NIC Expansion at UC Riverside
 

Well, since there are so many expansion threads going on right now, and all of them are directed toward Panhellenic, I thought I would add a thread for the guys...

The University of California, Riverside has been undergoing the expansion process. Currently, these are the chapters on campus:
Alpha Tau Omega
Delta Tau Delta
Kappa Alpha Order
Lambda Chi Alpha
Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI)
Phi Delta Theta (may be closing soon)
Phi Kappa Sigma
Pi Kappa Alpha

Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Beta Theta Pi have recently closed (within the last 3 years) and will cannot be included in the formal expansion process.

We've sent out official letters to all other NIC organizations and have narrowed it down to 10 fraternities to choose from. The IFC presidents have reviewed each fraternity's materials for expansion and have scored them to see who will make it to the next "round" (if you can call it that). The 10 fraternities that are eligible for expansion interviews are (in no particular order):

Delta Chi
Delta Upsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Sigma Chi
Alpha Kappa Lambda
Delta Sigma Phi
Phi Kappa Psi
Pi Kappa Phi
(I believe Zeta Psi is the 10th, but not completely sure... we don't have materials from them)

The Presidents have scored the fraternities and interviews will begin within the next month or so. By the end of June, we should have another fraternity colonizing on campus! And hopefully, Panhellenic will soon realize the need for an increase in house total and/or an option of expansion!

Strange not to see Sigma Nu in the mix. We have TONS of California chapters. I think recruitment/expansion has been focusing a lot on the midwest and now Florida though.

I don't think Sigma Nu expressed interest in our campus. There's a chapter at either Cal State San Bernardino and at Cal Poly Pomona, I believe... both schools are 30 minutes from UCR, and maybe they just didn't want to come. All three of our schools are small and the Greek system is sort of struggling, so maybe they just didn't think there would be much room to grow... Dont know though.

There are Sigma Nu chapters at both Cal Poly Pomona and at Cal State San Bernardino! The chapter at Cal Poly recently moved into a beautiful new house.

Cal Poly House
 

Boy those guys are living fine if they have a house over in Walnut area. I am an A Phi Alum and i am going ot Mt Sac and the houses in the Cal Poly area and Mt Sac Area are prettttttty nice!:)

Laura

cutiepatootie,

The Sigma Nu house is actually in Pomona (on Holt). Not quite as nice as the houses in Walnut...but still a nice, large older home!

i really hope you guys get phi kappa psi...we need more california chapters, and the most influential phi psi alumni are from california chapters...

All rihgt, I am not the only greek who went to empty sack

What do you mean by "Empty sack?" huh?

You never heard that joke? Mt. Sac.
M-T SAC
empty sack

Ah, ok... i thought it had something to do with Mt. Sac... I've never attended that school, but I think someone else on here does, or used to... you're from SoCal, Pi Kapp? Cause I notice you're a student in San Francisco... I plan on moving up to the Bay Area next year for my credential program... probably at CSU hayward.

Hey gphi. I am a /\XA at UCR and I see the news with the expansion. I also heard about the Sorority expansion too. Is that going to happen too? I hear that everyone is at house total except for DGs who are really close. Whats your thoughts?

hi there... as far as i know, the Panhellenic chapters have voted down expansion and won't be doing it for a long time now. Last I heard, the topic of increasing house total is now on the floor. Yes, every chapter was at house total (as of Fall 2002 grade reports), except for DG who was at like 54 (total is 70, other chapters are not far over total). DG took 11 or 12 ladies for the Winter as far as I know, and will most likely hit total if they recruit in Spring. ANd at that point, the other 5 chapters may not be at total anymore because of early graduation, grades issues, studying abroad and for UCDC, etc...

My thoughts are this: Panhellenic expansion would be great, but first, the existing NPC/IFC and other social GLOs need to work TOGETHER (i.e. Greek task force, starting this Spring again... tell your chapter) and get on better terms with the University, esp. Student Life and the Residence Halls. Otherwise, the bad PR we all get is going to worsen... more Greeks need to get involved in ALL areas of campus life, esp. community service work and non-Greek letter organizations... by the way, Bear Facts apps are out... TELL YOUR CHAPTER... they're due April 1.

IFC Expansion is opening the door... Alpha Gamma Rho and a few other IFC fraternities are now patiently waiting the next IFC expansion period... probably a long way off, but if they are as patient as SigEp has been, who knows... they might just get a better chance for expanding. Being on the inside track with my job in Student Life, I would say we all, as Greeks, need to be a lot more patient... it's not necessarily the "time" for our organizations yet... but it's getting there. The new Chancellor sees our orgs in a much more positive light than Chancellor Orbach did... Vice Chancellor Sandoval (student affairs) is actually much more impressed with the Greeks recently, thanks to the new IFC Exec board and how they are operating (they are so responsible this year so far!), and we know Sandoval doesn't really like our orgs. He's actually helping to head up the Greek Task Force this year, along with the Dean of Students and some other key people... if we get them on our side, things will start to look up. As for me, I'm a senior and won't be around much longer to know all this, but if you're going to be around for a while, I have a feeling things are going to get better... good luck with that. And feel free to PM or IM me if you want to talk more...

By the way, your chapter is doing great compared the past years I've been here! I can see you guys really start to come up and get more involved and my chapter was wholly impressed when your new members came to our meeting a few weeks ago! Great job and I hope the best for you!

