Delta Zeta Reportedly Sues DePauw

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

I don't think decisions are made lightly to re-organize or close, I just don't actually agree with re-organizing. The way DZ handeled the situation wasn't the best way to do it. What I personally feel they should have done is talk to DePauw and state that they want to close but would like to be able to recolonize on the campus in 4-5 years. Once the "reputation" of DZ has gone away a bit, then they come back with support from alums and HQ, and recolonize. I think that is a better idea than reorganizing and getting rid of 75% of the chapter. Plus, reorganizing doesn't alleviate the stigma or the rumors regarding the chapter.

I see re-organization as a last ditch effort to prevent closing, because well -- no one really wants to close a chapter.

As many already know, the Alpha Gam chapter at Ohio State had a successful re-organization last January. I don't know the details leading up to the re-organization, but I know that all existing chapter members were granted alumnae status. Key word here is all. If I'm not mistaken, the remaining collegian(s) are set to graduate this semester, and I think IHQ waited to start re-org efforts so that the timing would allow the chapter to rid themselves of whatever hurt them in the first place.

I'm curious...besides AGD at Ohio State, have any other chapters been successful with re-organizing? I hate using that chapter over and over again, but they're proof that it does work and it can be a good thing. DZ HQ just didn't know to do it, I guess.

Re-organization saves the HQ from closing the chapter and a) having to wait until the next open opportunity to recolonize on campus or b) negotiating with PHC on an agreed time to come back on campus. I can think of two chapters off the top of my head that AGD IHQ closed recently that have agreements to return to campus by [insert date here].

If DZ HQ simply granted all (there's that keyword again) the Delta collegians alum status instead of picking and choosing, maybe they could have remained on campus to celebrate that darned Centennial they were so gung ho about.

[banditone]

Depauw should close them all down for 2 years and start over fresh

Originally Posted by banditone

Depauw should close them all down for 2 years and start over fresh

By all, you do mean DZ, right? Because if you mean all = DePauw sororities, then that makes no sense whatsoever.

After this mess, DZ's lucky if they're ever going to be invited back on campus again. I think it's safe to say that if President Bottoms (teehee just for you, 33) and his adminstration are still there, DZ has no chance.

[lauralaylin]

Originally Posted by OTW

I'm curious...besides AGD at Ohio State, have any other chapters been successful with re-organizing? I hate using that chapter over and over again, but they're proof that it does work and it can be a good thing. DZ HQ just didn't know to do it, I guess.

Alpha Phi has been successful with it. I'm not sure of how many times we have done it, but Cornell was recolonized the same time my chapter was installed (late 90s), and I know it was very successful. I never heard anything bad about it, no sisters that were upset or hurt or anything like that. I think as long as it's done right it can really be a good thing.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally Posted by OTW

I'm curious...besides AGD at Ohio State, have any other chapters been successful with re-organizing?

There was actually an extremely successful recolonization at the University of Pittsburgh in the late 1980s. The chapter had about a dozen members, their National gave alum status to the majority of the sisters and they worked very hard to recruit some great girls.

I understand they're still doing very well today.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by KillarneyRose

There was actually an extremely successful recolonization at the University of Pittsburgh in the late 1980s. The chapter had about a dozen members, their National gave alum status to the majority of the sisters and they worked very hard to recruit some great girls.

I understand they're still doing very well today.

I might be speaking out of "school" so to speak, but considering I was just in grade school in the late 1980's, wouldn't it be strange to compare something that happened almost 2 decades ago to something going on very recently?

I would think that the campus climate might have been very different back then, and I would think NPC would have been also. A lot of things that happened in NPC-Land back then are no longer tolerated in NPC organizations. NPC seems to be more 'politically correct' in recent years based on some things I've heard (can't really compare because I was in grade school back then, but we are no longer allowed to call "new members" "pledges", we can't go on scavenger hunts, and we have 'equal opportunity type clauses on every NPC website... I would imagine that "back then" things were way different)

[KillarneyRose]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I might be speaking out of "school" so to speak, but considering I was just in grade school in the late 1980's, wouldn't it be strange to compare something that happened almost 2 decades ago to something going on very recently?

Way to make me run out and get a Botox shot! lol

I was just replying to Sandy's post and she didn't make any mention of dates as far as I saw.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by KillarneyRose

Way to make me run out and get a Botox shot! lol

I was just replying to Sandy's post and she didn't make any mention of dates as far as I saw.

haha sorry

[UGAalum94]

I found the 20 year old example very helpful because I had been wondering if re-organizations ever work long terms.

I would expect any group to get a big boost by having a colonization type rush, but whether they could sustain that long term is a little different.

In the south, twenty years ago might be pretty recent activity. I think that it was about the same time ago that UGA expanded for the last time, and it was a DZ re-colonization, if I'm not mistaken.

