Schools with most inactive NPC chapters

[oldu]

Primarilly I took the largest Greek systems. Otherwise the list would be very very long. I have a good friend who is president of her sorority's foundation and she told me it is a big internal struggle for groups when a large prestigous institution like Illinois or Alabama opens for expansion and the debate begins as to how much the sorority wants to gamble in time and funds to develop a chapter there as opposed to a school where housing is less important and the competition is less. Her foundation is one of the largest and she told me that they had turned down opportunities to revive some lost chapters because they could not justify the investment required and the risk to be taken, much to the disappointment of many alumnae.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by oldu

Primarilly I took the largest Greek systems. Otherwise the list would be very very long. I have a good friend who is president of her sorority's foundation and she told me it is a big internal struggle for groups when a large prestigous institution like Illinois or Alabama opens for expansion and the debate begins as to how much the sorority wants to gamble in time and funds to develop a chapter there as opposed to a school where housing is less important and the competition is less. Her foundation is one of the largest and she told me that they had turned down opportunities to revive some lost chapters because they could not justify the investment required and the risk to be taken, much to the disappointment of many alumnae.

Foundations deal with managing the charitable aspect of the sorority - its donations to various causes, etc. Not with the every day deals of where to colonize and where not to.

One person's opinion from one group does not make it fact.

I agree with the other posters who have said that the time the chapters went inactive is important. There's a huge difference between the chapter going dormant in the 1920's or 1930's than going dormant 2 years ago.

Also:

The information below is very revealing.

It reveals nothing other than someone with time on his hands to do some statistics. To extrapolate more from it is conjecture.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by kddani

I agree with the other posters who have said that the time the chapters went inactive is important. There's a huge difference between the chapter going dormant in the 1920's or 1930's than going dormant 2 years ago.

Exactly. Some of these schools (Syracuse comes to mind as one) have transitioned from a period in the early period of the 20th century where they were pioneers of Greek life and probably most of the women on campus were in NPC groups. They have transitioned now to being modern universities, and it's very unlikely that they'll have such high participation rates in NPC again.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by kddani

Foundations deal with managing the charitable aspect of the sorority - its donations to various causes, etc. Not with the every day deals of where to colonize and where not to.

One person's opinion from one group does not make it fact.

Oh come on -- most of the Foundation leaders (certainly of the groups with the largest/oldest Foundations) have been Fraternity leaders and are not far removed from what is going on.

As usual, I find oldu's thread interesting and value his input in this forum.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Oh come on -- most of the Foundation leaders (certainly of the groups with the largest/oldest Foundations) have been Fraternity leaders and are not far removed from what is going on.

As usual, I find oldu's thread interesting and value his input in this forum.

He's taking one quote from one unknown unnamed person as gospel to be applied to all 26 groups. Mine own school is on that list, and what it would take to recolonize would be minimal...

Yes yes yes, we know you love oldu. I would tell you two to get a room, but.....

Are you suggesting that the reason that those closed chapters don't re-open is due to the risk in investing in them?

There are so many other factors that could be taken into consideration beyond cost. Campus climate - support for greeks, risk management issues, culture of the campus to be welcoming of a new group, etc.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by kddani

He's taking one quote from one unknown unnamed person as gospel to be applied to all 26 groups. Mine own school is on that list, and what it would take to recolonize would be minimal...

Where'd you go? Pitt?

[ForeverRoses]

Ohio University is on the list, and I have to say that greek life is on the decline there (pledge classes are down to 25ish members each). And even when I was in school (back in the days of 50-member new member classes and adding new sororities) it wasn't the end all be all to be greek. I think SMU (which is not on the list) has a more important greek life- it's more important to be greek there than OU.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Where'd you go? Pitt?

Yes, she went to Pitt. To say that the expense/effort to recolonize at Pitt is the same as it would be at LSU or even Ohio State is laughable. And she's right - ONE quote from ONE person from ONE sorority certainly doesn't apply to all groups, or even to the majority of their own group. (Stop laughing Sandy, I know you are.)