Carol

BTW
 

By the way... Sniff, I just looked at your website and noticed you lived with one of my best friends/sisters, Candace! That girl is going to be in my wedding (given the chance that I ever get married...lol)! And you lived with Jeremy, one of my favorite guy-friends ever! It's such a small world...

gphi...

Thank your for the kind words. I see the vast improvement in your chapter and the sorority system at UCR. Yes, Jeremy and Candace were in my hall my freshman year and they were cool. Jeremy was next to me and Candace was right across. Thats when I was anti-greek. Guess not now :) Our chapter is trying to do better on campus and get our name out there more. The guys we got from Fall Rush are really crazy about the fraternity, so we are just out there. We are small now but pretty close and will hope to go up in numbers soon.

sometimes you have to wonder if expansion is a good idea when two chapters have just gone under. i am a FIJI at UCSB and have been down to UCR on a few occasions (they have a great chapter). through my experiences at UCR it doesn't seem like there is room for much more expansion, while still preserving the current number of members.

FIJI@UCSB

Expansion?
 

yea I agree especially with Phi Delta Theta really close to shutting down.

The ones that need expansion are sororities. They have house total of I believe 75? With almost all the sororities there, there needs to be expansion if not raise house total numbers up. The fraternites are still unbalanced at times.

I do agree with you phigamucsb... a lot of people are really wary because those two chapters went down recently, and phi delt is getting close. I give them credit for trying to keep numbers up though, and maybe after this quarter, things will start improving, esp. with the increase in possible houses for PNMs to choose from.

As for your comment, Sniff, I also agree. Total needs to be raised, and very soon. Panhellenic turned down the idea of another expansion period (wrongfully so, IMHO), so I don't think that will happen in the near future. The idea of increased total will definitely come to the floor next quarter. And currently, it's at 70, but 5 out of 6 chapters are over.

It's particularly hard right now because there are actually a lot of interested women, but only one chapter to choose from. Friends of Fall new members were looking forward to informal recruitment throughout the year, and it's not even possible because of total. Panhellenic as a whole is losing out on women. Sucks...

gphi...

please check your PM box. thanks.

As for Panhellenic...maybe they want to wait till all sororities are at house total??? I dont know, just a thought....

Ok, so the interview process was supposed to start last night, but there were two problems:

1) only 3 of the 8 Chapter Presidents showed up (they're the main people on the interview committee).
2) the two fraternities that were supposed to be interviewing didn't show.

So our expansion coordinator gets a phone call just before the first fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, was supposed to interview. They decided to drop out of the running, so now there's only 9 fraternities.
Then he gets a call from the other that was supposed to interview, Alpha Kappa Lambda, and they want to reschedule.

Is it just me, or does it seem like this second fraternity isn't very interested in expanding? I mean, we have two chapters that have been patiently awaiting an opportunity to expand here, and then there's this one that calls the day of their interview and wants to reschedule. Hmm... not that the fraternity presidents are holding up their end of the bargain much either. What's funny is that the ones who DID show up were the ones who were against expansion in the first place!

I'll keep everyone updated as things progress, but here's the rundown of who's still up for interviews:

Delta Chi
Delta Upsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Sigma Chi
Alpha Kappa Lambda
Phi Kappa Psi
Pi Kappa Phi
Zeta Psi

In defense of Alpha Kappa Lambda, they are a much smaller organization than any of the others on that list. For comparison's sake, Sig Ep and Teke have nearly 10x as many chapters and a much larger paid staff. We have a chapter of AKL on my campus (a good chapter too), and to the best of my knowledge, there are only three full-time employees at their national HQ in Indy. Chances are pretty good that the persons coming for the interview are alumni volunteers and may have had unforseen circumstances arise.

Just an interesting factoid, Alpha Kappa Lambda was the first national Greek organization founded in California!

Not sure now which organizations have dropped out of the running, but my boss just informed me that there are only 7 orgs going for the open spot now.

So here's the latest on Expansion:

Delta Sigma Phi has dropped out of the process.

Alpha Kappa Lambda asked to reschedule their interview from last Monday to the 21st, but then decided to drop out later that day.

Delta Chi has dropped out of the process.

Zeta Psi has not returned any phone calls/emails from the Expansion Coordinator, and thus has not scheduled an interview, so I don't think they'll be included in the process either.

So now it's down to 6 or 7 (give or take Zeta Psi), and this is the schedule:

April 14 interviews are with Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Tau Kappa Epsilon.

April 21 interviews are with Delta Upsilon, Phi Kappa Psi, and Sigma Chi.

I'll keep you all updated as I hear.

Update!
 

Ok, so now it's just down to 4 fraternities that are under consideration for Expansion:

Tau Kappa Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Chi
Phi Kappa Psi

Interviews with the Expansion coordinator and current IFC chapter presidents finished on Monday, so these are the official 4 to choose from for presentations. My boss informed me that presentations will be in May and we will choose the lucky chapter in late May, early June. If i hear anything about how the presentations go (which I will, I'm sure), then I'll keep you all posted!

woho phi psi!

An update, Finally....
 

Wow, so I just realized it was over 3 months ago that I last was able to post info about this! So last week, two letters went out from our office, inviting 2 fraternities to form interest groups on campus after the IFC expansion process....

Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Kappa Psi have been asked to form interest groups in the fall! So hopefully they'll be successful and we'll have two new fraternities on campus! :D

that is awesome! hurray!