It's kind of funny...

[GammaZeta]

Was up at the old stomping grounds today, Umass-Amherst. A lot has changed, but so much has stayed the same.

I remember about 1.5-2 years ago a group of alumni got together to try to restart Gamma Zeta. They had about 300 names of alumni willing to donate time and money to get it started.

HQ was aware of this and replied that the "climate" at Umass-Amherst wasn't right, that the greek system was "on the decline". That there was "no chance" of a successful recolonization effort and that we shouldn't waste our time.

The disheartened group of alumni bought into that argument.

It's kind of funny.......

I remember about 5 months ago in the spring reading an article about Pike coming back to the Umass campus in Spring of 07. It was a basic article about the start up of a new Pike chapter at Umass. 7 years ago Pike had been thrown off campus for some, well let's just say severe illegal activity. They continued for several more years after that operating as an underground chapter with success.

Anyways, I was talking to my friend who was an alumni of Pike. He said he was involved in their recolonization, that they wanted to do it "the right way" and not relive their troubled past....kinda like what we alumni wanted.

Anyways, they started recolonization just LAST semester, Spring 07.

Today I drove by the old Gamma Zeta house.

Guess who is the new inhabitant? Pike....with about 50 guys.

It's kind of funny....

I guess our HQ forgot to tell Pike that Umass-Amherst greek life was "dead".

[Mooch279]

I thought the house was torn down?

[GammaZeta]

Nope. Not yet at least.

Bunch of new fraternities have begun colonization at Umass. Huge push during the first weekend, doing very well I hear.

Guess they didn't get the memo.

[Tom Earp]

Disheartening isn't it?

Need I say anymore?

[Mooch279]

That sucks. Had a little pain in my stomach when i read your post. Sometimes it seems nationals can't get out of its own way. Well hopefully we'll be back some day.

[JonoBN41]

Who is in charge of expansion? What did he say regarding re-colonization at UMass?

[GammaZeta]

Several of the alumni have gotten responses from different levels of HQ, that HQ didn't believe/or supported the idea it could be done at Umass. Why? I don't know other than what I have mentioned.

I personally talked to a "higher up" in a phone call about two months ago. He said there would be no greek area at Umass in the near future and that "there is no possibility that Gamma Zeta will ever be recolonized at Umass." Stupid me, I bought into it.

I just KNOW that if we were given the chance, just a CHANCE, that the Gamma Zeta house would have LXA's in it right now.

All the alumni were asking of HQ was an "ok" to try it. No financial support. No employee resources. No contributions.

Just an opportunity to see if we could get it started again.

We had a pretty good spark. I truly believe we could have had a fire started by now.

It just made me a little sad to see a fraternity, less than a year old at Umass, being successfully recolonized, and in our house. Pike and LXA aren't that different, especially at Umass.

The alumni group had some serious backing; partners at major law firms in Boston, real estate tycoons, even a general manager of an NFL team.