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It is now into the third month of the academic year, and the Fraternity STILL has not updated the map or the list of chapters and colonies on the Website. Both were out of date when added to the Website, and neither has been updated since. It's really pathetic.
Notwithstanding the lack of any assistance from the website, there is some news to report:
Brooklyn College has finally been installed as Pi-Phi chapter. That chapter designation was assigned to the colony prior to its anticipated chartering date. Some problems arose (which, of course, the Fraternity is not revealing) which caused the chartering to be postponed. Meanwhile, the Lake Erie College and UCSD colonies were chartered as Pi-Chi and Pi-Psi chapters. Then, last weekend, Brooklyn College was belatedly installed.
Sacred Heart University is being installed this weekend as Pi-Omega chapter, giving the Fraternity another badly-needed active chapter in the Northeast, where Kappa Sig is seriously underrepresented.
So that is it for the Pi series of chapters. The next new chapter (as opposed to a restored chapter) should be Rho-Alpha. It could be the St. John's University colony, which apparently has been prospering, or perhaps CSU Northridge, which is presently the "oldest" colony.
Neither the recolonization of Gamma-Xi Chapter at Denison University or the recolonization of Theta-Delta Chapter at Willamette University, referred to in previous posts on this thread, appears to have got off the ground, or at least not as yet. The Fraternity did have staff at Denison. But perhaps they could not recruit enough sufficiently interested young men to start the colony.
On the other hand, Gamma-Nu chapter at Washburn University, located in Topeka, Kansas, HAS been recolonized, which is excellent news. Disappointingly, however, it is the only presently dormant chapter that has been recolonized so far this academic year.
New colony at High Point University, located in High Point, NC, a small, but growing private university with a small but growing Greek system. Kappa Sigma should do well there. The High Point colony increases the Fraternity's already strong presence in North Carolina (11 active chapters).
New colony at Illinois State University, a school Kappa Sigma should have been at 30 or 40 years ago. ISU only seems able to support a limited number of fraternities. Several fraternities prosper there, but several others have closed or suffer from low membership. Kappa Sigma is weak in Illinois, with only one other presently active chapter, Alpha-Lambda at the University of Illinois. So the Order badly needs a presence at Illinois State. But success there is by no means a sure thing.
New colony at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. This is another growing school with a growing Greek system. Despite its general strength in Texas, Kappa Sigma was not among the initial fraternities there, such as Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi. So, like Illinois State, this is an "its about goddamm time" colonization. Hopefully, the colony will thrive.
Most recent colony is at Central Washington University, located in Ellensburg. This is a classic example of Kappa Sigma's present expansion policy of establishing colonies in response to groups which approach it, regardless of how improbable the chances of success might be on the often-obscure campuses where those groups are located, rather than proactively seeking to colonize at the 100+ schools that already have well-established Greek systems where the Order is not presently represented. This has led to colonies in the past four years at, among others, such schools as Southwest Oklahoma State, Eastern Oregon, Carroll College, Southwestern College, West Liberty State, Gonzaga, Wayne State College, West Florida, Texas-Brownsville, Southern Indiana, Oklahoma Panhandle State, UBC Okanagan, Bellarmine, Notre Dame, and, most recently before Central Washington, Tusculum College, all of which had virtually NO chance whatsoever of succeeding, and all of which, predictably, closed after brief existences. Kappa Sigma does not have a strong presence in the State of Washington, with only two active chapters, Beta-Psi at UW and Gamma-Mu at WSU. Neither chapter is very strong on its campus, although Beta-Psi has at least grown from near-extinction a few years ago to a mid-size chapter on the UW campus. Gamma-Mu used to be strong chapter at Wazzou, but was closed a few years ago for CoC violations, and then subsequently restored, but still struggles with relatively low membership. So a third chapter in Washington would be a big boost to the Fraternity. Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, just a few miles west of Spokane, already has a well-established Greek system that includes Sig Ep, Sigma Nu, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Chi, and Pi Lambda Phi chapters. Central Washington, on the other had, has no fraternities or sororities, and no Greek culture, just as Gonzaga does not. So where does Kappa Sigma colonize. First at GU and now CWU!!! But if, for instance, the Phi Delts and the Betas, who, in addition to having chapters at UW and WSU, also have other Washington active chapters at the University of Puget Sound (where our own chapter closed about 12 years ago) and Whitman College, as well as EWU as aforesaid, have not yet expanded to Central, what would make anyone think that Kappa Sigma could do so successfully? Obviously, I hope that the CWU colony DOES succeed. But I suspect that this colony is destined for the same fate as the Gonzaga colony. Meanwhile, we will continue to remain unrepresented at Eastern Washington, a campus that does support Greek system.
One attractive feature of Central Washington University is that Ellensburg is located on I90, the highway along which the UW and WSU chapters run the game ball for the Apple Cup rivalry football game, one of the Fraternity's longest running (no pun intended) and most successful charitable events. So a CWU chapter could contribute significant support to that event.
Unfortunately, at least two colonies appear to have closed since the academic year began, the aforesaid Tusculum College and UC Santa Cruz.
Some active chapters have closed also, but since the Fraternity never announces closures and simply quietly deletes them from the chapter list, and since, as aforesaid, the chapter list has not been updated in months, I ma not sure how many or which ones. Two that I believe have closed are John Carroll University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the former perhaps for a CoC violation of some sort, the latter probably from low membership (it struggled with low membership throughout its existence). But this is just semi-educated speculation on my part, admittedly a contradiction in terms.
If anyone can confirm, clarify, contradict, and/or otherwise add to any of the foregoing, or provide any other information not mentioned above, such as where we presently have an interest group or are actively seeking to return a dormant chapter or expand to a campus where we've not yet been, please do post.
Chicostate and Ithaca, do you guys have anything to add?
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