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PKA was first shut down the end of the 92-93 school year I believe (last composite has 1993 on it.) All members were made alum & their house was boarded up. It was by the 7-11 on Knox Rd. and burned down the summer of '94 (I think?) & now is a parking lot.
Between fall '91 and fall '93 UMCP lost a few major chapters- ATO, PKA & for the women KKG. AXiD folded itself summer of '94 (I believe that members lived in their chapter house until spring 1995.) As someone who pledged as a freshman in '94 I saw very, very few if any of these letters in my 4 years on campus. It was almost shocking when you did see someone wearing letters of a defunct chapter on campus. I knew one member of one of these chapters- thru one of my older sisters and he was always referred to as "an old." UMCP is a big school and although the greek system is prominent, ~80% of the campus is NOT greek, therefore it was not easy for members of a defunct chapter w/o a house to maintain any sort of standing.
When PKA re-colonized (as soon as they were able to- they did not wait around, I believe they wanted to maximize the reputation of being a strong house they had left behind- older sisters in my chapter definitely missed them!) they did so by networking with sororities. They had a rep from their HQ visit the sorority chapters during meeting and make a pitch if you will, then asked for the names & phone numbers of guys who we liked but were in a chapter. It worked well and PKA was well-regarded from the start, which was not the norm @ UMCP for new chapters. I think that they only got to live in AXiD for one year, because AXiD didn't allow them to have parties in that house, so they moved around a bit until they got the house on the row.
As far as them getting another chance- the Univ. has them on probation, HQ is likely the one who mandated the re-org. I believe that in the OFSL's view, this chapter and it's behavior is completely separate from the chapter that was shut down in the early 90's.
Also ditto the previous posters on the veritable merry-go-round that Fraternity Row in College Park has been for the last 15 or so years (yes, that long- I would say '96/97 is when things started to move.) I used to do an annual drive by on Fraternity Row every year at homecoming and I was always surprised to see what chapters had left and what chapters had made the move "up" onto the row (typically from less desirable housing.)
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