Expansion Problems

[a.e.B.O.T.]

ALSO, we have to be offered to come back... we can propose yes, but the school can easily deny it, as I know my school has for 3 fraternities in the last 2 years. Some of those state schools may not want beta back, or atleast not right now.

[ECUJacob]

His name was Josh, I think, and he was a Ed. Const. for my chapter. I believe that ECUJacob knows him.

I have known quite a few Leadership Consultants in my time as a Beta, but I don't readily recall one named Josh. Although I do agree that before opening a chapter we should evaluate whether or not we should "associate ourselves with their Greek Community".

I also think it would be a great idea to reactivate some closed chapters. North Carolina, as a state, only has three chapters. I've heard rumors of starting up a chapter at UNC-Wilmington. That might work, but it might not. I wonder if they've considered reopening the Davidson chapter.

I have had a lot of trouble understanding why Florida has 8 chapters/colonies and some other states only have a couple.

[furmanbeta]

Whoa there Jake. Do we want to be associated with a given school's Greek Community should not be the question here. The question should be, do we want to be associated with the school? If you're at a quality school, you have a great chance of getting quality guys, regardless of whether or not the Greek system at the school is shit. With that mindset, let me just throw out a couple of schools that we SHOULD be associated with:

Washington and Lee
Wake Forest
University of Richmond
Wofford
The College of Charleston
Union College (yeah, just a little bit of history at that joint)
Harvard
Amherst
Dartmouth
Swarthmore
Davidson (though I'm pretty sure fraternities aren't allowed there anymore)

And this is what I came up with in about 2 minutes. Small schools, great reputations, and Beta's not there. We either used to be or never tried. We need a bunch of the major state schools to get added too. Who are we to say that a given school isn't worthy of having Beta Theta Pi there? I guarentee you that at ALL of these schools, there are literally hundreds of guys who would make great Betas, but can't because Beta's not there. Get off your high horse, we need to expand rapidly.

[ECUJacob]

Get off your high horse, we need to expand rapidly.

Rest assured, furmanbeta, I'm not on a "high horse", as you so rudely put it. I'm speaking from personal experience. Your mentality is both scary and ignorant. Before expanding an organization into oblivion, maybe you should consider the status of our current chapters. Before adding more kids to a family, we should make sure we can house/feed/clothe the ones we have first. Given that the GF only has a given # of staff members, they won't be able to execute but a small number of expansions every year.

If you're at a quality school, you have a great chance of getting quality guys, regardless of whether or not the Greek system at the school is shit.

That's not true. Regardless of the quality of your school, if your Greek Life system is unsatisfactory or unappealing, no students will want to be a part of it. A good example? EAST CAROLINA. Our Greek system is in desparate need of reform/repair. That being said, our school is only 7% Greek because of the negative public image it holds.

[sdbeta1]

Washington and Lee, Richmond, Wofford, Charleston, Union, Amherst, Swarthmore, Davidosn??? I personally had never heard of any of these schools until after joining Beta, this being the first time I heard of Swarthmore or Wofford, with the exception of a few I don't even know what state those campuses are located. What makes these schools better suited than other schools such as Stanford, UCSD, Claremont McKenna, CIT, San Francisco, St. Marys, Gonzaga, Portland? There are always going to be more schools without Beta chapters, than schools with Beta chapters. Anyways, I'm off to flirt with the cute redhead sitting across the lab.

[furmanbeta]

First off, sdbeta, I was not suggesting that these are the only schools to which we should expand, I was merely throwing them out as examples. All of those schools are either within ECUJacob's vicinity, or colleges of national reknown. I was trying to relate it to him more directly, and was in no way trying to slight West Coast Schools.

Now, back to you Jake. I hate to break it to you, but from an academic standpoint, y'all aren't even close to the league of the schools I mentioned, with the possible exceptions of Wofford and Union (I don't know their admission standards quite as well). I can't speak to whether or not your school's Greek system needs to change, as I don't go to school there. The point I was making is that there are a number of students out there, at your school and across the nation, who are Betas in spirit, but not members of the organization itself. Maybe it's because of the negative connotations of the Greek system in general, maybe it's because there isn't a Beta chapter there, maybe it's because the Beta chapter at their school sucks. Regardless of the situation, it does not diminish my point.

Should we fix failing chapters which are in existance? Absolutely. You can't be a powerhouse with many weak links in the chain. But does fixing chapters mean that you can't expand? I don't think it does. We are one of the wealthiest national fraternities in America, despite the fact that we are below many others in terms of both numbers of chapters and numbers of members (active or alumni). Recruitment needs to be Beta's next major focus. Recruitment within existing chapters, recruitment at new chapters.

Based on stats from US News and world report, your school has roughly 18,000 students. If 7% of them are Greek, that gives you about 1300 students engaged in Greek Life. That's not too horrible of a number. Larger schools inherently have smaller Greek populations on a percentage basis. You're actually existing in a chicken and the egg scenario, but apparently not seeing it. Does your school have low numbers because of the Greek system's reputation or maybe do people come to ECU because they don't want to be Greek? I can't answer this, and I'm not entirely sure that you could either.

Basically, we need to expand AND support our existing chapters better. It shouldn't be one or the other.

[ZZ-kai-]

You guys are hilarious. If you don't like the way Beta is expanding today, call up 800-800-BETA and talk to the Director of Expansion, or go to the nearby college (of your choice, of course) and start recruiting an interest group, then form the colony. Complaining, or discussing (whatever you want to call it), on some internet board, will accomplish nothing.

That said, I also agree that Beta needs to expand, big time. But I trust those who are in charge of expansion, to do the right thing - and I believe they are today. Could they do more? Yep. But so could you, I and everyone else.

PS, ETA: Bigger doesn't always mean better. IE, SigEp, TKE...etc. They expanded like rabbits, and it didn't really do them any good. "We have 250 chapters!". "Yeah, well you're still a TKE."

[old_south]

I think we need to stop the rapid expansion and take a look at some of the active chapters we have now which arent representing Beta well. When a chapter has less than 40 men, and no social involvement with other greek organizations this chapter needs help. When I go visit friends at Ole Miss for instance and tell people I am a Beta, immediately I must explian how our chapter is good and very different from the one at Ole Miss. I believe that the expansion will hurt us by adding sub-par chapters at a bunch of second tier schools. Instead we need to limit our numbers and improve the quality of chapters at the school which we are currently located.