Tiers...

[Firehouse]

There has been a lot of discussion about tiers. I think that every fraternity/sorority system follows very predictable dynamics, and it becomes even more pronounced as the number of chapters increases.
In any system with, say, ten or more chapters, there are always only three tiers.

Tier I
This top tier comprises 20-25% of the fraternity chapters. In a system with 20 fraternities, five would be "top tier" chapters.
They are characterized by similarity in size, they rush the same men, they date in the same tier of sororities. They compete against each other in sports, on campus and in social prestige; they know all about each other, and they generally don't like each other.
They don't know and don't care much about the fraternities outside their small five-chapter circle. They all consider themselves to be elite, and their reputations and strength make it hard for them to screw up bad enough to drop out of their top tier status. They may cycle around so that one is on top one year and another is on top the next year, etc. but unless there is an upheaval there is little chance that they will fall out of their tier.

Tier III
The bottom tier contains about 10-15% of the fraternities. They are the most obvious bottom-feeders. No disrespect intended, but in the eyes of the system there is no question about who they are and why they are considered the weakest fraternities. They have not the vision, the ambition or the knowledge to rise up out of their hole. They could get better, but they don't know how and they talk themselves into believing that being small and powerless are virtues.

Tier II
This middle tier is the largest, and consists of a large, indistinct soup of fraternity chapters. In a system of 20 chapters, they are the ones ranking from #6 through #17 more or less. Within this large group, no one knows and no one really cares which one rises or falls above the others. Who knows or cares if the #14 fraternity suddenly surges and leaps up to #8?? There's no point in ranking chapters inside the II Tier. They float up and down, never breaking into Tier I, and never falling into the hellhole of Tier III.

Now, it's possible for any chapter to improve their standing and rise all the way to the top. But you have to know what you're doing, and hardly anyone does.

Shake-ups come when Tier I fraternities get kicked off for one misdeed or another and a spot among the elite opens up. The dynamic becomes unstable until someone rises out of Tier II and becomes a new fixture in Tier I.
I'm a Florida State alumnus and there was a huge upheaval here: since 2001, three of the top five fraternities have been kicked off campus. The dynamic became unstable and so the door was open for ambitious Tier II chapters to rise up and take their places. When that happened, the system's tiers solidified again.

The point is that all (or most) Greek systems share a very predictable dynamic. If I know the number of fraternities on a given campus, I can predict how many fraternities will be considered in the elite circle at the top, and how many will be looked down on as the wretches on the bottom.