Anyone know of any other current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity?

[stufield]

The month of January has no passed, and not much seems to have happened expansion-wise.

The one especially positive development is that the long-anticipated recolonization of Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers University, referred to in the fourth paragraph of my January 2nd posting, evidently HAS formally occurred, as the Gamma-Upsilon Colony is now included in the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website.

Two other positive events, though they are not strictly expansions, but rather successful completions of prior recolonizations, are that the Kappa and Mu-Omega Chapters at Vanderbilt and Southeastern Louisiana Universities, respectively, have now been restored.

Unfortunately, however, the only other new expansion shown on the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website is an altogether new colony at the Brooklyn College unit of CUNY, the City University of New York. This is another example of the Fraternity expanding to a school that has no, or, in this instance, almost no pre-existing fraternity system, as opposed to a school with a well-established fraternity system with a variety of fraternities. The only other fraternities at Brooklyn College are Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Zeta Beta Tau, all predominantly Jewish in membership, and tiny Alpha Delta Phi. So this may be another example of the fraternity colonizing at a school at which it has little or not chance of long-term success, as it has done so many times in recent years, or a great opportunity for Kappa Sigma to establish itself at a school where it has little competition for members, and thus perhaps a chance to establish itself successfully. I suppose that only time will tell. To me this is another example of the Fraternity's second-rate,'take what comes along' expansion policy, which brings us colonies at many schools where there is little likelihood of long-term success and that do little to advance the Fraternity's stature, instead of actively pursuing colonies at prominent schools with established Greek systems at which Kappa Sigma is notably absent. In NYC, other fraternities expand or return to NYU (where we have a dormant Gamma-Zeta Chapter, founded in 1905, inactive since 1974) and Columbia University (where we have never had a chapter); Kappa Sigma expands to Brooklyn College. It IS a good school, with an attractive and growing campus, a good reputation, and an increasing enrollment. L just don't see a chapter there succeeding long-term. However, I'd love to be wrong.

Perhaps some other colonies have been established but just are not yet listed on the Fraternity Website. Perhaps there is a flurry of expansionary activity going on out there that just has not yet manifested itself in the formal establishment of colonies. If anyone is aware of any such new colonies or expansionary activity, please share what you know or have been told.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by stufield

The month of January has no passed, and not much seems to have happened expansion-wise.

The one especially positive development is that the long-anticipated recolonization of Gamma-Upsilon at Rutgers University, referred to in the fourth paragraph of my January 2nd posting, evidently HAS formally occurred, as the Gamma-Upsilon Colony is now included in the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website.

Two other positive events, though they are not strictly expansions, but rather successful completions of prior recolonizations, are that the Kappa and Mu-Omega Chapters at Vanderbilt and Southeastern Louisiana Universities, respectively, have now been restored.

Unfortunately, however, the only other new expansion shown on the lists of active chapters and colonies on the Fraternity Website is an altogether new colony at the Brooklyn College unit of CUNY, the City University of New York. This is another example of the Fraternity expanding to a school that has no, or, in this instance, almost no pre-existing fraternity system, as opposed to a school with a well-established fraternity system with a variety of fraternities. The only other fraternities at Brooklyn College are Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Zeta Beta Tau, all predominantly Jewish in membership, and tiny Alpha Delta Phi. So this may be another example of the fraternity colonizing at a school at which it has little or not chance of long-term success, as it has done so many times in recent years, or a great opportunity for Kappa Sigma to establish itself at a school where it has little competition for members, and thus perhaps a chance to establish itself successfully. I suppose that only time will tell. To me this is another example of the Fraternity's second-rate,'take what comes along' expansion policy, which brings us colonies at many schools where there is little likelihood of long-term success and that do little to advance the Fraternity's stature, instead of actively pursuing colonies at prominent schools with established Greek systems at which Kappa Sigma is notably absent. In NYC, other fraternities expand or return to NYU (where we have a dormant Gamma-Zeta Chapter, founded in 1905, inactive since 1974) and Columbia University (where we have never had a chapter); Kappa Sigma expands to Brooklyn College. It IS a good school, with an attractive and growing campus, a good reputation, and an increasing enrollment. L just don't see a chapter there succeeding long-term. However, I'd love to be wrong.

Perhaps some other colonies have been established but just are not yet listed on the Fraternity Website. Perhaps there is a flurry of expansionary activity going on out there that just has not yet manifested itself in the formal establishment of colonies. If anyone is aware of any such new colonies or expansionary activity, please share what you know or have been told.

I hope you're wrong too-ive met a couple of the KS guys at Brooklyn and they're cool. One of them is the new IGC president. Good times.

As for nyu hope that works out too-always good times to hear about greek life expanding there. I know pi phi just came there last year (or the year before?)

