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It seems to me that alumni who stay involved with the fraternity have stayed in touch with their friends, their contemporaries from undergraduate days. When these alumni are together, even forty-something-year-olds seem to revert back to their undergraduate personalities. Among my chapter alumni I see very few "singles", alumni Brothers who are involved independently of their old running mates. The involved alumni group themselves together naturally, sort of like knots along a length of rope.
And although it is hard to quantify, I think the status of the undergraduate chapter has something to do with it. If the chapter has a consistent theme, and it something that the a;umni can still identify with, that seems create a kind of gravity that pulls them back.
It's rare to see a great alumni base and a weak chapter. Much more common to see a strong undergrad chapter and an alumni base that has never been developed. Most often, the strong chapter and the strong alumni support is concurrent.
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