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The point of my comments above were to state that I think "A very small
(<20) chapter CAN have a meaningful fraternal experience." Obviously it
is not "ideal"...I don't know any chapter that would WANT to stay less
than 20...we certainly did not.
And perhaps I didn't make it clear...we were "less than 20" for only
one fall semester. We doubled in size at the beginning of the spring semester
and grew from there. So my experience would NOT be similar to those who
struggled with less than 20 for several years. While we were less than
20, we struggled and worried, yes. But a good fraternal experience doesn't
have to be a cakewalk....that which is worthwhile is difficult.
ATTITUDE and WORK ETHIC have more to do with the "success" of a very
small chapter than anything else. On a campus like TxA&M I'm sure 18
felt "too small" on a campus with much larger chapters. However on
a campus with an average size of less than 30, 18 wouldn't seem like
a "crisis." If you so desired a "big fraternity" experience, why did
you join LXA at TxA&M? You KNEW they were less than 20! Perhaps you
would have been happier as a Phi Delt?
And I do not expect ANYONE to "subsidize my fraternal experience."
Quite the contrary, as an AM and NIB, I was forced to subsidize the
fraternal experience of OTHERS! In the years before I joined, brothers
simply did not pay dues. At my very first business meeting, we were
told "we have to pay off this debt, or we're toast!" Why should I have
to pay for the cheapskates of five years previous who didn't pay up?
Because HQ said so. So we did. Sometimes we have to make up for the
shortcomings of others, even if it isn't "fair," for the betterment
of the fraternity. (At Homecoming recently, I overhead a brother from
that era remark, "We didn't pay dues, but we had fun!" I wanted to
strangle him and say, "Yeah, I know, I paid your dues!", but I
refrained.)
The financial solution for small chapters is simple: charge more
in dues (as seems to have been enacted this GA) or lower services
from HQ. Neither is pleasant nor ideal. But financial realities are
financial realities. HQ can only offer so much support with its limited
resources.
On the other hand, a good-sized, vibrant chapter doesn't need weeks of
professional help from HQ. Who does need all this attention? The struggling
chapters of course. It only make sense that more is spent on struggling
chapters than vibrant ones. And if it helps, think of it as an
insurance policy: your vibrant chapter may be subsidizing that
struggling chapter right now....but in ten years that other chapter
will be vibrant and subsidizing YOUR struggling chapter. Of course
when I say "struggling", I refer to those that are having problems
but are WORKING to solve those problems....the lazy/depressed/unmotivated
chapters I would simply call "dieing."
And I'm afraid your history is a bit incorrect. LX Zeta was not the
first time HQ sent in a team of professionals to help out a new or
struggling chapter. They've been doing that for years. Maybe they did
something "different" at LX, but you didn't make that clear. A team was
sent to establish the colony at Vandy in 1991, a success. A team was sent
to Sigma-Delta Zeta at North Alabama in 1984, unfortunately with no
success. The team left campus with their charter and never returned.
In both cases, the brothers "got off their asses and worked with HQ"
And I'm sure teams have been sent before the 80's. But
sometimes all the kings horses and all the king's men CAN'T put
humpty-dumpty zeta back together again. If this "new approach" is
as successful as you say it is ("if it can work in Kansas, it can
work anywhere"), we should have over 500 vibrant chapters in just a
couple of years. And of course, they will have well over 20 members!
I just hope that in applying the "less than 20" standard, HQ is not
too HASTY to close a chapter that might be small, but is made up of
brothers who are hard workers, are having a good fraternal experience,
and have HOPE for the future. Obviously in those cases where the group
is "depressed", lazy, and without Hope, closed they must be.
In the meantime, I'd hope they would also look at closing chapters with 100
or more members (or 15 members for that matter) that are nothing more than
mere drinking clubs. (Most of these will be down to less than 20 members
soon anyway...just like SAE at Vandy)
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