Should the system of Quota be changed? A look at the Nebraska system
 

So I did a search and didn't find what I was looking for except in the general threads explaining quota. But even that wasn't quite right.

So even though I understand the way that quota works for NPC recruitment, the reasoning behind it baffles me...

The main problem with quota from the stories I hear outside of Nebraska (sometimes here on GC) is that the big houses are at an advantage. Every girl wants to join the house with 160 members and not the one with 40. And there is so much pressure to reach quota that chapters are punished if they don't (from what I've heard)

This doesn't happen at Nebraska b/c of the way recruitment numbers are set up.
Every single chapter with a chapter house (13 out of 14 chapters) is at or near total. If total is 115, (hypothetically - I think it may be closer to 130) then those 13 chapters probably have an average size of 111 with houses ranging in size from 115 - 95 (not a big difference really). Again hypothetically.

This happens b/c no house is allowed to go over total, and "quota" is determined for each chapter individually. If there is a large number of girls going through recruitment, so that capping everyone at total would leave a large number of girls without bids, then total is increased. Most years, as far as I have been paying attention, the numbers have been fairly constant with a couple of huge classes of ladies a couple of years ago which raised total at the time. So in essence the system calculates total every year rather than quota, and that calculation determines how large each new member class is.

I think that this is a better system b/c it really rewards the chapters that do the best at keeping their girls involved for four years - they get the absolute cream of the crop of the girls they want (simply b/c they have fewer to take and have to "settle" for fewer of their lower ranked girls). For example the chapter that I believe to be hands down the best chapter on campus has closed their new member class first for years b/c they typically have a new member class 4-5 girls smaller than their next closest competitor (some years they have classes as small as 28 girls, while other chapters may have classes as large as 45 or 50). They have significantly fewer members drop in their third and fourth years, and their classes seemed to be much more unified rather than cliquish as I see in other houses. The girls tend to be friends with nearly everyone in their class as opposed to only several really close friends out of a large class.

The other advantage is that it keeps the chapters all at the same size so girls aren't focused on which house is biggest.

Of course if chapters are not at total after formal recruitment, then they may pursue candidates through COB, but this isn't a life or death mission for any housed chapter.

The only disadvantage I've heard raised by a sorority member was that her chapter lost out on a lot of inter/national awards b/c they seldom made quota which disqualified them outright for most of the big ones even though they are a great chapter.

Granted some chapters take girls they might otherwise not take if the other model was used, but (and maybe it isn't realized by the chapters) the way to avoid this is fairly clear (although not necessarily easy as it requires a culture change within the chapter).


Am I missing something as to why this sort of system isn't more widespread? Are there significant disadvantages to this set up compared to the standard, "everyone has the same quota, even if you go over total" model? Does that system have advantages I'm not seeing?

this is so interesting. do you know when the number each chapter can take is determined-on what day of recruitment is it set?

for instance, university of state's panhellenic might determine that for their campus, it works best to set quota on day three of their 5 day recruitment, while state u. sets their quota on the day before prefs.

This seems to be close to the way that Arkansas did quota until the mid seventies. Most of the sorority houses could house about the same number of people so quota was set at whatever that number was, let's pretend 100, and there were 9 sororities. The thing was that, again, most of the PNMs wanted to be in 4 (or if pressed, 6) of the chapters and the number of PNMs grew every year. They dropped out of recruitment if they didn't get one of the bigger houses.

This left hundreds of unbid women--somewhere on GC, I put down the number that I found in my yearbook--and created a lot of antiGreek hostility, especially aganist the Big 4.

In some ways, the Nebraska system would make the top houses even more elite. If everybody is allowed to take quota of say 40, PNMs have the same number of slots in the top chapters as in the bottoms ones. If the top chapters are only taking 25 and the bottom ones are taking 45, it is even harder for the PNMs to get into those top houses, making them even more elite. I think the Nebraska system has its merits for sure, but it errs in favor of the chapter, where the NPC system errs in favor of the PNM. I think the preference is just on which side you want the balance to be shifted. Typically recruitment tries to give those kind of advantages to the PNM, because the chapter has so much power inherently in the recruitment process (in that the selection process may be "mutual" but if the chapter doesn't invite you, you can't decide to pledge.)

