[astroAPhi]

I think it's very difficult to "move up", so to say, than it is to move down. I've seen both happen over the years, but I've also seen groups that show great improvement move absolutely nowhere in the perceived chain.

For instance, my alma mater has 6 fraternities. The fraternity that I would have considered #2 my freshman year is dangerously low on numbers and had to move out of their house because they didn't have the members to support it. However, I've seen another fraternity that has gone in numbers, but gone up in quality, and they're still considered a lousy fraternity. It really is sad for both of the groups who I used as examples, but it just goes to show that it's pretty easy to plummet, and very difficult to pull back out of it.

The only time I've seen a group do the opposite is because they started dirty rushing and got tons of guys. My freshman year, my boyfriend's roommate didn't even realize that we had that fraternity on campus, and he was his chapter's IFC Rep. I don't really think they should be considered such a good fraternity because of the way they did it, but if people are going to ignore the methods, then oh well.