things against your national's risk mgmt policies (which I have a hard time believing) I wouldn't throw in the towel. Remember it is not just the active sisters, it is all the alumnae and the sisters to come who will feel the loss if you surrender your charter. I know I wouldn't want to be known as the group of sisters who gave up without a fight.

Damn...

Reading "Fraternal News" is just getting too frustrating.

The Kappa Alpha Psi chapter at LSU is being sued(along with the University) in a hazing incident where a pledge was beaten and caned repetedly. Although the article was a little vague, I think their charter has been pulled, too. It's apparantely the third chapter to close on that campus recently.

SAE had a binge drinking death on that same campus.

Will the Greek System (at least the fraternity part) be dead before we wake up and stop this crap?

Things are better now, but for for a while we were closing more chapters than we could colonize.

Folks, this is the third or fourth fraternity chapter closing reported by "Fraternal News" in the last week!

"End the stupidity!"

DeltAlum

My chapter's charter was pulled in 1996 after a series of disciplinary rulings and excessive debt. At the time, we had 50-plus members, were tops in intramurals, had great campus involvement/leadership, and pretty good community service. However, there was a bunch of "bad apples" that spoiled it for everyone else. These guys were always getting into fights and causing problems with other fraternities or on campus. The issue of the debt was improving, as it had been decreased from over $30,000 to just under $15,000 within a year or so.

However, the final straw was when our president and a group of those bad apples ended up at another fraternity's house one night after one of our sorority socials. Our president, who was pretty drunk for all reports, seemed to lead a charge into this house, kicking in the door and punching out a couple of guys. Because the chapter's leadership had a part in this altercation, the school held the entire chapter liable for the actions of 6 guys, and kicked us off campus.

Shortly after the suspension, our Headquarters reviewed our status and decided to revoke the charter due to the continued behavioral problems and debt. Although it wsa a dark time for the chapter, it probably was the best thing that could have happened to our chapter.

Following the loss of charter, many of the guys formed a local fraternity -- excluding any and all of the previous bad apples -- in an effort to correct the past wrong-doings. This group acted as an underground fraternity (not associated with or calling themselves Pikes), but as a entirely seperate local group for FOUR years until the Pike Headquarters arranged an agreement with the University for recolonization. This local group served as the initial interest group and provided most of the first colony members. After a year as a colony, we were re-chartered.

I think the most important thing is that even when the charter was revoked, our Brothers did not just roll over and die. In fact a group of 15 Brothers made a trip to Charlotte, NC to meet with our Supreme Council to present an appeal to the loss of charter. Even though it was denied, these 15 guys lead the push to re-organize as a new organization and laid the foundation for our chapter to one day return to campus.

And now, our chapter is one of the best on campus - Intramural Champs, over 3,000 hours community service, good grades, SGA president, IFC vice-president, summer orientation leaders, varsity athletes, -- all the things that most fraternities just wish for.