[stufield]

I created this thread back in November, 2003 in the hopes of acquiring additional information regarding the Fraternity’s expansionary activities to supplement the minimal information that the Fraternity was providing on its Website and in its quarterly magazine, The Caduceus. Kappa Sigma is a terrific fraternity in many ways; but in one respect, Kappa Sigma is one of the worst: its HQ is among the worst of all fraternities in informing its members about fraternity affairs. Kappa Sigs, and those interested in Kappa Sigma affairs, are among the most poorly informed, compared to members of other fraternities, about all sorts of fraternity matters, including expansion (the existence of interest groups, the establishment of colonies, and the chartering of colonies as active chapters) and contraction (the closure of colonies and chapters). Invariably, new colonies would be added to the list of active chapters and colonies, colonies would be upgraded to chapter status, and colonies and chapters would disappear from the list of active chapters and colonies, all without announcement, explanation, or other reportage. So as one response to this lack of information, I initiated this thread.

Unfortunately, and mystifyingly, in the last couple of months the Fraternity’s unwillingness to provide basic information, or lack of concern about providing such information, has actually deteriorated, rather than improved. The primary function of any website should be to inform those who access it, preferably in the most user-friendly manner possible. But the Kappa Sigma website, which was reconfigured about two months ago, does just the opposite in several respects, one of which is the [lack of] provision of information about chapters and colonies. Prior to the reconfiguration, the website contained three chapter-related lists: two of those lists set out active chapters and colonies, one alphabetically by name of school, and one more or less alphabetically by Greek letter chapter designation; the third list set out all Kappa Sigma chapters, active and inactive, in chronological order of their chartering, commencing with Zeta Chapter at the University of Virginia and ending with the then most recently chartered chapter. So although, as aforesaid, the Fraternity almost never announced the creation of a new colony or the chartering of a colony, and absolutely never announced the closing of a colony or chapter, one could by careful monitoring of the lists, note when a new colony had been added, when a former colony had become an active chapter, and when a colony or a chapter had been deletedfrom the lists. But the newly reconfigured website eliminated all three lists and replaced it with a goofy map on which the location of every colony and chapter is marked with a red indicator that looks sort of like an upside down teardrop. So now if one wants to attempt to determine if a new colony has been added to the Fraternity’s rolls, one cannot scroll down the former active chapter and colony list, but instead must call up EVERY SINGLE indicator on the entire map to see if it corresponds to a previously existing chapter or colony, or a new colony!!! Furthermore, because the zoom function must be used to separate indicators for chapters that are located close together (for instance, to distinguish between the two present chapters located in Memphis or the several chapters located in and around Metro Atlanta) one must do this indicator-by-indicator searching in zoom mode in order to be sure not to miss a colony or chapter located in close proximity to another colony or chapter. It is extremely tedious and time consuming!

As if that is not bad enough, the map was outdated when it was introduced as part of the reconfigured website. Some colonies that had been chartered or rechartered prior to the appearance of the map on the reconfigured website, and that had been listed as chapters on the aforesaid active chapters and colonies lists before they disappeared from the website, were shown on the map as still being colonies. Likewise, some newer colonies that had been established before the appearance of the map on the reconfigured website, and had been added as colonies to the aforesaid active chapters and colonies lists before they disappeared from the website, were not shown at all on the map! So the map was out of date the minute it was added to the website.

And as if THAT were not bad enough, two months have passed and the map STILL has NOT been updated. So, for instance, Kappa Chapter at Vanderbilt University, which was rechartered before the website was reconfigured with the disappearance of the active chapters and colonies lists and the introduction of the map, is STILL shown as a COLONY! Also, Pi-Nu, Pi-Omicron, and Pi-Xi Chapters at Ramapo College of New Jersey, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and Colorado State University, which had all been shown as CHAPTERS on the active chapters and colonies lists on the website prior to the reconfigured website being introduced, were shown as COLONIES on the map. Likewise, the Kappa-Iota recolonization at the Middle Tennessee State University, and the new colonies at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Brooklyn College, Central Michigan University, the University of Central Missouri (formerly Central Missouri State University), and Texas Women’s University all of which had been included on the aforesaid lists of active chapters and colonies on the former website, are STILL NOT SHOWN AS COLONIES AT ALL!

Furthermore, any colonies that have been established since the map was introduced are also not shown ... not that we are able to know what they are, because (1) the lists have disappeared, and (2) the Fraternity does not announce new colonizations in all but the most exceptional situations, something it could easily do each time a new colony is formed by simply posting a brief one or two sentence announcement on the News page of the website. Likewise, of course, any former colonies that have since received their charters are still not shown as active chapters.

