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The 5-Year Rule
Hey, guys--from my experience w/Greek advisors, the "5-Year Rule" is designed to ensure that any members from a dormant chapter have left campus. They won't be "tempted" to hang out w/the new chapter.
Keep in mind the fact that many schools that have had Greek systems for 100+ years are also major partying grounds. The folks at IHQ tend to be selective in where they place chapters because there's too much chance that they won't get a "return on their investment" of time/effort/$$$.
That's probably why we're not at certain big schools, even though they may have over 30 fraternities & sororities. The universities that have the reputation for "livin' la vida loca" aren't exactly what Indy's looking for
I know of one major GLO that has 450+ chapters...unfortunately, 200+ of them have been closed for various reasons. Many never reopened after either WWII or Viet Nam, but I'd wager that a lot never came back because of risk management issues.
By the same token, it seems there are some colleges that want to totally disassociate themselves from the Greek experience. When their development officers figure out that 86% of the donors to alumni programs come from GLO's, they realize they've shot themselves in the foot by tossing all of their chapters off campus. By that time it's probably too late for them to recoup their donations.
That's not to say that the schools don't have reasons for losing the Greeks; liability insurance has skyrocketed over the last few years, so it's really a tough call.
Bottom line: if we live the Ritual and act as men, our chances of staying on a particular campus are greatly enhanced. On the flip side, if we jerk people (read: IHQ, university admin staff, etc.) around by flaunting rules/not filing paperwork/acting like idiots, we get the amount of respect we deserve: little or none.
ZAX,
Bill Foltz
B-O 130
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