of Maryland Pike chapter on Probation; 60+/- Members Given Alum Status
 

The U of Maryland has placed its Pike chapter on probation. Pi Kappa Alpha has also done a membership review; the chapter now reportedly has about 20 active members, down from about 80 before the review.

The Diamondback reports:

http://www.diamondbackonline.com/new...bers-1.1922498

Excerpts from much longer article ^:

After documenting a pattern of questionable behavior within the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, . . . the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life placed the group on probation as the organization itself removed three quarters of its members over winter break.

"For the past five to 10 years, there has been a culture in that fraternity that has persisted that has dealt with hazing allegations, fighting amongst brothers and overall damage to the house," Interfraternity Council President Brian Toll said.

There was no specific event that triggered the university's decision, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Matt Supple said, adding PKA's status change was a result of the group's "failure to comply with university expectations" over several semesters.

"We believed it was necessary to intervene," Supple said.

The fraternity is allowed to participate in spring rush events to rebuild their brotherhood. Supple said DFSL never penalizes fraternities or sororities by barring them from recruitment, though the fraternity is not allowed to serve alcohol at rush events this semester. PKA chapter President Sameul Kleiman said the fraternity is looking to recruit as many new members as possible, adding he hopes the incoming members will possess stronger moral fiber than in previous years.

"I think the future of their brotherhood is entirely in their hands," Toll said, adding the remaining members are committed to restoring PKA's good standing.

DFSL could not release the conditions of PKA's probation but there are certain requirements the chapter must meet to remain a recognized fraternity on campus, Supple said. The fraternity will be on probation through next year's spring semester.

In addition to their probation, PKA reevaluated its brotherhood and cut their membership from more than 80 active undergraduates to around 20. The 60 members who were removed now carry alumni status.

. . . For several semesters, Greek life officials have been monitoring PKA to see whether the group was meeting university standards, Supple said. By working with the fraternity's alumni, the university identified a dangerous culture of behavior in the chapter, which Supple said he believes can change. He added had the problems appeared irreparable, the university would have axed the fraternity altogether rather than giving them a chance to reform.

. . . The fraternity's national office could not be reached for comment.

I'm interested to see how this turns out. There has been so much turnover at Maryland with fraternities in the last decade (at least), and I'm interested to see if the membership review and rebuild is successful. It seems like many of the other fraternities that had closed in the past several years just closed without attempts to salvage the chapters. Though, every case is different. I'm glad that OFSL and Pike National intervened before it was too late (maybe/hopefully). Best of luck to Pike with their rebuilding effort.

I had a question about this last night that I decided to sleep on. I guess it's important enough where it's still on my mind.

If this was an Alpha Phi Alpha chapter, or perhaps any BGLO, a "membership review" would definitely cause a lot more problems than plain shutting the chapter down.

What is it about Pike at UM, or any other non-BGLO really, where forcing people to go alum while still undergraduates wouldn't be problematic?

I could easily conceive of a chapter where the ones who stayed were seen by the campus as lame and the ones forced out were viewed as the "real" Pikes.

I think that the HQ THINKS (key word) that at a large school like UM they can turn things around quickly...although I've also seen fraternities do it on my campus, and it's like 1/6 of a UM. :) They don't want to lose the revenue stream, basically, especially if housing is involved. Also if there are alums who graduated long enough ago, they often want their chapter to stay open at all costs...even if it's so different from the group they joined as to be unrecognizable. The HQ wants to keep these alum$ happy.

My honest opinion? More balls than brains. Unless the chapter was to the point where there were 3 members in it and it was reviled by campus, I totally agree with your last paragraph. Especially if the chapter was a popular one.

Then there's also the shell game sort of thing, where the "new" members who supposedly have nothing to do with the bad old dudes are actually their BFFs, unbeknownst to the national recruiters who came to check things out and redo the chapter, and the minute they leave the "alumni" are back partying at the house like nothing ever happened.

