[Erik P Conard]

True, true...TKE had 106 or so chapters when I pledged. When I
went on the road in '57 TKE had 5 inactive ones...that's all. We
seem to get that many a year--not just TKE...have losses now.
HQ has a nigh on impossible job, and while TKE is not going all ape-shit on expansion, we have a lot of ones we ought to revive.
Would like to see our first alphabet all active....of them we are
dead at Eta, Theta, Mu, Upsilon, Phi...but I think we have colonies
at a couple. I think TKE still has about 30 colonies and interest
groups...but we are making little effort at new ones...however,
we have been at most anyway....and no sense beating our head
on the wall at places like Ole Miss. Canada is wide open and Phi
Delta Theta is doing a helleva job expanding up there. I figured
the other day that TKE has about 77 chapters alive west of the
Mississippi and 67 dead....many places the entire system is gone,
like Minot, Valley City and Dickinson, all in ND....perhaps we could
collaborate with some and collectively revive...looks dim....but it
is the price we paid by pioneering...like S. Ore where no one joined us...and after about ten years we died. Or the goat roping
school...Sul Ross in TX...far from anywhere...who knows...but the
more one ventures from the "traditional fraternity schools" the more risk is taken to make a system work. Attrition is high. So, we have paid a high price, and the heartbreak I feel for those who I remember as strong...no longer there....well, you can see why I am hot to reactivate...and live a lot in the past. That will happen to you-all, too, if you live long enough! LOL
Perhaps we could discuss the varied profiles of the colleges we've
gone into...places Zeta Psi would not go...'til recently. At any rate
playing fraternity is fun and it takes a few old filberts like me to
keep us afloat. Let's hear from some of you...it is like reading a
seed catalog...at times...when there is indeed a goodly number of
fun things we can do....You know, there used to be a lot of guys
from various fraternities who'd banter back and forth about the
old days and the future....most are gone....Ed Georgeff, Jim Kane,
George Kollintzas, Tex, Dick...so many...and some are left in TKE
but not many. Like Heller said...we have rested on our laurels for
a long time, and after a hard stool we realized we needed to get
going....John Robson, Sig Ep, Don Young, TKE, gosh, so many of the good ones...come back...Shane...come back....We used to have a lot of sessions, many from other groups, too..where we wished horrible things to happen to the various Dean Wormers,
and we schemed, planned, helped one another, drank a lot of good booze, ate a lot of huge steaks...yes, good greeks all...wish
we could return.
And during the same time Slip Slifer of Chi Psi was worried about the missing IRAC files...and the muted drapes at the Minnesota chapter...TKE, Sig Ep, Delta Sig, Lambda Chi...had their knights of
the road...starting chapters...long before the colleges injected the
"Greek Advisers" and the bureaucratic bullshit we all endure today. There I go again, rambling on an on....your turn...Uncle E