As I read the explanation here, it sounds like quota is set independant of the number of women going through recruitment because it is based upon equalizing Total. That could lead to an extremely competitive recruitment as the women know that there are (hypotheticallY) 500 new member slots with 700 women competing for them. How is that better? Sure, total can be increased but not in the middle of recruitment. In the meantime, some quality women would be totally shut out. I don't agree with the assertion that taking a woman at the "bottom of the list" is "settling". Someone who is the bottom of the list for ABC might be top of the list for XYZ, That is mutual selection.

The current quota/total system is set up to make sure there IS an opportunity for every woman who goes through the entire recruitment process. It might not be her top choice, and that is an issue that the new release figure programs are intended to address.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting it, but I see this system punishing the groups who have good retention. If you have a large number of broken pledges or resignations, you then get a bigger new member class the next year. I don't see that having a new member class of 28 when others have 50 is an advantage. The idea that they have "better sisterhood" is not a function of chapter size but rather how the chapter is organized. The group with good retention doesn't have good retention because they have a smaller new member class... they'd have good retention regardless.

Wouldn't that just result in lots and lots of PNMs dropping out of Recruitment because they couldn't get into their "elite" choices?

ETA: And I agree, Karen. I don't see how having a small new member class is rewarding.

The Nebraska way of setting quota numbers and the new way of NPC way of doing the numbers is going to set an artificial level of supply and demand. Shallow as they may be, some girls simply have their hearts set on certain houses for a variety of reasons. Having a smaller supply of openings at XYZ is just going to result in a higher demand for each spot and doesn't necessarily result in the girls that were denied by XYZ wanting to go to ABC.

What if...
 

(I'm a statistics/numbers geek so this whole quota and total thing fascinates me.)

If the idea behind quota and total is to "even" the chapters number wise, then why not use something similar to the Nebraska model presented by BigRedBeta? Maybe at least every five years or so would help even things out.

Some times it helps to visualize these things. So for the sake of simplicity, lets say there are five sororities with total for each at 100. Each chapter is considered excellent and any girl would consider her self lucky to be a member of any of the five. (Just go with it, ok.)

Following is the number of members at the start of recruitment.

ABC: 80 returning members
DEF: 70 returning members
GHI: 60 returning members
JKL: 50 returning members
MNO: 40 returning members

In the "usual" quota system, if 200 PNMs make it to preference night, then quota would be set at 40. (200/5=40) All chapters make quota. Thus after recruitment the membership would be as follows.

ABC: 80 returning members + 40 new members = 120 total members
DEF: 70 returning members + 40 new members = 110 total members
GHI: 60 returning members + 40 new members = 100 total members
JKL: 50 returning members + 40 new members = 90 total members
MNO: 40 returning members + 40 new members = 80 total members

In the "traditional" quota system, all chapters get the same number of new members as each other and MNO will be 40 members less than ABC. Even if MNO and JKL COB up to total, they will still be 20 less than ABC.

Now, using "total as part of quota" might work something like this. (Total = 100)

ABC: 80 returning members with 20 open spots/quota = 100 total members
DEF: 70 returning members with 30 open spots/quota = 100 total members
GHI: 60 returning members with 40 open spots/quota = 100 total members
JKL: 50 returning members with 50 open spots/quota = 100 total members
MNO: 40 returning members with 60 open spots/quota = 100 total members

As before, 200 women go through recruitment. So the breakout in this scenario would be 20+30+40+50+60=200. Each chapter would meet quota and be at total.

Let's say it is a big year at State U. and twice as many women (400) go through formal. 200 is the number needed to get each chapter at total. The remaining 200 PNMs would be divided by the number of chapters. 200/5=20 This number would be considered "quota additions" and would be the same for each chapter.

Thus each chapter's quota/result would be as follows.

ABC: 80 returning members. 20 open spots + 20 quota addition = 40 new members. New chapter total = 120
DEF: 70 returning members. 30 open spots + 20 quota addition = 50 new members. New chapter total = 120
GHI: 60 returning members. 40 open spots + 20 quota addition = 60 new members. New chapter total = 120
JKL: 50 returning members. 50 open spots + 20 quota addition = 70 new members. New chapter total = 120
MNO: 40 returning members. 60 open spots + 20 quota addition = 80 new members. New chapter total = 120

Of course, something could be worked out so that if a chapter doesn't make quota or total, they can COB and snap away up to the new total.

Frankly, if all chapters are *equal* - and that is what the NPC preaches - then why not set up a system that has a better chance of reflecting it number wise?

Once the chapters are "equal" (say within a certain preordained number or within a certain percentage of each other) then the campus can go back to the "standard" system of quota.

