Sections = States no longer

[naraht]

With the *massive* reorganization of Region IV at their last Regional conference, it has become enormously clear how much the idea of Sections often being equal to states has changed. As of right now there are only 8 of the 50 states where the state boundary is equal to that of the section and almost half of those are in Region VIII. They are Utah (13), Iowa (21), Nebraska (26), Wisconsin (27), Oklahoma (32), Arkansas (33), Kansas (34), and New Jersey (99).

At one time or another, the following additional states were their own sections: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Randy

[arvid1978]

Originally Posted by naraht

With the *massive* reorganization of Region IV at their last Regional conference, it has become enormously clear how much the idea of Sections often being equal to states has changed. As of right now there are only 7 of the 50 states where the state boundary is equal to that of the section and almost half of those are in Region VIII. They are Utah (13), Iowa (21), Nebraska (26), Wisconsin (27), Oklahoma (32), Arkansas (33), Kansas (34), and New Jersey (99).

At one time or another, the following additional states were their own sections: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Randy

Illinois would have been a single-section a LONG time ago. Even when we were Section 48 (prior to splitting into 47/50/51), the counties around St. Louis belonged to Section 49.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by arvid1978

Illinois would have been a single-section a LONG time ago. Even when we were Section 48 (prior to splitting into 47/50/51), the counties around St. Louis belonged to Section 49.

Yes, SUIE moved from 48 into 49 not long after con-con.

Randy

[Sister Havana]

Indiana just split last year. RIP Section 52!

[Explicit]

I'm in Section 99 and there's talk of splitting us up soon, as we've got 10 chapters and 3 current extension efforts with another possibly on the way.

I actually liked the fact that our section was our state, and I'll be a little sad when it splits, but you have to do what you have to do.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Explicit

I'm in Section 99 and there's talk of splitting us up soon, as we've got 10 chapters and 3 current extension efforts with another possibly on the way.

I actually liked the fact that our section was our state, and I'll be a little sad when it splits, but you have to do what you have to do.

True, but it appears that the concept of what the appropriate size for a section (in terms of number of chapters and the area that they are in) has gone down over the last 10-15 years...

I think NJ/99 is the only one of the remaining state/sections to be likely to split soon. Iowa/21 is the only other one with more than 5 chapters, and I think they are down one chapter from their max over the last decade.

I think one likely way to split NJ is simply to move the chapters in the northern part of the state into 97. 97 is undersize in terms of active chapters (though I believe largest in the country in terms of charters) and also keeps people from having to figure out what number other than 93 would be given to the two new sections. (Section 78 is the highest number that hasn't been used in the last 20 years).


Randy