http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grammar (Note "the way in which grammar is used." Like "spelling (n) error", "computer error" it still works out and people get away with it. Horror of horrors! ) It's not of importance to me Stufield, I just thought you would be interested. I considered fraternity forums an informal and youthful exchange. I read Greekchat posts in the manner I believe they are intended-- as informal. Perhaps I am wrong and if so I apologize to readers. (People, you are going to have to forgive me but I'm not going to edit forum postings except to add info nor will I pay much attention to much beyond the substance of what is being said.) I don't believe continuing the rest of that line of conversation is constructive and can be characterized as either a difference of opinion or misunderstanding. Brothers have those.
I strongly agree with most of (Stufield's) latest assertions and positions so I won't comment on them or restate them. Hopefully others others read those posts. I also appreciate the additional information about Hofstra and RIT though I have mixed feelings, to generously put it, about the news.
IMO Kappa Sig is an elite, truly national fraternity (Kappa Sigma has been
the quintessential Greek letter fraternity) that is in danger of falling well behind a half dozen peers due to recent internal issues that are easily addressed by capable leadership. Some bad ideas have been circulating about lowering standards, trying to be everything to everyone, and being hip and new. In what has been a decade of change, these changes have not been good. We really need greater selectivity and a stronger identity rooted in the past. The last thing we should be is a fraternity for men that might not otherwise join a fraternity!
Kappa Sigma is obviously still recovering; it is not what it was prior to the split with the foundation and the end of the Charlottesville conclaves. (Why we have a $6 million HQ if we don't use it for conclaves like Kappa Sig did in the old HQ does not make sense to me.) Petty seemingly politics have made for stagnation and misdirected effort. Yet the level of criticism that you (Bro. Stufield) believe is due Kappa Sigma or even the SEC is beyond what I think is due. Regardless of variations in perspectives I hope it encourages brothers to consider what improvements are possible and how we can make them happen.
I do not feel that Kappa Sigma should be in terms of quality lumped in with the group of fraternities that you say "are every bit as good as, and are probably better than, Kappa Sigma in every other respect, measurable and intangible". I say this not just because of fraternity pride but because I am very knowledgeable of a number of those fraternities and have been in a position to judge. I think most impartial observers would only see two or three of those fraternities at Kappa Sigma's level frankly.
We may also have a different read on the the authority of Syracuse or any private university to curtail expansion.
I'm a freshly minted member of the bar and I confess to not being as sharp as I might in some areas of the law but I hope I didn't let any ruling pass me regarding a private organization's ability to limit the Freedom of Association of another private organization. You may be speaking in practical terms. (This may be a topic worth being careful about even on an informal forum.)
In some ways the battles between universities and fraternities in the U.S. have hardly abated from the fever pitch of 90's. Universities have undertaken interesting and innovative ways to stop fraternities from being active. The approaches however, even with the most aggressively anti-fraternity administrators, have been aimed at the student, not the fraternity (insofar as they have not banned national fraternity offices from dealing with students independently.)
The university can (and often will) cut off access to campus facilities and in rare cases get incoming students to sign agreements that they will not participate in fraternities. The last step as a compulsory act hasn't been around since the clause in the 1998 Higher Education Amendments, (part of Public Law 105-244) which protects students right to associate with fraternities without fear of retribution from colleges that receive federal funding. This has yet to be tested in a court of law by either side but since that time colleges have not attempted to kick students out of college who participate in fraternities off campus. (
I think Congress owed us something after the debacle that was CRA 64 which impinged on freedom of religion and association as it applied to fraternities.)
Apparently even the most stridently anti-fraternity administrators have considered the can of worms they would open by interfering with off campus student activities. Even Amherst has stopped harassing its students in fraternities. Amherst still asks potential Residence Counselors for a list of organizations they are active in, with the implication that if you are a member and say you are in a fraternity you will not be selected. It was an issue a year ago when underground Chi Psi members were found to be Amherst RC's but the students were not fired or otherwise disciplined.
At schools that have driven GLO's underground have both sides have found a modus vivendi it seems: if students don't flaunt organizational membership on campus the administrators will ignore or unhappily accept the organization's existence.
I contacted people I know that work for Kappa Sig and they have not heard of the situation at Syracuse as described. If Syracuse is taking a new and unlawful approach, directly challenging fraternities' off campus, student to fraternity activities I cannot help but think we would her about it. Perhaps it was a more complicated situation.
Kappa Sigma should shy away from certain expansion and reestablishment projects. Among the expansion we probably shouldn't encourage are new or renewed chapters that act as unofficial ethnic fraternities that take the rejected overflow of the official ethnic ones (a danger in the Northeast especially). Nor should Kappa Sigma look to a return of chapters that had repeated and serious problems with poor behavior towards women or violence. At the same time returning a charter to a committed new group should be encouraged and not be used as an reason to pile on exorbitant fees for "reviews" or penalize unrelated parties for the sins of a few bad apples.
At any rate Kappa Sigma should grow and we shall grow, whether by the methods I discussed or better ideas. That doesn't mean we should avoid the best schools and best students to reach for the lowest hanging fruit. It also doesn't mean that growth should be the only or even the chief priority. And Kappa Sigma must make its communication, student and alumni social and business networking and event opportunities (and other fraternity benefits) the best offered if it is to truly be the "most preferred". That's a message worth getting across to leadership.