Well see, that's one thing I was talking about. The year I rushed, one of the "Top 4" had far fewer vacancies than the rest because they'd hardly lost any over the summer. That sorority made sure that the PNMs knew they only had 25 openings and suddenly, girls would've killed to get in. Worse yet, they had several "must take" in-house legacies. Then after recruitment in addition to the agony of the girls who didn't get any bid, there were dozens of girls torn up because they didn't make that one group.

It is somewhat annoying when colleges attempt to make the systems "fair." Large fraternities and large sororities are generally that way because they are better than the others. Despite what people say on here, all groups and all people aren't equally as worthwhile.

Obviously we're on the same page.:) Supply and demand is one of the first principles taught in Econ 101.

I have a question that is not intended, in the least, to be offensive. I've been wondering for a long time. Why would sororities want to "err" in favor of the PNMs and not themselves? These are businesses regardless of any consideration of status. You'll want to take the best you can get to ensure the vitality of the organization in its future.

And in this business world, your concern is yourself, not the other businesses in your same market. Why should stronger businesses be restrained in favor of struggling businesses? Well, I guess that's two questions.

And a third, what is the purpose of leveling the field? I'm asking because competition has always been a significant part of the social Greek system, as well it should be. Otherwise, why have sororities at all? Why not have open membership social clubs?

I suppose all my questions are basically the same!

ETA: At the risk of sounding insensitive, why is there so much concern over unhappy PNMs?

Holy crap, I actually agree with you on something^

[ETA: At the risk of sounding insensitive, why is there so much concern over unhappy PNMs?[/QUOTE]

Nobody likes to see people be torn up, especially good people who deserve better. I've spoken before of how horrible it was when I had to sit in the room at Mississippi State where the girls got their returns and so many were cut by groups they wanted or groups that their older friends were in or their fellow PNMs were still being invited back to.

Rejection of any kind is devastating.

Erring in favor of the PNMs doesn't lower the quality of women you accept. If you don't want to accept women, you can cut them. Your bid list is made up of ONLY women that you want. Sororities are businesses but we made an agreement w/in the NPC to work together. Some people may see these as restrictions, but I think they're benefits.

In a large Greek system, there will always be the stronger and weaker chapters. Heck even in a small Greek system this is the case. My chapter was seen as "weaker" because we COB'd every year. We made quota through COBs though and some of our strongest leaders came from the "didn't want to rush" crowd. If there isn't a limit of some sort (quota) then 2 chapters could but the weakest 2 out of business. But it's in the NPCs best interest to have an overall strong Greek system. Too few chapters means more women without bids, means more anti-Greek feeling, etc.

It's a great big balancing act that I think generally the NPC succeeds at. Expansion is controlled so that chapters have a chance to settle in, and then if there are a large number of PNMs another chapter can be added.

If the chapters were all local, there wouldn't be the same amount of cooperation (likely). But because one campus' has a struggling XYZ doesn't mean that on another campus XYZ isn't the "top" chapter. So we chose cooperation.

Finally, no NPC sorority thinks that it is right for every woman out there. We're not like Microsoft thinking that EVERYONE should use a PC. Some women feel more at home in Tri Delta, some feel more at home in ASA, some feel more at home in Theta Nu Xi and some feel at home in DST.

We feel that encouraging Greek Life in general helps each of our sororities in particular.

One day, I hope we stop concerning ourselves so much with how people feel. This self esteem boosting weakens people in the long run.

I know how tough it can be both on the part of the PNM and the sorority women. And it's not easy to cut wonderful women. But, why let that be a big consideration when you (general you) already have your own sorority's health to worry about? That seems like a lot of added stress! Plus, not everyone will fit with the values of a particular sorority. And many PNMs won't fit in any sorority on campus. That's doesn't mean the PNMs isn't amazing...just that she isn't a good fit.

I think what concerns me is that more and more PNMs should be placed in the different sororities seems to reinforce the stereotype that NPC orgs are interchangeable, as if it's all one big sorority and each sorority is a different chapter within the big sorority. In reality, each sorority has it's own history and purpose, not to mention its own ethos. So, it's not surprising that it's not always a perfect fit. You know? (I don't know if that made sense!)

Yes, and there will always be PNMs who don't fit. But it seems to work better if the sororities look out for the panhel as a whole then for their individual chapters. No one's suggesting that the NPC favors quantity over quality.. that's actually one of the fastest ways a chapter can collapse.

