Beta Thata Pi closes at Texas

[EE-BO]

I remember the old DU house well. Never was inside- nor did I know any of the guys, they pretty much kept to themselves as I recall- but there was this massive floating staircase in the entry hall that you could see from the street because of the giant windows around the front. One of those random things you remember, I guess.

Did not know they tried to recolonize. g41965- were they in one of the houses on 21st street that rents out to Greeks? I know Lambda Chi was making a go of it there (they were a huge chapter with houses to match until the early 90s), plus other GLOs rent out those properties which were built specifically for student groups.

Coming back to UT is very difficult for any fraternity and has been for some years.

There are two main obstacles,

1. Getting the IFC to vote yes. With fraternity membership down so badly, it is understandable that existing chapters do not want competition. Quite frankly, until general interest is up again and real estate back at normal levels- I see great reluctance. Even with the fall in prices, property tax appraisals are still rising since they never did catch up with the highs of the market. This, incidentally, is one reason I thought it so critical Beta leave campus in good standing with the charter fully intact. It is unclear what that will mean when we return as compared to the situation most chapters are in when coming back, but it can only make the process easier- and hopefully we will not have to be voted back in at all.

2. After watching my chapter slowly decline for over a decade since losing the largest fraternity house at UT and watching 2 other chapters with very strong Texas history fail to make a strong comeback, I have come to realize that at Texas you have to go big or go home. Even with a tiny house, carrying a mortgage and property taxes are so high that dues would have be over $1,000 a semester and rent for the few bedrooms would have to be higher than a nice West Campus apartment.

What all this means is that a chapter hoping to re-enter, or enter for the first time, at Texas and get both sizeable and financially solvent within 5 years is going to need to pull a LOT of strings to gain IFC approval, and then have a huge amount of alumni money at the ready to buy or build a large house and sustain it until the membership gets large enough to cover the costs plus have a proper social and rush budget.

The finger in the wind test for this to happen (and I have done the math) is about $5 million dollars. That is what you need to buy/build a proper house that will attract solid guys and then help keep it up for 3-5 years in the HOPES that you can get the chapter to 100+ with enough of a social calendar to regularly gain 30-40 man pledge classes (which is what is needed to keep a 100+ man chapter- attrition is stronger at fraternities than sororities generally speaking.)

In the current economic climate, and with the Greek Life model at UT essentially broken except for the very few largest and strongest chapters- this is not going to happen.

My hopes are pinned on a much better economy in 3-5 years plus a student body having gone through a terrible financial crisis and much more balanced in their views of partying versus studying compared to how it was in my day.