Schools with most inactive NPC chapters

[oldu]

Let me give you some examples of how risky and difficult it is to start new chapters at highly popular but veryy competitive schools. At the University of Alabama where Alpha Phi will colonize this fall, three other attempts have been made by very strong organizations during the past 25 years but only one of the three, Gamma Phi Beta, succeeded. At the University of Oklahoma, seven attempts were made but only two, Alpha Phi and Alpha Omicron Pi, have been successful. At the University of Missouri, four tries and only Phi Mu succeeded. Several of the groups which failed had built new houses which they sold at a loss. (I know because I was involved in one of them.) Sentiments aside, sorority executives have to take a hard-nosed look at these opportunities and that is why they often opt not to be in the selection process when openings arise. I have no doubt that my friend's comments reflect the thinking of many other sorority leaders. They would be irresponsible if they did not take such a businesslike approach. My point was that as much as we would all like chapters at these major schools sometimes the risk factor is too great.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by oldu

Several of the groups which failed had built new houses which they sold at a loss. (I know because I was involved in one of them.)

Innnnteresting....

[33girl]

Originally Posted by oldu

My point was that as much as we would all like chapters at these major schools sometimes the risk factor is too great.

You mean "we" as in all the NIC fraternities, right?

Would a rickroll be appropriate here?

[violetpretty]

Also, the "success rate" really may not be indicative of a chapter's potential for success today. I'll use Maryland as an example. As has been said, Maryland has 14 active chapters and 6 inactive chapters. Only one of those chapters had closed "eons ago" in the 1920s. The other 5 closed between 1990 and 2000, one for risk management reasons. The other 4 had been small, struggling chapters.

However, this is before release figures or before quota was set to allow for optimum matching. Since I have recruitment data from the past 20 years at Maryland, I was looking at 1994.
Total women participating in bid matching=442
Quota=36
Number of sororities filling quota (out of 15)=5 (4 more came close, the other 6 missed it by a lot)
So, in case you don't have a calculator out, 442/15=29.5, so quota SHOULD have been around 29-30. Why on earth was quota set so ungodly high? NO WONDER smaller chapters closed!

I know Maryland can't be the only school that saw chapters close because release figures weren't figured out yet. If release figures had been used beginning in the 1980s, I really think we might still have Pi Phi, AGD, AXiD, and Gamma Phi, or at least, some of them.

[bejazd]

I'm still trying to figure out what this "info" reveals. Does anybody really argue that the future growth (as far as new chapters) for NPCs is in reviving chapters at the older campuses with large established greek systems vs. establishing new chapters at campuses that currently have smaller, growing systems or no NPCs at all?

I love to see NPCs come on at campuses where there has never been an NPC sorority before. It's such an important part of our mission to bring the benefits of sisterhood, and NPC lifetime membership, to a broad range of university women...including the many many who choose to attend commuter campuses, or campuses without traditional "houses."

[33girl]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I know Maryland can't be the only school that saw chapters close because release figures weren't figured out yet. If release figures had been used beginning in the 1980s, I really think we might still have Pi Phi, AGD, AXiD, and Gamma Phi, or at least, some of them.

I don't think it's that release figures or the concept of them didn't exist, just that they weren't being used and NPC finally saw that they had to take more of a hand in making sure everyone played fair. I mean, it isn't rocket science to get that if ABC has everyone want to come back to their party, they can invite a lot fewer people to assure they have enough to fill quota. You would hope that ABC would release the girls they had no interest in without being told to do so, but that isn't always the case.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

However, this is before release figures or before quota was set to allow for optimum matching. Since I have recruitment data from the past 20 years at Maryland, I was looking at 1994.
Total women participating in bid matching=442
Quota=36
Number of sororities filling quota (out of 15)=5 (4 more came close, the other 6 missed it by a lot)
So, in case you don't have a calculator out, 442/15=29.5, so quota SHOULD have been around 29-30. Why on earth was quota set so ungodly high? NO WONDER smaller chapters closed!

Interesting... The NPC Rush Resolutions came out in 1991, but as 33 said -- many campuses chose to still do their own thing. Even without using release fiquers, the simple formula for determining quota has been around for MANY years.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Interesting... The NPC Rush Resolutions came out in 1991, but as 33 said -- many campuses chose to still do their own thing. Even without using release fiquers, the simple formula for determining quota has been around for MANY years.

I was thinking maybe that 36 was the optimal number to match as many women as possible. If the big chapters don't make heavy cuts after the first round, the damage is done. The large chapters will have big preference parties and the small chapters will have small preference parties. Then again, this was still back in the days of hand-matching bids, so I doubt the Panhellenic and chapter recruitment advisors would have done a quota range by hand to figure out how to best match the optimal number of women. I just am scratching my head at why they picked 36.

I don't know if many other schools set quota too high, but I am sure that not using the RFM surely didn't help Pi Phi, AGD, AXiD, and Gamma Phi at Maryland.

[ValpoKD]

[QUOTE=violetpretty;1646055]I was thinking maybe that 36 was the optimal number to match as many women as possible. If the big chapters don't make heavy cuts after the first round, the damage is done.

The seemingly high figure could be the result of setting quota too early. In the past, I have seen that some campuses would set quota based on the number of women after the second round, on the night before Preference, etc and not make any adjustments as women withdrew or were dropped from recruitment. Hence an unrealistic quota! It just seems so obvious that the final quota should have been based on a number relating to preference (ex. number of invitations accepted).

I explained this once to a chapter advisor who was complaining that quota was lower. When I looked at the stats for the years she was addressing, there were not enough women attending preference for each chapter to have a decent shot at the quota set 1-2 days earlier.

Would this have solved everything for all chapters? No, but it certainly did not help.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by oldu

At the University of Oklahoma, seven attempts were made but only two, Alpha Phi and Alpha Omicron Pi, have been successful.

Actually, seven presented to Panhellenic, but only two were chosen to colonize. That is way different than saying only two were successful.

[oldu]

Actually seven different sororities installed chapters during that period. Five of them ultimately closed and only Alpha Omicron Pi and Alpha Phi survive today. I don't know how many groups presented when Alpha Phi, the most recent, organized. They may have had a pre-commitment to re-install since they retained their house while they were inactive.