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(Gotta hit it one more time...)
Yes, Low C Sharp, you're entirely correct. There is a dynamic that is very perdictable among the general-interest fraternities, but the historically Jewish and historically Black fraternities have very different dynamics.
Back in the day, for example the Jewish fraternities at the University of Florida considered themsleves to be grouped together socially and in terms of competition. They were large and powerful chapters but they generally weren't calculated in assessing the 'tiers' of the general-interest fraternities. The landscape for Jewish fraternities has changed radically in the last 20 years. As far as I know, AEII is the only specifically Jewish fraternity left. I think Pi Lambda Phi, ZBT (having absorbed Phi Epsilon Pi and Phi Sigma Delta, also national Jewish fraternities) and perhaps TEP have all moved toward marketing themselves as general-interest fraternities.
The Black Greeks are very different. I threw out Michael Jordan's name just because I like him. Jordan was an Omega at UNC. I've felt that Black fraternities in terms of their chapter size, organization and alumni emphasis resemble much more the traditional white fraternities of 150 years ago. Today's Black fraternities are much more oriented toward the community than their general-interest counterparts. Here in Tallahassee, a friend of mine said, "If you go into any Black church on Sunday, there may not be more than a handful of people who have gone to college, but if the pastor speaks of an individual and says 'He's a Kappa' or 'He's an Omega man', everyone in the room understands exactly what he means."
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