We've all said that a few bad apples can ruin a chapters' reputation. It occurs to me that a few bad chapters can make an entire fraternity look bad as well.
I'm pretty sure that it was at the PIKE chapter at Colorado State where a couple of brothers hung a scarecrow on the back of their Homecoming Float shortly after the Matthew Shepherd murder in Wyoming. The people who found Shepherd, a gay University of Wyoming student, described him as looking like a scarecrow, hanging on a fence beside the road. CSU (Ft. Collins) and Wyoming (Laramie) are close together.
It was the remarkably insensitive work of a very small minority, but the entire chapter paid the price. There was also serious damage to the reputation of the sorority who worked with them on the float.
I can't believe that PIKE is a bad organization everywhere, but maybe it's time for their Nationals to take a close look at some of the chapters. That goes for any other National organization with this many chapters with perceived problems.
It's hard to lose chapters. We've closed a number of our problem ones in the past few years. In the long run, though, I believe it's better to have a smaller fraternity, "Dedicated to Excellence" (which is our goal), than a large organization which is partially out of control.
For whatever it's worth, the Pikes I knew in college were pretty good guys.
DeltAlum
|