The map contains a number of inaccuracies that have not been corrected since the map was introduced. Just to select one small area of the map, the chapter indicator for Omicron-Tau Chapter at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is nowhere near Fort Smith, but instead is about 100 miles to the east of there, and the indicator for the University of Kansas is placed in some suburb of Kansas City, not at Lawrence where the University is located.

There is no excuse whatsoever for the Fraternity’s failure to at least make the map accurate and to keep it up to date.

In other words, the whole thing is a near-total disaster. But It does not have to be so. First and foremost, the map could be updated to show all present active chapters and colonies, including upgrading to chapter status the designations of those colonies that have now received their charters. Secondly, the incorrectly placed indicators could be properly relocated. Thirdly, differently shaped or differently colored indicators could be used to differentiate between colonies and chapters. That way, one could instantly tell when a colony has been chartered or rechartered as an active chapter; it would have an active chapter indicator instead of a colony one. For instance, Alpha Kappa Lambda and Delta Upsilon websites both use the same Google map as the Kappa Sigma map, but mark active chapters with blue indicators, and colonies with yellow indicators. The DU map goes one step further, and also uses yellow indicators with a red check mark in it to designate interest groups; when the red check mark disappears one knows that that group had been upgraded to full colony status. The Kappa Sigma map could easily continue to use red indicators for active chapters, but use green ones for colonies ... personally, I would reverse that, and use red indicators for colonies and green ones for active chapters. It could provide even more information by also using black indicators for inactive chapters! It would be great to see a black indicator change to red when an inactive chapter is recolonized, and then to green when it is rechartered, just as it would be disappointing (but nonetheless informative) to see green or red indicator change to black when an active chapter is closed.

Similarly, Delta Sigma Phi uses a map, but uses differently shaped indicators, the shapes being symbols significant to its secrets, to differentiate between colonies and chapters.

Alpha Kappa Lambda, Delta Sigma Phi, ATO, Phi Delta Theta, and many other fraternities use both a map AND chapter lists, to inform their members and other interested parties as to its chapters and colonies. AKL uses not only the same map as Kappa Sigma, but also has lists of (a) its active chapters and colonies, (b) its inactive chapters, and (c) all its chapters, active and inactive, in chronological order of chartering. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why Kappa Sigma could not do likewise, especially since the website prior to reconfiguration already included two of those lists. I simply cannot comprehend who could have made the foolhardy decision to have eliminated those lists.

Check out the aforesaid AKL, ATO, Delta Sig, DU, and Phi Delt websites. Also check out the Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Nu, and Sigma Pi websites to see really good, really informative Chapter Directories, and to see how much more information those fraternities, and many others as well are providing, as opposed to the minimal and out of date information that the Kappa Sigma website provides.

I have e-mailed all the foregoing to the Fraternity webmaster, but have not received even the courtesy of an acknowledgment of receipt of that e-mail, let alone a substantive response. More importantly, no lists have been added to accompany the map, and the map still has not been updated.

If you share any of my aforesaid sentiments, I would ask that you please also e-mail the webmaster ... go to Contact Us on the Website and look for the link. Perhaps if some other people add their dissatisfaction to mine, some corrective action will be taken.

What does all the foregoing have to do with this thread regarding current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity? The answer is simply that because the Fraternity itself is providing so little information, the more additional information that anyone can post on here the more informed we will all be. Unfortunately, my very busy law practice has precluded me from posting at all in the last few months. But I am pleased that some previous posters have continued to post, and that some other people have come along to post as well.

Now on to some specifics in relation to some other recent postings.

Chicostateksig advises of new colonies at CSU Monterey Bay, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC Merced. So it would appear that the alleged interest group at UC Santa Cruz that was the subject of some previous postings actually did exist, and has progressed to full colony status. That is terrific, as is the recolonization of Beta-Phi Chapter at UC Davis. I am rather pessimistic about of the chances of the CSU Monterey Bay colony surviving; a new school, with no Greek system and no Greek culture, poses a difficult challenge for that colony. I feel somewhat the same about the UC Merced colony; it probably stands a better chance of succeeding than the CSU Monterey Bay colony, but I am not as optimistic about its chances as chicostateksig seems to be. I do hope both groups succeed and would happily be proven to be wrong, but I am not confident about either of their long-term prospects.

Meanwhile, however, CSU Monterey Bay and UC Merced ARE colonies, which means that by my reckoning the fraternity presently has no less than seven colonies in California alone: those two, plus the aforesaid UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, plus the Delta-NU recolonization at UCLA and the CSU Northridge and UC San Diego colonies. Add to that the fact that the former Academy of Art University colony was recently chartered as Pi-Upsilon Chapter, and one had to acknowledge that the Fraternity’s expansionary activity in the Golden State has been pretty dynamic these past few months.

