Beta 2003 and 2004

JerzeeBoy26 · #1 05-02-2003, 04:39 PM

Here are the upcoming planned expansions for our great and good fraternity over the next two school years. There are 7 in all. I got this info from the GF earlier in the year:

-Indiana (Pi)
-Virginia Tech (Alpha Phi)
-Colorado State (Epsilon Kappa)
-Arizona State (Delta Tau)
-Denison (Alpha Eta)
-Central Michigan (Epsilon Gamma)
-Houston (Delta Upsilon)

Other possibilities (this is my speculation only):
-Bethany (Psi) ?
-NORTH CAROLINA (Eta - this would be awesome. we need that chapter back) ?
-Florida State? Kentucky? We need to be back at these strong southern schools!

Betarulz! · #2 05-03-2003, 12:39 PM

I'm glad that we're going BACK to places first. I'm sure that it means a lot for the Alumni of those chapters, plus I think, that as was said in the 'proud to be' thread we don't just go to random places to colonize.

I'd be interested to see how the North Carolina thing goes. I was at Convention last year when they tried to get their standing back, and since our president was on the commitee that dealt with them I found a lot of stuff out. A lot of things about not using our ritual, and other amazing things. The feeling I got from about the whole of convention was that few thought them worthy of bearing our name. I hope that the GF gives it some time to kind of erase the things that have happened.

JerzeeBoy26 · #3 05-03-2003, 07:24 PM

Yeah our prez was there and from what I understand was one of a small group who were actually in support of UNC. Personally, I hate seeing chapters with such historical significance to our fraternity go out like that. Hopefully we haven't lost a connection there permanently. I have heard that their alums were furious and felt betrayed. But like you said, time will heal the wounds and if all goes well we will have our Eta chapter back one day in the near future. I'm excited about Indiana recolonization. That is gonna be awesome

Betarulz! · #4 05-03-2003, 09:38 PM

Yeah, I understand the significance of them historicall, and also why the Alumni would be furious.

But not using the ritual is unforgivable in my book. From what I understand about their situation from the previous year they were up review or action of some sort with a chance to explain themselves, yet no one from their chapter came to convention. That right there flies in the face of several of the obligations, which I guess with their lack of use they wouldn't know about...

ZZ-kai- · #5 05-03-2003, 11:19 PM

Brothers,

One of the few things I am truly disappointed about with our Fraternity, is that our expansion is so weak. Yes, I do agree that we need to get back to the schools we were at in the past FIRST, but at the same time, we should have 10 other colonies going at NEW schools every year.

If it were not for the laxed expansion of our fraternity in the late 1800's and early 1900's, Beta Theta Pi would be an even stonger fraternity, with over 200 chapters. Sigma Chi is younger than us, but has a ton more chapters than us. Not only that, but they are a strong ass fraternity. SAE is the same way. Don't get me wrong, comparing them to Beta is like apples to oranges, but we are now learning from them, what THEY SHOULD HAVE been learning from us.

Off the soap box for now. Expansion is key to our fraternity. Without it, we will fail. It is RUSH on a national level.

JerzeeBoy26 · #6 05-03-2003, 11:50 PM

I COMPLETELY agree. in fact it kinda pisses me off that we dont have atleast 175 active chapters. we should be way bigger. I actually sent an email to kirk little (who is on the board of trustees and in charge of overseeing expansion) and he wrote me back a very long, detailed and interesting response. what it boils down to is that we "dont have the resources" to have more than 4 new colonies per yer. now it doenst mean we dont have the manpower. we do. the problem is we "baby" our colonies. once we start one, we keep our staff there to run the colony for an entire semester while most nationals spend only a few weeks. while this makes for a stronger, easier start I think its a bit overboard. if we expanded the way other nationals do, we could easily do 7-8 colonies per year. its that the GF chooses not to. obviously they say that "our colonies are stronger because we stay with them longer". I think thats a bunch of crap. Sigma Chi, Pike, SAE, etc have tons of strong chapters that started up with their aggresive approach. it works if you recruit the right guys.

Coramoor · #7 09-15-2003, 09:49 PM

I think the biggest problem is that the General Fraternity is willing to throw chapters to the dogs at the slightest warning of trouble.

I personally don't feel like they stand behind us when we make a mistakes and need some help.

How many chapters were closed this past year? Ten?

ZZ-kai- · #8 09-15-2003, 11:07 PM

I agree with you...sort of. I had a great discussion with a chapter brother of mine this weekend, he just finished a two year term as an E.C. with General.

I think we need to be at 175 chapters, he says he doesn't think so. Why have 175 mediocre chapters when you could work on the 120 we have, and make them all studs? This is true, I guess.

Beta is not dumping crappy chapters. What is happening, is troubled chapters are faulting, and when it becomes too much, the Undergrads, not the A.O., shut them down and four years later, they are re-colonized. The only time the A.O. shuts down a chapter is for major things such as deaths, hazing violations, huge debt owed...etc. Otherwise, they don't have the power to just close down chapters for the fun of it.

That is a good thing though. I'd much rather see chapters, such as Transylvania, Brown, Beloit and some other 'old-school' ones re-colonized, than to stick time, money and valuable resources into a chapter that has failed time and time again, or refused help.

Could more be done to help out a troubled chapter? Friggen-eh-yes. But, sometimes it doesn't pay.

