Hey sundevil, I know how you feel- we've lost six fraternity chapters since I got here three years ago. My sister goes to ASU, and I've seen the system and the houses. It's a similiar situation. This is my advice (I was gonna send this just to sundevil, but I decided to post it, because other people can prolly use it):
1) Stay calm, and stay focused on YOUR chapter. You can't rescue people with a sinking ship. Are your finances OK? Are you recruiting well enough? Are you retaining new members? etc. It isn't being selfish, it's just good sense. In any emergency, you make sure that you are safe and unharmed first, and then move on to help others.
2) Don't worry about the sororities. Sororities, in my experience, are the most amazingly efficient organizations on the planet, and come hell or high water, they will take care of themselves.
3) You need to put pressure on the other fraternities to behave in public. You need perfect attendance at IFC, fresh coats of paint on all the houses, and absolutely ZERO incidents of anything that could look bad in public. Ignore people's advice about doing a lot of positive things- it doesn't work. Once people have an idea in their head about something, it is nearly impossible to dislodge it except through direct personal contact (point #4)- newpaper articles and memos just don't do the job. Just try to keep everyone below the radar.
4) Start meeting with the Greek Advisor, the Dean of Students, hell, the President if you can get him. Learn to lie politely. Say whatever it is they want you to say. You need to create the image in their heads that you're really trying to change to be whatever they want you to be. Image is the most important thing- if they think you're trying to change, then they'll dismiss anything you do wrong as good kids making mistakes, rather than bad kids screwing up again. That's why doing a lot of positive things won't help you right now- it'll be seen as bad kids trying to cover their asses. You need to convince them, through personal contact, that you're basically good, decent people.
5) Keep any alumnus older than 28 out of the situation, and keep any alumnus of any age who went to school in the deep south or the midwest completely out of it. I know that sounds harsh, but you need people who are young and went to school fairly recently, so they'll understand the situation. Older alumni and alumni from very different kinds of schools tend to think the situation is just like when they went to school, and this is not a time for misunderstandings like that. In general, try to keep the alums out of it, though- you don't want this to be a confrontation between you and the school, you want it to turn into a partnership. And keep lawyers out of it, too- ASU has more money and more lawyers than you can possibly drum up, and they will win in any direct legal confrontation- and I'm willing to bet you wouldn't have two legs to stand on in court. GLOs have one right these days- to exist at public schools during good behavior. Anything beyond that is cake, and you should be thankful.
6) Always have goals, little ones and big ones. Set smallish goals- this week, everyone will be IFC. This semester, everyone will recruit more men than they did last semester, and retain more. And largish ones- no more chapters will close this semester. And keep in mind what the school's goals are, and try to make them think they've fulfilled them- remember, for them, appearances are more important than substance.
7) You need to help the other fraternities. Don't just tell them how to behave, actually go and help them- think of it as community service. When I teach the pledges about charity, this is what they memorize: 'Those who have, give; those who can, do; those who know, teach.' You need to get off your butt and go over there. Example: In August, SAM's house was closed by the town for violations of the health and building codes- and the only people in their house at the time were NIBs who had no idea what to do. I grabbed some brothers and headed over. We spent an afternoon painting and cleaning and patching, and we ended up giving them two fire extiguishers and 40 gallons of paint. Did we get credit for doing it from anybody? Nope. But it meant that SAM was open in time for rush. That's how you're gonna really save your system- getting off your butt and going down the street and finding out what needs doing.
My last thing: things will not be OK. Definitely not while you're still there, probably not for many years. KD colonizing or whatever isn't going to magically fix all your problems- it's going to take years and years of work to do that. Just try not to just focus on the bad stuff, and have fun- that is the reason we do this, in the end. Greek life is supposed to be about brotherhood (and sisterhood) and lifelong friendship and helping people, not about numbers and houses and how outsiders view us- it's when we focus on that nonsense that things go awry.
That's all the sage advice I can muster for now. But if you need any advice, or want my sister's number or something, drop me a line:
jfossell@student.umass.edu