Anyone know of any other current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity?

[Ithakappasig]

KSUW, good to hear. How 'bout them Cowboys! It is obvious that you have the attitude that will yield a chapter. The University of Wyoming is a really good place for us to be as the flagship state school and the American Heritage Center, etc.

Unfortunate news with Dennison and UCSC. I hope that Kappa Sigma keeps the lines open with the fellows from Dennison that stayed the course. One of the greatest disservices we can do is to lose good people and have them turn their heart and tongue against the fraternity. Of course some others around them failed to keep up their end and maybe Kappa Sigma lumps them all in the same boat by policy. Surely there is a better way. UCSC points out that we have to give support and offer benefit because we are not the only game in town for a good group of students.

Washburn seemed like it was poised for a strong comeback, in terms of its former chapter. It has the history and campus environment.

Sacred Heart, congratulations! I hope this is the start of a trend in what is now the weakest Kappa Sigma region. Lake Erie and Brooklyn made a strong showing towards colony status so it is good to see things come to fruition. They begin to fill in some edges of the blank canvas that is Kappa Sig's northeast region.

The situation in the region is not fully ameliorated by the addition of two or three new chapters of smaller or lesser known schools but it is a start. We started with smaller, lesser known schools but if NYU comes in especially, and I hear that looks good (and perhaps their neighbor Columbia) it would establish us well in New York and thus poise us for long overdue future growth in the Northeast.

I entirely agree Stu about the obvious need for expansion in the state of Illinois. Illinois has numerous high quality colleges and is too important to be so under-represented. It would be great to also come into a states with a strong push for the entire area. People are not just choosing fraternities but the local network.

And about the following statement from Stu:

"Regardless of how improbable the chances of success might be on the often-obscure campuses where those groups are located, rather than proactively seeking to colonize at the 100+ schools that already have well-established Greek systems where the Order is not presently represented. This has led to colonies in the past four years at, among others, such schools as Southwest Oklahoma State, Eastern Oregon, Carroll College, Southwestern College, West Liberty State, Gonzaga, Wayne State College, West Florida, Texas-Brownsville, Southern Indiana, Oklahoma Panhandle State, UBC Okanagan, Bellarmine, Notre Dame, and, most recently before Central Washington, Tusculum College, all of which had virtually NO chance..."

That is a good point though I do not so much mind that these colleges are targets. It is just that it should be obvious that these chapters are going to require help in doing things like finding housing, raising money and building fraternity culture.

Additionally I think that there are too many "reach" expansions for schools that will not strengthen Kappa Sigma in ways that other "reach" expansions would. Why not spend the energy on schools with long established reputations for excellence and some fraternal life? It would seem better symbolically and probably as an investment to have taken the same energy and resources to renew the old Kappa Sigma Harvard and stand beside Sigma Chi and SAE among others at that institution. (In the cases of many chapters like that it would mean taking far less than 50 men but quality should always trump quantity.)

Starting Gonzaga and Notre Dame colonies made a great statement that KS is committed to breaking new ground but failing at those two prominent Catholic schools without fraternities did us no favors. Sigma Phi Epsilon is flourishing apparently by itself at Georgetown. I wonder if they want company?

If we do go to Gonzaga or Notre Dame or such colleges again, we should be prepared to help find housing, establish ourselves with other academic or extracurricular groups to serve as feeders. It is also important to bring in alumni support. For a fraternity of our size we seem to under-utilize alumni as a resource, except among our own chapter alumni. Colonies need to have regional and metropolitan alumni networks at their disposal. Thinking of it, this is an approach that is needed for all the colonies and chapters.