Does size matter?

[g41965]

Fraternities have a great variation in numbers of chapters, TKE, Sig Ep, SAE and Sigma Chi have 200 + chapters. KA Society,Delta Phi, Delta Psi have less than 15 chapters. My fraternity DU has 81 active chapters, a midsized organization similar in size to Phi Tau and Phi Psi.
I have a basic question, does the size of the national organization have any long term affect on the quality of individual chapters?
My opinion, larger national fraternities eventually improve on individual campuses due to greater name recognition and stronger programming/ educational programs.
Smaller nationals have many excellent chapters, for example the DKE chapter at Alabama is as strong a chapter as any in the country, but long term the overall trend is toward the bigger nationals having stronger campus chapters .larger better houses, better recruitment.

Just my opinion-whats your opinion.

Glenn Adams

[Coramoor]

Not to any great degree. I think the larger chapters may have a larger...buffer against suffering if a few chapters get shut down.

Beta has around 130 chapters/colonies, but has around the same number of Alumni and Undergrads as the frats that have 200+ chapters.

[Tom Earp]

Oh, far from it.

LXA is also in the larger catagory, but, because of adding chapters at some schools that maybe should not have had them, having to many chapters with out enough visitations losing them, or jsut having chapters that did not follow the LXA Ideal get de-chartered.

There was a time when many of the Union and Miami Triads did not get into expansion and the only two Greek Fraternitys who did were LXA and TKE.

Union Triad Greeks are and seem to be continually small in chapters. Miami Triad Greeks fianally woke up and said hey, we are being stagnent.

Of course, this was in the 60's and many have taken a different look over the years.

Now, LXA and many are looking at a two pronged attack for expansion.

1. Recolonization of Closed Chapters.

2. Expansion on New Schools where there is little Greek existence.


Bigger is not better not only in number of Chapters, but also Chapters Number of members.

The only time bigger is better, is when a National can keep control of the situation by helping through visitations and keep working with them. If a Chapter is in trouble, working with them more often.

The rub of this is the economic side. Called Money, The Big Green, how to pay for all of this.

LXA has one of the largest staffs of ELCs. traveling personel who visit chapters. But here again, it is smaller than it used to be because of Economics. Money, Green Backs, Coin of the Rhelm.

Many Greek Organizations have Alum volunteers who work withing a specific area so not to be a hardship on them.

Some that I can think of are KS, ASA, AGD, GPhiB.


Dont worry about size, Size means nothing if the chapters suck.

[hoosier]

I think that the male GLOs we recognize as "quality" are the ones who long ago learned that the chapters need adult advice and supervision.

Many of the GLOs that really got started growing after WWII relied on paid staff (since they had few alumni). and never got around to putting the alumni in place as their older and wealthier competitors had done.

Of course, the sororities totally put the men to shame concerning alumni involvement.

[Erik P Conard]

As a field rep from '57 to '59, I pioneered a lot of campi for TKE.
We were a small, but up and coming, outfit with little prestige,
and most of the old line clubs would sneer at us, and it was at
times difficult to even get an appointment at traditional greek schools. Lambda Chi, due to their merger with TKN, Sig Ep and
TKE were the new kids on the block. Worked for us....
Today, and we have long planned this, those of us who expanded
have a quarter million initiates. So does SAE, but ours are mostly
living, as we got underway in the 1950s while they were well established on ivied campuses by 1900. That is to say, the older
ones may have comparable initiate figures, but who has the most
living?
HOWEVER, the alumni from these newly-entered schools have not
the loyalty or tradition that the old ones did...for example, TKE
at Cleveland State has not the alumni support that TKE at Ohio
State does...and so on. Both have well over 1,000 initiates...
So, there's plus and minus factors regarding size. Likely the most cautious and successful program I know of, and don't call
me a wannbe Beta, please, but Beta Theta Pi has grown slowly
and carefully. But, they, too pottied in their chili at Hawaiii as well
as Sig Ep and TKE...all of us folded. Size, quality, rep meant little.
Naw, I do not think there is any pat answer. Probably Hoosier has succinctly put it....advisers, active board, caring alums...
We have, though, gone along with the dumbing-down profile, and
the colleges with fraternities and the trappings now include the
old trade schools, aggie ones, normal colleges, streetcar ones...
a far cry from Goodbye Mr Chips, the ivied mansions, and the
elitist ideas which went with it all. Then the Gettysburg Phi Psis
built a cabin in the woods so as to meet...and off we went!

[PhiPsiRuss]

Does it? Yes and no.

The advantages of size begin to erode when the additional chapters are at subpar schools. The quality of national leadership, and of staff, won't be as strong. The ability to raise money is diminished. For example, having 200+ chapters does not mean that the money donating potential is equal among alumni, regardless of alma mater.

My fraternity is also mid-sized (90 chapters,) and we are currently on an aggressive extension aggenda to get to 125 chapters by 2012. Why? Because we figured out that this is how big we need to be to have the revenue needed to provide the level of chapter services that we want. Our average chapter size has grown so much that we may not need to hit 125.

As far as quality goes, there is really no correlation between the number of chapters and the quality of chapters, at least in the short run. There is a correlation between chapter services and the ability to maintain, and improve quality. Chapter services come at a price, and an 8 chapter national will have a hard time competing over the long run.

[Tom Earp]

PhiPsiRuss


That pretty well says it all Russ.

If an 8 Chapter Fraternity as you put want to stay in business, they must expand.

The largest Merger was between LXA and TKN in 1939. It was a merger made in heaven so to speak. LXA, Mostly Large Uns. and TKN on State and Religious Affiliated Schools. Of course there were conflicts on, same on campi.

Remember, TKN was a viable Fraternity that was originally made up of nothing but Locals who came together to be formed into TKN!


The merger talks with LXA and TKE failed I think as they were on many of the same Campi and other disagreements on how to handle chapter functions and who would be who in the end.

As Russ said, many of the old line Greek Organizations have come to the realization, grow or die, grow or maybe even merge. Money is a major factor when it will allow or not a Organization to grow or not.

Alum will make up a lot of monies to keep a group growing, but as that Alum base dwindles so does the money. Less Headquarters ability for backing.

Maybe some of the nay sayers should go back and find out about How Fraternitys and Soroitys were started, why, when, and where.

Russ, I do disagree with you somewhat, SUBPAR Schools?

Saying many of the State Colleges are subpar is very wrong.

Now, if you are talking about VOTECH, Hair Dresser, Chef schools then I would agree with you!

It has always been my comment to LXA, why expand to schools that are not ready for Greeks or to other Countrys except Canada, but to concentrate on re Chartering Colleges where We are not at.

[James]

Size always matters. ITs only the small that preach otherwise