ETA: I'm nearly positive that DZ was off campus and came back, (a lot of girls from my town were early members after the recolonization) but there doesn't seem to be a record I could verify. Is it just standard practice to report dates on campus as continuous since the chartering? Edited Again: An online UGA factbook gives the DZ date as 1987. 20 years later, they are doing very well.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

I found the 20 year old example very helpful because I had been wondering if re-organizations ever work long terms.

My point wasn't really that the reorg worked even 20 years later - it was more of a "it might have been OK to make the majority of the chapter leave in the middle of the semester back then, but since the NPC (not really just the governing org, but the invididual groups) are a tad bit more PC nowadays, and always trying to cover their bases, something like that might not "fly" like it used to."

Schools were probably very different back then too... in a make-believe world, maybe it would have been OK for the DZ HQ to do this at DePauw 20 years ago, but something like that is no longer acceptable. At least not at DePauw.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

My point wasn't really that the reorg worked even 20 years later - it was more of a "it might have been OK to make the majority of the chapter leave in the middle of the semester back then, but since the NPC (not really just the governing org, but the invididual groups) are a tad bit more PC nowadays, and always trying to cover their bases, something like that might not "fly" like it used to."

Schools were probably very different back then too... in a make-believe world, maybe it would have been OK for the DZ HQ to do this at DePauw 20 years ago, but something like that is no longer acceptable. At least not at DePauw.

I think reorgs/instant recolonizations went over much better 20 years ago, just because Greek life was more popular. People wanted to be Greek a lot more than they do now and they weren't going to really delve into the "why" of what was happening.

The thing is though, the smaller the school, the more quickly what happened is going to get around to all corners. That was true before and now with the internet it's even more so.

[UGAalum94]

I don't think have changed as much on campus as far as Greek life in the last 20 years as you might think, especially at a school like UGA. Of course I can’t speak for DePauw.

1987 may seem like the dark ages to you, but having lived then, I can assure you that many of the restrictions that we see in Greek life now were in full effect by the early 1990s, and it's likely would have been being implemented by 1987. I suspect there were some radical shifts in Greek life about the time that the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 in 1984, but by 1987, the only areas that have probably been more regulated now than then are rules for new members and some groups adding sexual orientation to their non-discrimination clauses.

Kicking girls out of their housing mid-semester would never have played well, and I don’t think we can assume that it has happened in other re-organizations unless we have evidence that it did. It’s one of the most remarkably callous elements of the treatment of former members in this case.

I think that the new media that the former members had access to, maybe more than any other aspect, may have changed how the re-organization played out. Previously we would have been at the mercy of the traditional media alone for information on the story, and here, we had social network sites, GreekChat, the official university and GLO websites fanning the flames of public interest. The “officials” can’t spin as effectively as they used to, and GLOs are going to need to keep that in mind.

There’s one other aspect I think may contribute to conflicts like this, but I don’t think it falls under the idea of PC and it didn’t seem to be an aspect of the DePauw situation: college students today are more likely than ever, if you believe the media reports, to continue to run to Mom and Dad with their problems. I think this behavior, more than any Political Correctness, maybe what causes colleges to start thinking in terms of “protecting” members from their groups.

I want to emphasize something: DZ at UGA in 1987 was a true re-colonization; they were closed and re-opened. They’ve done very well and remain a strong chapter. I wanted to emphasize this because I didn’t want anyone to think they had some kind of history of unpleasant re-organizations.

[ASUADPi]

Okay confused, shouldn't re-organization and recolonization be two different things? I ask because it seems like people are saying they are one in the same. Recolonization, to me, signifies that the chapter left the campus and came back.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

Okay confused, shouldn't re-organization and recolonization be two different things? I ask because it seems like people are saying they are one in the same. Recolonization, to me, signifies that the chapter left the campus and came back.

It confuses me too.

Unless you can see when a chapter left and see a break of more than four years, which would clearly be a re-colonization, then I think it's going to be hard to tell the difference between the times a GLO has ALL current actives go alum and then starts with a new group vs. telling some actives to go alum and starts with a new group, which both might be re-organizations.

I think part of what causes the problem it that no or few groups really openly talk about doing these things at all. It always seem to be presented as if the old actives are long gone.

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

Recolonization, to me, signifies that the chapter left the campus and came back.

And that's what it is. They are different in the sense that recolonizing means the chapter officially closed and came back.

When chapters re-organize they don't leave campus. I know that HQs have different procedures when handling re-orgs, but from what I've seen -- the collegians are granted alumnae status and HQ decides when would be the best time to hold a special recruitment.

I was kinda wondering why people were talking about successful recolonizations when clearly they are different.