LA - I don't know exactly what he's intimating but I do know if I was an A Xi D I'd be kind of pissed.

The next thread will be "colonies that never chartered at schools that have a wild animal as a mascot." In all seriousness - we've been here before - I think a lot of people appreciate oldu's stats, but the commentary, not so much.

[NutBrnHair]

It just bothers me that some of you swarm to oldu's threads to pick apart and criticize. It's like his connections, experience, longevity, and perspectives are not as worthy as your 10,000+ posts on Greek Chat.

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by kddani

There are so many other factors that could be taken into consideration beyond cost. Campus climate - support for greeks, risk management issues, culture of the campus to be welcoming of a new group, etc.

I know! That's why I was asking him if that was what he thought. (that it was just cost and risk)

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by kddani

Foundations deal with managing the charitable aspect of the sorority - its donations to various causes, etc. Not with the every day deals of where to colonize and where not to.

I'm guessing that NPC organizations do things a bit differently here... but I don't see how that has to necessarily be the case across the board. There are ways to use foundation money to help fund non 501(c)(3) qualified expenses such as housing.

For example, a 501(c)(3) foundation can write the local/national house corporation a mortgage on a property (at an interest rate around that which would have been found in an arm's length transaction). The foundation can actually 100% fund some aspects of a chapter's facility. To state across the board, unless this is an NPC thing, that the foundations only deal with managing the charitable aspects of their organizations is not 100% accurate. Again, that might be an NPC thing, which I have no clue about, but I can't imagine the umbrella organization would govern what their constituents' foundations could do.

I could plausibly see a foundation playing a big role in expansion. Especially if they're working with some sort of national house corporation.

[UGAalum94]

Oldu,

I'd be interested in seeing the stats for more schools. Right now, your sample may not be representative, and it would be interesting to be able to tell if some NPC groups are better able to gage their likelihood of success when they expand to new campuses and/or are able to provide better assistance to their chapters to make sure they don't close.

If you are willing, maybe you could choose an expanded list of schools with a geographic and demographic mix that would be an accurate sample for the nation (and the relative number of chapters that each NPC has/has ever had). I suggest this seriously since you do seem to enjoy research and list making.

And then, we could revisit the results to look for the organizations that really have a strength in this area.

[AGDee]

The mistake is in assuming that just because you have a dormant chapter there, you don't want to be there. That couldn't be further from the truth for several of our closed chapters on that list where we still own a house but have to wait until recruitment numbers are up and wait our turn to recolonize. NPCs are very different from fraternities in that way because we won't go back until the environment is ready for it. A good example is Michigan State. Alpha Xi Delta has been given first option to recolonize WHEN numbers warrant it. We are next after them. However, until there are enough women wanting to go greek on that campus to support more sororities, it won't happen.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I could plausibly see a foundation playing a big role in expansion. Especially if they're working with some sort of national house corporation.

Well, some groups have or had someone who is not a member as the director or employed in some other way with their foundation. For a while, ours was an AXO. She most assuredly did NOT have any say in where we expanded or what our expansion philosophy was/is. I'm sure she gave the expansion committee updates on the state of the foundation, but that's like my company's BOD calling the bank and asking what the prime rate is or something. It doesn't mean the bank is giving opinion on our buyouts/mergers/etc.

Long way of saying I think that's what Dani was talking about.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, some groups have or had someone who is not a member as the director or employed in some other way with their foundation. For a while, ours was an AXO. She most assuredly did NOT have any say in where we expanded or what our expansion philosophy was/is. I'm sure she gave the expansion committee updates on the state of the foundation, but that's like my company's BOD calling the bank and asking what the prime rate is or something. It doesn't mean the bank is giving opinion on our buyouts/mergers/etc.

Long way of saying I think that's what Dani was talking about.

Like I said, it's plausible, but everyone is entitled to govern themselves as they see fit. I never would claim to know a single thing about how NPCs self-govern.