[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by fascination

I had a friend many years ago who was an Alpha Xi Delta at Ole Miss in the 70's (plus a couple of relatives were there at the same time). AXD closed within a very few years of colonizing, after having little recruitment and retention success. Kappa Alpha Theta colonized in 1976, I think, while AXD was struggling. AXD never came close to building a house, which hurt them terribly during recruitment. KAT quickly built a big house on Rebel Drive, and that made them much more attractive to PNMs. AXD could have been a great asset to OM, but they are long gone. KAT is still there in their big house. Houses count big time at OM. It's just a fact. Whoever colonizes will surely come in with some beautiful archtectural drawings to show off if they have any hope of success.

Kappa Alpha Theta colonized Ole Miss in 1978 and was Charted in 1979 the same year the house was built. Alpha Xi Delta was given the lovely Barnard Building to use until they could build a house but closed in 1976 befor they could do so. The house that Theta built was estimated to require $500,000 to build, but site issues and lack of competitive bids drove the cost up to near $1,000,000 and the completed size was only 2/3 of the originally planned square footage. Barnard is now completely renovated and the home for the Studies on Southern Culture. It was the original campus astronomy and science building and named for the school's pre-Civil War Chacellor F.P. Barnard who discovered Barnard's Star and was the first Episcopal Rector at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Oxford, Miss.