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First off, sdbeta, I was not suggesting that these are the only schools to which we should expand, I was merely throwing them out as examples. All of those schools are either within ECUJacob's vicinity, or colleges of national reknown. I was trying to relate it to him more directly, and was in no way trying to slight West Coast Schools.
Now, back to you Jake. I hate to break it to you, but from an academic standpoint, y'all aren't even close to the league of the schools I mentioned, with the possible exceptions of Wofford and Union (I don't know their admission standards quite as well). I can't speak to whether or not your school's Greek system needs to change, as I don't go to school there. The point I was making is that there are a number of students out there, at your school and across the nation, who are Betas in spirit, but not members of the organization itself. Maybe it's because of the negative connotations of the Greek system in general, maybe it's because there isn't a Beta chapter there, maybe it's because the Beta chapter at their school sucks. Regardless of the situation, it does not diminish my point.
Should we fix failing chapters which are in existance? Absolutely. You can't be a powerhouse with many weak links in the chain. But does fixing chapters mean that you can't expand? I don't think it does. We are one of the wealthiest national fraternities in America, despite the fact that we are below many others in terms of both numbers of chapters and numbers of members (active or alumni). Recruitment needs to be Beta's next major focus. Recruitment within existing chapters, recruitment at new chapters.
Based on stats from US News and world report, your school has roughly 18,000 students. If 7% of them are Greek, that gives you about 1300 students engaged in Greek Life. That's not too horrible of a number. Larger schools inherently have smaller Greek populations on a percentage basis. You're actually existing in a chicken and the egg scenario, but apparently not seeing it. Does your school have low numbers because of the Greek system's reputation or maybe do people come to ECU because they don't want to be Greek? I can't answer this, and I'm not entirely sure that you could either.
Basically, we need to expand AND support our existing chapters better. It shouldn't be one or the other.
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