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A couple of quick comments with the caveat that I have no facts or details on this particular situation. My comments will be nothing new.
I am simply amazed that more individual chapters haven't learned that they need to "tow the line" when it comes to operating in conformance with both their respective national and their host university.
It's a losing proposition for an individual chapter to lock horns with either their national or their university. In the end, the active chapter is going to lose that battle.
I am an alumnus of a fraternity chapter at major university ranked as one of the top 25 national universities by US News and World Report. My chapter has historically been considered as one of the top 3 houses out of about 30.
We told our actives repeatedly for over ten years straight that their actions and behaviors needed to conform with that of national's and the schools standards.
Our sincere attempt to be helpful to the actives repeatedly fell on deaf ears. We were repeatedly given lip service that things had changed. In reality, nothing ever changed. The activities believed that keeping "traditions" alive was paramount.
What were "acceptable" traditions 20 years ago are simply no longer acceptable. We told our kids that they needed to adapt or risk closure.
Sure enough, our alumni were soon given an ultimatum to either cooperate with the university and close the chapter or risk being forced to close and never be allowed to ever return to campus.
The chapter was closed for purely speculative reasons. The truth is that the "speculations" were spot on. However, the chapter never actually got caught do anything wrong. While our alumni felt strongly that what the university was doing was unethical, we had a greater responsibility to ensure the return and long term historical survival of the chapter.
The actives had every chance, and more, to save the chapter. Unfortunately, they never stepped up.
To say our alumni were upset with what we consider a "morally bankrupt" university administration is an understatement. In the end however, closing our chapter and restarting it is the best thing that has happened to our organization in over 60 years.
We have since recolonized, are back up to 100 members and are working our way back up to the top. Our kids are great and they now actually very much appreciate what they have. I must say that is the most refreshing consequence of the whole affair.
Closing the chapter was painful and scary. In the end, it needed to be done to perpetuate the continuation of our existence.
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