[DeltAlum]

Jennifer,

It's pretty obvious that the university wants the Greek System gone -- whether it is phased out or immediate. I really don't think there is much they can do, however, if all of your activities are off campus. If you remain active, you will have to be very careful about things like alcohol and noise violations and not give the city any grounds to take action against you. You can bet that city and university officials will be cooperating in this venture.

Again, it sounds like there is every possibility that you will be allowed to remain living in your house. It may even be in the university's best interest to keep you there.

If you have a House Corporation, incorporated with the state, that "owns" your house, I would think you could argue that display of your letters should continue to be "grandfathered" as they have been up until now. The House Corp. organization, and thus ownership of the property, is not changing. The university has nothing to do with that. They can't disband that group. They have no control over alums. And, it is the House Corporation, not the chapter, that chooses to display the letters. Even if the house is owned by Nationals, I think that could be true. I'm not a lawyer, though, so I could be wrong.

Having said the above, if you do have to go it alone without a national organization, you all must be absolutely sure that your chapter finances are in order and that liability issues are covered. The locals are used to that. It could be devasting for members and their parents financially in any kind of legal action which would be lost.

I will say again what I alluded to above -- the university most likely hasn't taken these steps without checking with their lawyers for legal precedent. I think any lawsuit would be very expensive and, in the long run, unsucessful. Yours is not the first campus where this has happened. But again, I'm not a lawyer.

Here's the hardest thing I have to say. I don't think that the university will be willing to talk or negotiate its' position. If, by some miracle, they do allow the System to survive, you must clean it up. Dramatically. With no real knowledge except what I've read from these posts, the university releases and the news articles, it appears that some of your chapters may not be worth trying to save. That's tough but necessary. Remember the cliche about the chain only being as strong as its' weakest link. The survivors will have to be models of everything good about the Greek System. Academics, leadership, philanthrophy, etc. Business as usual won't cut it.

Finally, in terms of wearing your letters, if it were me, I would wear them every freakin' day for the rest of my academic career. Just to make a point!