However, there still are significant other expansionary targets in California, most notably the University of the Pacific, at which Kappa Sigma has never had any representation, and the return of Delta-Upsilon and Nu-Alpha Chapters at Occidental College and CAL Poly SLO, respectively.

Chicostateksig: You also posted that you “have updates on other colonies across the nation”. I don’t know why you limited your reportage to California, but would you please provide us with whatever updates you have about colonies elsewhere.

Some of you may have noted the announcement in the News section of the Fraternity website regarding the Order’s return to New York University by way of the absorption of a long-standing local fraternity there. This is one of the rare instances of the Fraternity actually reporting or announcing a colonization or recolonization on the website. And Hampton has posted a link to the colony’s informative website. Thanks for that, Hampton. Prior to its selecting Kappa Sigma, I was contacted by members of that local fraternity, who had some questions and concerns that they wanted answered by someone knowledgeable about the Fraternity but not employed by it or acting in an official capacity for it, and that the group was also considering affiliation with at least a couple of our prominent rivals, SAE and Beta Theta Pi. We should all (a) be very pleased indeed that they ultimately chose to join Kappa Sigma, and (b) hope that the Fraternity is able to satisfy all their concerns during their colony status period, and that they ultimately further decide to petition for a charter. It will be wonderful to see the restoration of the long-dormant Gamma-Zeta Chapter at such a prominent school as NYU. It will truly be one of the Fraternity’s most significant expansions in the last several decades if it ultimately succeeds.

Other than the NYU recolonization, and Chicostateksig’s advisement of the new colonies at CUS Monterey Bay, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Merced, I have no awareness of any new colonizations and/or recolonizations, or of the charterings or recharterings of any former colonies, since the aforesaid reconfiguration of the Fraternity website with its elimination of the active chapters and colonies lists. So if any reader of this posting has any other current information, please do post it.

[chicostateksig]

If you guys want to know about colonies I will be able to give some of the information. Just hit me up. I get monthly updates from nationals. I do agree with the website being pathetic in informing the members of the fraternity what is going on. It seems as if only members of the Executive Committee or GM or GP know what is going on with expansion as they receive monthly emails. Unfortunately After the conclusion of next fall I won't be able to provide any info as my term is done.

Here are all the current Colonies of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Microsoft Word - Colony Members1 Birmingham-Southern College Colony
School Name: Birmingham-Southern College

Colony Name: California State University/Monterey Bay Colony
School Name: California State University/Monterey Bay


Colony Name: University of California/Santa Cruz Colony
School Name: University of California/Santa Cruz

Colony Name: Kappa-Iota Colony
School Name: Middle Tennessee State University

Colony Name: Gamma-Upsilon Colony
School Name: Rutgers University

Colony Name: Tusculum College Colony
School Name: Tusculum College

Colony Name: Warrensburg, Missouri Colony
School Name: Warrensburg, Missouri

Colony Name: Ball State University Colony
School Name: Ball State University

Colony Name: St. John’s University Colony
School Name: St. John’s University
*50 members already.

Colony Name: California State University/Northridge Colony
School Name: California State University/Northridge

Colony Name: Delta-Nu Colony
School Name: University of California/Los Angeles


Colony Name: Mount Pleasant, Michigan Colony
School Name: Mount Pleasant, Michigan
*52 Members

Colony Name: Epsilon-Phi Colony
School Name: Texas Tech University
*49 Members

NYU Gamma Zeta Colony


Colony Name: Sacred Heart University Colony
School Name: Sacred Heart University


Colony Name: Texas Woman’s University Colony
School Name: Texas Woman’s University

Colony Name: Beta-Phi Colony
School Name: University of California/Davis

Colony Name: University of California/Merced Colony
School Name: University of California/Merced

Colony Name: Delta-Gamma Colony
School Name: University of Wyoming

Colony Name: Epsilon-Rho Colony
School Name: Kent State University

Colony Name: Lake Erie College Colony
School Name: Lake Erie College

Colony Name: University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Colony
School Name: University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Colony Name: Anchorage, Alaska Colony
School Name: Anchorage, Alaska
Colony Name: University of New Orleans Colony
School Name: University of New Orleans
* Only 10 Members

Colony Name: University of California/San Diego Colony
School Name: University of California/San Diego
*49 Members

Colony Name: Fort Myers, Florida Colony
School Name: Fort Myers, Florida

Colony Name: Utah Valley University Colony
School Name: Utah Valley University

Colony Name: American International College Colony
School Name: American International College

Colony Name: State University of New York at Cortland Colony
School Name: State University of New York at Cortland
*13 members