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Originally posted by sugar and spice
There is one of the smaller NPCs that I always see connected with hazing rumors -- especially in conjunction with their chapters at "bigger name schools." Many of their chapters at bigger schools have either numbers problems or rumors of major risk management issues. I know for a fact that some of these chapters have not seen a consultant in years. And the impression that I get is that is that this sorority feels pressured not to shut down chapters with major numbers or risk management issues at least in part because they want to compete with the bigger sororities and don't think that they'll be able to if they shut their chapter at _____ [insert name of major school here]. I'm not so worried about numbers -- if an HQ wants to keep their chapter open when they have 30 members and the rest of the sororities are at 120 that's their business -- but the avoiding confrontation of risk management issues for prestige's sake, if that's really what's going on, is definitely worrisome.
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Not to say that hazing is okay by any means - it's not. However, based on what I've seen, it's not so much that small NPC groups feel like they can't compete if they shut down XX chapter at large school, and more that it's a feeling/knowledge that that if the chapter is clsoed, that chapter is probably going to be gone for good. Why? For all the reasons that have been mentioned in this and the other expansion thread.
Because next time that campus expands, unless an agreement has been worked out prior to that for the group to come back, that campus will most likely NOT select said small NPC group to come back. Even if the next expansion occurs 10... 20... 50 years later. Because that campus will probably want a "big", "prestigous" organization that isn't there. It is a very sad and terrible feeling to close a chapter and know that it will be a cold day before it can ever reopen. One that I'm not sure anyone from a big organization with big chapters all over the place can really understand.
So OF COURSE smaller organizations get a little desperate to keep the big chapters going. Say your group has 5 or 10 chapters sized over 70 people, and the other 2/3 of the NPC has like 30, or 40, or 50 chapters sized over 70 people - wouldn't you want to do everything you could to keep your chapter going? Try to solve internal issues as best you could? Keep things in house as long as possible?? I believe in my heart that Phi Sig, and I would like to think that all "small" groups, would try to do it the right way, and do the best we can to eliminate hazing issues, etc etc., but I'm sure that's not the case 100% of the time. But I can see how there is a tough dynamic at play in those types of situations, when the number of large chapters begins to directly correlate with the percieved health and stability of a group.
Also - I will just say this about rumors, things you've heard, things you may "know" about a certain group - you probably don't know the whole story, unless you were there first hand. For example, I thought I "knew" what happened with our chapter at Penn, from what I read on the boards, what I saw in their newspaper. However, there was more to the story then what people thought they "knew", and after hearing the story firsthand from our National President myself, I have to wonder about which versions of the "truth" people end up believing. It's easy for members of a sorority that is failing to blame it on "Nationals" - "we can't get national support", "our nationals suck", etc etc. Is it neccessarily the truth? Not always. And consultants can be deployed, chapters can be monitored until the cows come home - if the internal workings of the chapter members don't want to get their problems resolved, I promise you no chapter consultant will be able to help. Chapter consultants are not a cure-all, fix-everything remedy. They're great resources, don't get me wrong, but girls WILL get around the rules. For example, one chapter on my campus last year was on social probation (and this was a big NPC group, by the way) - they couldn't have a formal, social events, parties with fraternities, nothing. They had a chapter consultant come in and their advisor demanded to be added to their listserv so that they could monitor what was going on when she wasn't there. So what did they do? They started a whole new "secret" listserv, just for social events, that none of the grown-ups knew about, and continued to have parties and formals without the consultant and the advisor ever knowing it. If there's a will to get around the rules, I promise you people will find a way.
So don't neccessarily be so quick to blame National orgs, because most of what hits the rumor mill is a skewed version of the truth, and no matter what you hear, it's probably not the whole story.
Not trying to be nasty, because you raise excellent points S&S and DolphinChica. I'm just trying to maybe identify some of the roots of the frustrations faced by smaller NPC orgs, and as for the rumor mill - I'm sure that's an issue faced by ALL organizations, NPC, NPHC, NIC, etc etc. I do think its inexcusable that chapters that haze go unpunished and unsupervised.