Quote:
Originally posted by jefflee108
Russ--
I've heard that UC-Merced will be open for a Greek system, but not until a significant time after the student body association is established in Fall of 2005. It would be nice to see a Phi Psi chapter there, considering the strength of our brothers in UCLA (Cal Epsilon) and UCI (Cal Kappa). I've heard from our Hyparchos, who is a graduate of Davis, that efforts to return to UC-Davis (Cal Iota) should produce results in the near future.
There is also an extremely strong alumni base of brothers from UC-Berkeley (Cal Gamma); in fact I've met more of them from here to Cabo than alumni from my own chapter. They of course are working for a return but it could take years, especially considering the competitive nature of Berkeley's Greek system and the (I believe) repeated failures to recolonize over the last decade. Personally, I'd like to see another chapter in San Diego, either USD or UC-SD, if only because Cal Lambda seems to be doing extremely well down there.
-Jeff Lee
California Beta, Stanford University
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Jeff,
As Director of the Hyparchos Network, I've had discussions with Mark Wong (your Hyparchon) about reviving his chapter. I've been very supportive of bringing back Cal Iota, and I've encouraged him to use his position to help make that possible. I can't tell you when this will happen, but Mark seems to have all of his ducks in a row. He has told me that he hopes to get the assistance from Cal Beta, and that seems appropriate. I see your chapter as being the anchor of that region.
After we get Cal Iota back, Cal Gamma makes a lot of sense. Their alumni have stayed organized, and Berkeley is a great school (although few from your chapter would admit to that
.)
UC Merced is a school that I've been following for several years, but is sounds like you know more about it than me. I would say that the first step is to organize an AA in that area. Such an AA, like all AAs, should really exist for alumni, and not local chapters. Once a successful AA is established, there will be a subset of its members who will happily form the core of alumni support for a new chapter.
If you know any Phi Psis who live in Merced, you might want to float the idea of starting an AA by them.
As far as San Diego goes, I agree that both USD and UCSD should eventually have Phi Psi chapters. San Diego is a long drive from Stanford, so leading that charge won't be easy. Like Merced, our best chance to get in to either school, is for local alumni to lead.
An important thing to remember is that there are over 1,200 accredited schools in the US and Canada that, theoretically, could have Phi Psi chapters. Over 600 of these schools have at least one chapter of an NIC fraternity. Of these schools, most are schools that we would pass on. There are still well over a hundred (almost 200 by my count) host institutions that I believe should eventually get a Phi Psi chapter. That's a lot. We are currently colonizing at a rate of 4/year, which is the highest rate of sustained extension in Phi Psi's history. I've seen the spreadsheet that our last Director of Expansion used, and it was huge. We perfom triage on this list in a number of ways, but the most effective way to move a school to the front of the list is to have existing alumni support.
If you recommend a school, HQ probably already knows about it. There is nothing wrong with contacting our current Director of Expansion and suggesting a school. If you want to do so effectively, you should be able to offer alumni support (and we're talking time, rarely money) to a proposed project. If you can't be involved, you should know someone who can.
I hope this helps, and I hope to see all of the schools that you mentioned come to host a Phi Psi chapter.