Yeah, it really sucks to see PNMs who are devestated, but many of them would have found a chapter that fit them if they hadn't listened to gossip or only considered "elite" chapters. That's why rotationals are required, so that you see EVERY chapter. But that doesn't keep some 18 year old from looking at them with an open mind. I feel that if PNMs were more prone to making their own judgements instead of following the peer pressure crowd, more would be happy.

Ok - this makes sense to me. It sounds like NPC sororities are all like sisters to each other more than competition. I see how that's a great thing, but isn't it hard to maintain your identity in the bigger family?

Absolutely. Theta Nu Xi strongly supports Greek Life and Unity, but we definitely do it in another way. Maybe that's an asset to all though. We're getting at different aspects of anti-Greek sentiment.

Well there's the difficult bit. Everyone knows that the chapters on campus don't always get along. We ARE girls after all. It's easy for me to step back now and not roll my eyes at members of XYZ, but a year ago.. geez man they were the enemy!

Luckily our HQs are able to step back and try to work for Greek Life as a whole. On campus, panhel has to enforce the rules, and generally they get along just fine, but you don't lose your identity in some panhellenic org, because there isn't one. Does that make sense?

On the national level, we all work together even though we are distinct. On the campus level, we're made to work together even though we are distinct.

I like it - lets do it

The big problem I can see with this is getting screwed if you don't have an equal distribution among classes - i.e. all of a sudden one year half the sorority graduates. But I guess that happens sometimes anyway even w/ a regular quota system.

I think this sounds good in theory, but two things stand out to me here.

One, I can't imagine how a chapter would operate with twice as many new members as returning members (as would be the case with MNO). Seriously, can you really fathom what a chapter of 40 would do with 80 new members?

Two, if MNO has only 40 returning members, while ABC has twice that, I would be surprised if PNMs would view MNO as ABCs equal. While it would be nice for PNMs to have an open mind, not all of them do. And, it's likely that many would see MNO as inferior, simply because there aren't as many of them as there are ABC. Thus, it would be unlikely that MNO could even get 80 new members from formal recruitment alone.

I still don't understand why some people are wondering why we should be concerned about brokenhearted PNMs!:confused: These women are our friends, our daughters, our sisters! And sure, some people wouldn't make good Greeks but they may not know that yet and all they can concentrate on at age 18 or so is the rejection.

If you or someone close to you has been hurt in recruitment, you understand what I mean.

That's interesting, and I think that they've always done it that way. I was a bit "distracted" in college, always had big boyfriend drama going, so I really don't remember a lot of the details, but I do remember that some houses would have pretty small pledge classes (about 10 or so less than the average).

Also, I don't know if it's still the case, but because we had relatively large houses, you HAD to live in the house, but the numbers were also flexible because it also depended on how many Lincoln girls you had in each pledge class. So it also depended on the size of the sorority house, and how many you could house there. I really don't remember anybody who lived out of the house after freshman year, and if you were an upperclassman pledge, you had to move in at the semester if there was room (from graduation in December, usually).

This is all a dim memory, but I've finally figured out why I really never could understand all the talk on here about total....but I figured I just wasn't paying attention. Sounds like a little of both!

So at what point are new sororities asked to come onto campus? If houses are reaching quotas, and girls aren't getting bid then that means there is supply for another sorority. Whereas, if the total is changing, houses would keep getting bigger and bigger until they reach the point of not wanting more members. So in the case of Nebraska, is there ever a time when they see houses as being too big?

You're talking about a sorority system that is OLD--meaning my chapter celebrated its centennial when I was in college over 20 years ago, and most chapters are a single greek letter. "New" sororities are ones that came on campus in the 30's or 40's. Those two have gone on and off campus a couple of times over the years, mostly with housing issues, I think. They were the only two that had "open rush" when I was in school, using the terms from the olden days.

I can't speak with any authority, though, I haven't lived there nor paid much attention to what is going on there for 20 years. The only thing I can say is that in an old system, change doesn't come easily. I look at the chapter websites and the ABC's still look like ABC's and the XYZ's still look like the XYZ's.

chapters with a history of high return rates(a high percentage of girls wanting to return to their next party) have to release a higher percentage of pnms than those chapters whose return rates are not as high. this is done in the hopes that those pnms, who are released from the more "popular" chapters will hang around, accept the invitations that have been extended to them, and find a home.

of the campuses that i know that use this model, it has not hurt the chapters who have had to release more pnms early on. they are still making quota-couldn't say if more pnms are accepting bids overall.

