What is going on at University of Iowa?

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by oldu

Delta Upsilon just announced the closing of their University of Iowa chapter for disciplinary reasons. That is the 15th chapter closing in the past decade! Others which have closed are Acacia, Alpha Kappa Lambda, Alpha Tau Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Sigma, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Kappa Sigma, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Tau Gamma, Tau Kappa Epsilon and Theta Xi.

This huge Big Ten campus now has only eleven N.I.C. fraternities active and two colonies! Why are fraternities doing so poorly here?

Originally Posted by oldu

When more than half the fraternities close within a decade; when the number of chapters is less than half that of other institutions of the same size; and when half of those chapters are small in size...I consider that a serious problem!

A simple guess is that the University of Iowa administration (or administrations as the case may be) has chosen to take a firm stance on risk management issues. Until everyone "gets it", then chapters are going to be closed. At at the same time, when students see so many chapters being closed they can become leery of joining any fraternity. Simply because the many positive reasons for joining are being overshadowed by the negative actions of the few.

As for chapter size, of the chapters that have closed, would they be consider the traditionally large chapters at Iowa? And is the "small in size" average chapter size a result of the number of men participating in rush (i.e. campus culture), or the number of bids extended? For example, while I do not know for sure if the Iowa fraternities do this, I know that many fraternities on Midwestern campuses extend bids based on the number of men that may live in the house. Give or take a few men. So if the current eleven houses on campus are at their own self-imposed total, then statically, it would be possible to suggest that those chapters are doing well.

Side note here: While I understand wanting (needing) to fill beds and having that as a goal, I have never understood the rational to stop bidding quality men once the beds are filled.

Having said all this, I am guessing that most of those chapters closed have extensive alumni that they can draw from. Both financially and in numbers. As such, once the suspension is lifted, I am sure more than a few of the chapters will be back. And it would not surprise me with membership numbers near or at what they were before.

Originally Posted by banditone

Why ridicule someone for bringing new life and conversation to this place. I love hearing the happenings at different campuses, what is changing, how different GLO’s are doing, etc. Makes the forum worth visiting.

You can only read so many threads about never saying a bad word about any GLO, or someone rushing and choosing between sororities coded after clothing designers.

Kudo’s to you OldU, although I’ve never been up to Iowa, it’s interesting to hear what’s going on up there.

I agree.

oldu - Thank you again for bringing these interesting topics to our attention. The more we know about our history *and* what is currently going on, the better for all of us. As individuals, as chapters, as national organizations.

By the way, Delta Upsilon is still listed on the Iowa IFC website. I'm guessing they haven't had time to remove Delta Upsilon from it. However, both Beta Theta Pi and Tau Kappa Epsilon are listed on the Iowa IFC website as well. Would anyone know if Beta and TKE are recent closures as well? Or did they re-colonized (comeback) since they previously closed?