Alpha Tau Omega - University of Kansas
 

http://www.kansan.com/stories.asp?id=200208300006

ATO forced to close chapter at the University after debt, member loss
By Todd Rapp
Kansan staff writer

Low membership and debt will result in the loss of a fraternity at the University of Kansas.

Alpha Tau Omega was notified yesterday morning by the national chapter that they would no longer be an operating chapter at KU.

Wynn Smiley, chief executive officer for Alpha Tau Omega, said the fraternity lost its charter but it would not be officially announced until September after the Alpha Tau Omega Board of Directors´ meeting.

Financial debt and a trend of diminishing new member classes forced the fraternity to move out of its house, 1537 Tennessee St., last May. The Richmond Property Group took possession of the house and leased it to Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.

Bob McKenney, program assistant for fraternity and sorority life, said the fraternity was forced to remove 30 members from the house in 1997 because of a hazing incident.

In 1994, the house underwent renovations costing more than $1 million. Because of the loss of members, the house was not able to afford payments toward the remodeling debt. Since then, the chapter has experienced problems recruiting enough men to keep up with the payments from the renovation.

Smiley said, despite the efforts of a few dedicated undergraduates, the lack of new members was the main reason for the loss of the charter .

“Unfortunately, there is a large group of men who were not willing to or couldn´t put forth the effort to recruit new members,” Smiley said.

Smiley said that the Alpha Tau Omega´s national headquarters was planning to renew it´s charter at the University in about five years.

Hoffman said even though Alpha Tau Omega would no longer be a member of the Interfraternity Council at KU, the members of the house were planning to get together in the next few weeks to discuss future courses of action.

Its sad hazing and renovations helped kill the chapter.

RockChalk, thanks for the Update!

It is sad to see a National of the Prominence of an ATO Leave A school as Good As KU!

Money Problems along with hazing if that did happen is the down fall of many Greeks!

We must all learn from any and all of these type of experiences hopefully!

ATO--Kansas
 

I was shocked to learn of the tough times of the ATO chapter at KU. We lived next door to them in t he 50s. When we built our new house, A TO bought ours, tore it down and added on to their h ouse. Upwards of 120 membership, it was indeed a top chapter at KU with many outstanding athletes. It is very
disheartening to learn of such a tragedy, such apathy, and the frustration which comes along with it.
BUT I have no doubt that Gamma Mu, a hundred year old chapter with over 2,000 initiates, will be back and strong again
Hurry back, ATO! Erik P Conard, TKE, Denver Alumni Chapter

ATO's had lots of trouble in this part of the country then. I believe last year or the year before their Oklahoma chapter closed and sometime recently their Oklahoma State chapter closed. They have a fairly strong chapter here at the University of Central Oklahoma (my little brother [blood] is an ATO there).

With an alumni base like that they should probably be recolonizing in no time.

such a curse.. hazing and financial problems have made many a UMASS glo go under, we're down to 5 fraternities (possibly 4 in a few weeks) and 4 sororities (possibly 3 this fall)... our school doesn't recognize us and we're diminishing... my chapter, however, is going strong... GREEK LOVE and lets all learn from this..