[FratAmerica]

This is too proud of a PKA chapter, and too good of a fraternity system, to allow for anything other than excellence.

Barriers are always in the eye of the beholder. On "small" campuses, success is limited by the supposedly limited pool. On "big" campuses, success is limited by the degree of "competition". Bull.

Here's what you have going for you: 95% of chapters don't COMMIT to WINNING. It's as simple as that. Don't let the simplicity of this statement by ignored. You have to choose success.

Yes, the competition is tough. Yes, you may have lost your house. (Which, next to Pi Phi was a great location, by the way!) Yes, there may be rumors on campus considering the circumstances of your departure from campus several years ago. And, yes, the student affairs department may be largely staffed by neo-Fascists. BUT - You still get to choose.

You get to choose how hard you work to succeed. And, your success will be totally determined by how hard you work and how good you are at SHEDDING perceptions of how it "should be".

Here, try this math:

20,000 person campus.
5,000 freshmen per year.
2,000 freshmen males per year.
500 can't afford a fraternity.
500 choose your competitors (mistakenly)
500 are idiots

That leaves you 500 men to choose from per year. Even if you ONLY are able to pull 10% of this total per year - a 90% failure rate, by the way, you have a 200 MAN CHAPTER (over four years).

See, it's all about how you perceive your situation.

And, one final thing. Pike chapters need to understand that the Heller philosophy was not "quantity creates quality" but "quantity attracts quality". This does not mean that bigger is better at the onset. You need to be EXTREMELY selective - but the key to success in knowing that there is plenty of prospects out there to grab.

Don't lay on your rear and take the top 10% of "formal rush" (which is the welfare system of the fraternity world), but take the top 10% of the total pool - athletes, student leaders, "studs", academics, etc. included!

Pike needs to kick some ass at Indiana.

We're counting on you.