[DeltAlum]

Ummm....

I'm not sure I understood every point you were making, James.

My impression is that Fraternal News is simply a service which gathers and passes on stories -- good and bad. They are not an editorial organization. Kind of like a clipping agency that businesses use.

My numbers (40 chapters) were a guess. The number might be much higher (or even lower, but I don't think so). I said that I wasn't going to go back to count them. I'm still not.

I know that Delta Tau Delta has lost at least 5 chapters this year. I also know our total number of chapters is down to 115 from 130 or so four or five years ago. I'm not a math whiz, but that first example is more in the neighborhood of 4 to 5%, I think. The second one is probably higher -- quite a bit. I know we can't colonize or recolonize chapters as fast as we are losing them.

So, are we "worse" than other fraternities? Well, I can't prove it, but I don't think so. My admitedly highly unscientific mind thinks it has read about Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha and others more often. I could be wrong about that, too, and am certainly not pointing accusing fingers at them. I'm more concerned about getting my on house in order.

Again, respectfully, it just doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me whether the number is .0000001% or 80%. We need to stop doing things that hurt the system. I suspect that murderers make up a smaller percentage than we're talking about here. Does that mean they're not a problem?

I've said before that I've worked with journalists for many years. Some I like, some I don't. That doesn't matter. If we don't give them the material for stories, they won't write about us. If we don't play into their hands -- don't give them anything of interest to report -- they'll take their ball and go home. That would be OK with me.

Again, though, news coverage is not what this thread is about. It's about breaking rules and laws. It's also about maturity and responsibility.