(this is why some of us encourage pnms to try to obtain recs. to as many sororities on their campuses as they can-it is difficult to get to know a lot about a young woman in 15 or 20 minutes- a rec. provides more info,including background info., clubs, activities, honors and might help keep the pnm off the early release list)

Sort of related - I noticed from Carnation's Auburn post on the SEC thread that first round PNMs go to 16 parties, then 2nd round they go to 12. Back in the day at Illinois, we went to 22 parties first round and had to cut down to 8 for second round. I don't know if Illinois still does that (I know they don't have 22 anymore) but it is impossible for PNMs to give chapters a chance when they have to cut so many so soon. I am glad to see that at least Auburn lets them keep a lot of chapters for a second look.

ETA: Our parties were 22-8-5-3, the current website says this year it will be 20-10-6-3. 20 to 10 is still a huge cut.

I'm glad that Auburn has stretched out the rush week as well. When I was there, we did 14-9-5-3-2 and those 14 ice water teas were ALL in one day. It didn't help the PNMs who didn't yet know the sororities at all but then back in the day, AU was kind of set up for the people who had always known the campus, always known they'd be going there. It was like rush was set up for the sororities to quickly cut down to the women whom they were truly considering and they'd known who they were for ages.

When I hear the 'horror' stories of Recruitment events at campuses that do not use the quota/total system, I get the heeby-jeebies. It turns the whole event into a ruthless series of events with much disappointment on all sides. The new release figures method does work to maintain healthy chapter numbers across the board. On some campuses there are slightly fewer women pledging, but there are also more women dropping out of recruitment earlier in the process, and these women are not maximizing their options. The numbers set for quota are staying about the same vs. previous years when (the newer) release figures were not used.

There is going ot be disappointment on all sides, but I think that completely dispensing with the system, especially in a competitive environment, would lead to more problems.


Here is an excellent presentation on how and why the release figures work (Powerpoint format): http://www.odos.uiuc.edu/GREEK/recru...ruitSummit.ppt

Okay, so this has been exactly the type of discussion I was hoping for. I'm seeing it a little better from other sides and what the concerns are:

First, I'm not sure when total is set, but I do believe that it happens at approximately the same time as when quota would be set in one of the standard NPC models.

Second, as NUBlue&Blue (some of my best friends are members of your house!) mentioned Nebraska is an extremely old system (AXO is Xi, GPhiB is Pi, AOTT is Zeta, APhi is Nu, AZD is Rho, XO is Kappa, KD is Pi...you get the picture). And as she alluded to, this form has been in place for a long time. ALL the chapters are very close to total if not there. All the chapters are relatively the same in the number of girls they are going to take simply b/c eventually all the chapters are at or near total during the year. And really what's 10-15 people in a room of 75? I doubt that the "smaller" houses appear that way to an outsider. Also it's not like a chapter is going to go from 40 members during recruitment to 120 or whatever. The largest pledge class size I've ever heard of was 52 girls during a year when total went up by 8.

The other thing is that Nebraska has a guaranteed bid system in place. If girls "play fair" then they will end up someplace. Granted that doesn't mean they are necessarily going to end up in their first or second choice, but if they play by the rules then they will end up somewhere.

I also think that b/c the chapter houses have little idea of where total may fall by the end of the week, that they don't go around saying "we only have X many spots". People know that chapter XYZ and ABC historically have filled up first, but no one knows just exactly how many bids will be offered. It also helps in a system as old as Nebraska's, that chapters don't automatically have to bid legacies because there are so many. Granted girls with older sisters in the chapter have a distinct advantage, but that happens everywhere. But I do see the concern about making the best chapters even more elite. However, I don't necessarily see that in how the chapters actually operate.

As for dakareng's comments. You're right that sisterhood is not a function of chapter size, but this model removes chapter size as a variable. Everyone ends up damn close to total so for the most part they're equal. I personally believe that good retention rates are a symptom of great sisterhood. If your sisterhood is great, then why would girls drop out? You end up getting girls to stay for four years (which is definitely less common among sorority women vs. fraternity men at least at Nebraska). In the end, the chapter which gets a smaller class size is at an advantage in setting up those girls to have great sisterhood - as it's assuredly easier to set up programming for 28 vs 40, and it's easier to be close with 27 others compared to 39.
Further it also helps out the chapters with poor retention rates b/c they don't keep falling further and further behind. They will, at least at some point early on the year be on the exact same numbers position as every other chapter.
Again, the point here is that total chapter size is no longer a variable. At most other places, bigger chapters are better and that's for the most part true with the fraternities at Nebraska at least when looking at the general trends...but in case of the sororities everyone is the same size so there has to be other ways of looking at who is the "best".