I hate to bash greeks, but damnnnn, look at TKE. Not a model fraternity at all.

Best of luck, and all that matters is Beta Theta Pi.

original katy · #9 12-08-2003, 06:25 AM

Hi my name is Katy and I'm from Australia. I am doing an assessment on fraternities and sororities and if any of you guys would like to do a short interview ( if ur a member of a fraternity) then please email me at mercury_kitten@hotmail.com.
Thank-you anyone who can help

Colonist · #10 12-18-2003, 10:32 PM

I have a couple buddies in Beta here at GWU and I'd have to agree with whats said here. I am in one of the current 10 or 11 IGs/colonies of Sigma Chi with y'alls history you should be one of the largest fraternities in the nation (well USA/Canada). Expansion is the key to success.

BetaMike24 · #11 12-22-2003, 01:25 PM

I agree with everyone. I'm really excited though for the Virginia Tech chapter because one of our brothers, my pledge bro from Fall 2002, named Shawn Koehler recently transfered over there, and he was afraid he would lose Beta altogether... but low and behold VT is restarting, and he is to be a part of that! It's really exciting and cool to know. I miss him, but he's going to be making Beta history with many other Betas.

JerzeeBoy26 · #12 12-24-2003, 12:04 AM

VT is on its way and so is the Pi chapter at Indiana (one of the oldest, most prestigious Beta chapters in the nation). I'm told VT has 24 founding fathers and IU has 50. Next up: Colorado State (Epsilon Kappa). The Eta chapter at North Carolina is also back in the fold. It's great to see these old, great chapters getting revived.

On the issue of expansion, I must say that while I wish we had more colonies, that we are "getting there". We have 126 chapters and colonies and approxiametly 6,700 undergrads. According to the latest Beta magazine, we will be pushing our expansion from 3 colonies per year to 4. This is a solid pace. I also like our strategy of prefering going back to schools where we have a history as opposed opening colonies at random schools "just for numbers". Don't let our number of chapters fool you. We are force to be reckoned with. But I don't need to tell you guys that. You already know it.

FYI, here is a comparison:

According to their website, Lambda Chi Alpha has 210 chapters and 6,900 undergraduate members. We have 85 less chapters and only 200 less members. I'm not ripping lxa. I just want to show you guys how dominant we really are.

The fact is, there is no other fraternity in the nation with a higher percentage of top-notch chapters. We may be fewer in chapter numbers but we are the leaders of the greek world nonetheless.

GKaye13 · #13 08-31-2004, 02:09 PM

I'm new to the board and just saying hey!

Just an update for ya...I am one of the 26 founding fathers of the newly recolonized Alpha Phi @ Virginia Tech along with Shaun Koehler. We are heading up to Oxford this weekend to initiate our six pledges. I would just like to say in our defense, no one knew who we were on campus so it was hard but we got some good guys. We are already doing recruitment stuff and are looking at about 15 new guys.

Any help you guys could give would be great. we have a lot of alumni support but could use some info of what guys do in your chapters. Hit me up on AIM GKaye13 if u feel like chatting.

Lates

Coramoor · #14 08-31-2004, 06:08 PM

Congrats.

I think the VT vs WVU game is down there this year. I know a bunch of brothers from Beta Psi are going to head down, so maybe we'll meet up at the game or something.

I would really like to see the Bethany chapter (Psi) come back. It's one of the oldest Beta chapter's out there and how they got shut down is pretty messed up. I know the advisor that shut them down and he was definitly not a model Beta.

Having a few more chapters close by would be nice for road trips and such.

Betarulz! · #15 08-31-2004, 07:04 PM

A couple of things I learned from UIFI.

First I met an AGD chapter conselor at the Indianapolis airport (an AGD I had hung out with a lot was in this chapter being advised) and her little brother was the IU colony president. She said that it was a lot of work, but that the alumni of Pi had been phenomenal, already buying land in the same area that a lot of other chapters are at, as well as just lending all sorts of other support for those guys - I think that's awesome. She also mentioned that there was a lot of push to move back into the old chapter house, which I saw and has an awesome location on campus. Really cool house from the outside. It'll be interesting to see if they go old or new school.

The other thing, about our expansion, in talking to a lot of the traveling consultants for other organizations, is that we as a fraternity baby our chapters a ridiculous amount. Many of the consultants said that when they colonize, a colony will get their chapter within a year. But they also mentioned how they have a lot of chapters die. I had a flight home with one ASA consultant and she said most of their colonies turn into chapters in 8 weeks!!!!

While I think expansion shoudl be pushed, I think it's just as important that we make sure those colonies actually turn into productive, viable colonies. It's not worth expanding at a rate like TKE, just to have chapters close. As we have seen at so many of our colonies, these groups of guys have amazing resumes and are building powerful groups and traditions. We wouldn't be able to do that if we weren't didn't put the time in. That said, I think we could up to 5 colonies/year, increase the amount of self governance that I believe to be such a hallmark of the Beta chapter experience, and still be on rock solid ground with our expansion efforts.

One thing about the old school chapters though, while they'd be super cool to go back to places like Transylvania, it would be a lot different compared to going back to places like Indiana or Cincinatti, and after talking to the VP at ECU during UIFI, it's amazing the difference dedicated alumni can have, particularly at more remote college towns.