Quote:
Originally Posted by PhiMu_Gator
I understand that the organizations available might not be exactly what you want, but part of the reason you join is to add something you want to it and to improve it so that it's YOUR org and something you contributed a lot to.
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I see your point (and rhoyaltempest's), but just because that's part of the reason
you joined doesn't mean everybody joins looking for that.
Your question -- "why so many Greek letter orgs" -- doesn't have one answer. Some people start new orgs because they don't see what they are looking for in the existing ones. Some because they want to be part of something new. Maybe even some because no one else wants them. There are a whole variety of reasons and combination of reasons.
And AOII Angel is right -- it's always been this way. You might as well ask, just to use an example, why did three friends start the Philomathean Society at Wesleyan College when there was already an Adelphian Society? Why did anybody in Farmville, VA, think that Zeta Tau Alpha and Alpha Sigma Alpha were needed when they already had Kappa Delta and Sigma Sigma Sigma? Why did Miami of Ohio need Beta Theta Pi when it already had "eastern" fraternities, or Sigma Chi or Phi Delta Theta when it had Beta?
Ever since the founding of Kappa Alpha Society in 1825, students have formed new GLOs. Some have survived, some haven't, and some have merged with other groups. But I'd bet that when most of them were founded, their founders saw a niche or a need that they didn't think was being filled and they went for it.
Maybe it is a simple answer after all.