Finally, I didn't mention the most surprising part of Nebraska's recruitment. This I don't particularly like, and I have no idea how or why it's set up this way, but it is. There are 13 chapters that go through formal recruitment. Monday is an info session and meet the Recruitment guides day. The first day of parties is only 8! Girls find out their invites on Monday night and if they have more than 8 they have to reject invitations based on what they've seen in the introductory presentations. Chapters are only allowed a certain number of invitations, with (at least I've been told) most cuts coming solely due to GPA requirements. But if that can't achieve the number of cuts needed, then other criteria are used. Girls are required to submit applications 2 weeks before recruitment starts (but no pictures). This bothers me, b/c it means that in some cases the best matches aren't found b/c the girl never even sees that chapter through the week.

So the chapters invite girls before they have actually met them? What???

I agree!

I think I could get used to the rest of the system, especially if it works as well as it sounds like, but WAY not cool to cut girls without even meeting them.

I've heard this about the University of Texas... is it true that even the first round there is invitational?

I've certainly heard of chapters coming up with the list of cuts for round 2 before round 1 (based on GPA usually), but I've never heard of schools really DOING the cuts before round 1!! I wonder how many campuses do this.

I don't know how long they've been doing this, because we went to all the houses for 15 minutes, I think. It was 14, then 6, then 3, then bid day.

As I've said, it was a long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away!

BTW, we had 32 in our pledge class. Don't know if that was big or small. I know of another who only had 28, but the funny thing is, I do remember that quite a few "about to be seniors" got married the summer before I pledged. Maybe that's why there was room!

BigRedBeta, what do you know about the Lincoln girls and how it affects total? I was never very clear on that.

And....most important question...do they still have the Beta-Kappa ring?

They go 8, 5, 3, bid day nowadays.

As for Lincoln girls, I'm not sure how that affects total. As I've pieced together information from various alums and such, I know that at one time if you were a Lincoln kid (guy or girl) then you typically were unable to live in the chapter house. Some chapters (AZD I know for sure) still have a specific room dedicated to "lincoln girls" but most of the use actually came from seniors who had chosen to live out of the house in an apartment on their own. I'm not sure when the change came about, but like I said, I've certainly heard of lincolnites not being able to live in the chapter houses, which is definitely not the case these days. Given that, I don't think that Lincoln girls have any sort of special impact on the numbers.

Now as for this Beta-Kappa Ring, I'm certainly intrigued, but I have no clue what you are talking about. My guess is that this is one tradition that got lost either during the period from 88 - 94 in which our chapter basically became the antithesis of what we had always been, or during the 95-98 period in which we were reorganizing (went from 88 members in fall 95 to 13 in spring 96 after the alumni cleaned house). There was definitely a time in which most sororities wouldn't hang out with us (which has of course changed). And while I have many friends in Kappa (and one of my pledge brothers pinned a Kappa) I don't think we are as close with Kappa as we are with some other houses...which is unfortunate...

beta, do you know after which round quota is set?

So sad about the Beta-Kappa ring....it was very old, some of the girls in my chapter had mothers who'd worn the Beta-Kappa ring.

At one time (I don't really know when) a lot of Kappas and Betas were couples. There was a sterling silver ring with the two crests on it, and the most recently pinned couple had it until the next Beta-Kappa combo was pinned, then they passed it on...and so on and so on. Wonder which Kappa kept it?

We only had a couple of Beta-Kappa pairs when I was in school, because of location girls in our house tended to date Sig Eps or Sig Alphs. My husband was a TKE, but of course they are gone from Nebraska as well. They were Phi chapter, but had periods throughout their history where they were on and off campus, so when they started to have problems with numbers there were no alums of a certain age in a financial position to help. When we were in school they were a huge house, won intramurals every year, had guys on homecoming every year and lived in two houses and an annex (their houses were the two across the courtyard from each other right next door to the KD and DG houses, and their annex was located in what is now a parking lot near the AXD house).

Lincoln girls were counted differently, I think, so you could take more people if you had more Lincoln girls. They could only live in the house one semester of their college career. We didn't have a Lincoln girls room, although I know that was pretty common. We HAD to live in the house, no other options, unless you got married. Period. Soph, Jr., Sr. If you were an academic redshirt (5th yr) then you got to live in an apartment if there was no room in the house.