Quote:
Originally posted by sigmaK619
Does anyone know what eventually brought the SK house to a close? What caused them to struggle so much? Just curious, I hate when SK chapters close!
|
The reason the chapter closed was simply that they were struggling with numbers. The SK chapter had about 55 members going into 2003 recruitment. Nationals said that in order to keep their status as a chapter, there would need to be at least 100 members by December 31, 2003. (The other 13 sororities at Mizzou had totals between 150-200... give or take a few!) When that was not achieved, the chapter voted on January 28, 2004 to become dormant. Both the chapter and Greek Life said they could not "pinpoint a specific reason" why the numbers declined... Sigma Kappa's number were declining even though recruitment numbers were increasing.
I have several good friends who became Sigma Kappas at another chapter, and one urged me that this was not the "real" reason the chapter closed... but I'm confident that was speculation or rumor because she (and I!) were still in high school when the SK chapter at Mizzou closed... leading me to believe she may not know all the facts.
And to kind of update my post about the house... apparently Sigma Kappa decided to keep their house and they still have it, although it's been vacant.
There have been a lot of proposals flying around this past year regarding the chapter. One suggested that panhel waits four academic years to consider a recolonization of Sigma Kappa so that all the Greeks who were members at the time of the chapter's closing will have graduated. (I guess just so there will be no knowledge or speculation of why the chapter closed in the first place.) Another that if the campus is opened for expansion, SK should be approached first to recolonize before other organizations are invited to present... but I really don't know the outcome or if decisions have been made on any of these things.
In 1998, the Alpha Phi chapter at Mizzou was struggling and disbanded and recolonized all in that year. I wonder if Sigma Kappa considered something similar?
Hope this ridiculously long post answers your question and then some!