They were. Pike has been one of the most popular chapters at UMD since MY time there (I graduated in 2002). This has kind of been a long time coming IMO. There has been some questionable RM stuff going on there since they became housed on Fraternity Row, which happened in 2000. I'm glad they are getting a second chance though. There have been SOOO many chapters that were just wholesale shut down within the last 10 years that Maryland has almost become a revolving door as far as fraternities are concerned.

It absolutely could be problematic. That perception of the "real" Pikes is a possibility and 33girl's hypothetical situation could happen. The membership review and rebuild could easily fail. Perhaps there are alums to placate by trying to keep the chapter open, or maybe the situation is such that OFSL/Pike National think a membership review and rebuild could work. If there were fights between brothers, maybe there is a divide that would keep the bad apples away.

Lane swerve here, but is serving alcohol during rush a common thing? Sorry if that sounds naive as hell but its not really done at FAU and as far as I'm aware Delt Nationals doesn't allow it.

From what I've gathered, if the fraternity house is allowed to have alcohol (University rules/that GLO's nationals allow it), then they can have alcohol at their rush events, assuming there is some sort of security making sure the people drinking are of age. Since "dry rush" seems to be a common form of penalizing fraternities that are on probation or have had rush infractions, it would only make sense that if they haven't had any of those problems, alcohol would be permitted.

On another weird note, I apparently know the president of that chapter. The name sounded familiar, and I realized I knew him from a while back. He always seemed like a good leader to me, and I think he can definitely help in putting the chapter back on track.

Even if the official rush parties are dry, that doesn't mean that brothers won't invite rushees they like to (non rush) parties with alcohol during rush week.

Didn't Pike lose their charter at UMD sometime in the early '90s and recharter later in the decade? I'm surprised they're getting yet another chance.

Yes. Don't know the year they were shut down originally but they re-chartered in 1997 and lived in the old AXiD house until they got the house on the Row in 2000. They pretty much shot right up to one of the most popular houses on campus within the first 3 or so years of their re-chartering. And ehhh about them getting "another" chance. By the time Pike re-colonized in '97 the old members were long gone so theoretically it was a brand new chapter.

PKA was first shut down the end of the 92-93 school year I believe (last composite has 1993 on it.) All members were made alum & their house was boarded up. It was by the 7-11 on Knox Rd. and burned down the summer of '94 (I think?) & now is a parking lot.

Between fall '91 and fall '93 UMCP lost a few major chapters- ATO, PKA & for the women KKG. AXiD folded itself summer of '94 (I believe that members lived in their chapter house until spring 1995.) As someone who pledged as a freshman in '94 I saw very, very few if any of these letters in my 4 years on campus. It was almost shocking when you did see someone wearing letters of a defunct chapter on campus. I knew one member of one of these chapters- thru one of my older sisters and he was always referred to as "an old." UMCP is a big school and although the greek system is prominent, ~80% of the campus is NOT greek, therefore it was not easy for members of a defunct chapter w/o a house to maintain any sort of standing.

When PKA re-colonized (as soon as they were able to- they did not wait around, I believe they wanted to maximize the reputation of being a strong house they had left behind- older sisters in my chapter definitely missed them!) they did so by networking with sororities. They had a rep from their HQ visit the sorority chapters during meeting and make a pitch if you will, then asked for the names & phone numbers of guys who we liked but were in a chapter. It worked well and PKA was well-regarded from the start, which was not the norm @ UMCP for new chapters. I think that they only got to live in AXiD for one year, because AXiD didn't allow them to have parties in that house, so they moved around a bit until they got the house on the row.

As far as them getting another chance- the Univ. has them on probation, HQ is likely the one who mandated the re-org. I believe that in the OFSL's view, this chapter and it's behavior is completely separate from the chapter that was shut down in the early 90's.

Also ditto the previous posters on the veritable merry-go-round that Fraternity Row in College Park has been for the last 15 or so years (yes, that long- I would say '96/97 is when things started to move.) I used to do an annual drive by on Fraternity Row every year at homecoming and I was always surprised to see what chapters had left and what chapters had made the move "up" onto the row (typically from less desirable housing.)