Ole Miss Theta Is Closing

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by shadokat

Average chapter size after Fall recruitment at Ole Miss was around 410 - Theta had 273 women. It's a shame that 91 women accepted bids to this chapter this fall, only for this to happen.

I don't know the campus culture at Ole Miss. My heart breaks for the Thetas that lost their home. But, as a gal who thrived in a chapter on a campus where our total was 65, I am surprised that at chapter with 273 members was not financially viable! Wow! It 's a different world!

[naraht]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

I don't know the campus culture at Ole Miss. My heart breaks for the Thetas that lost their home. But, as a gal who thrived in a chapter on a campus where our total was 65, I am surprised that at chapter with 273 members was not financially viable! Wow! It 's a different world!

I went to Carnegie Mellon, the Panhellenic now has 6 NPC members, with all between 69 and 75 sisters this year. When I was a student in the late 1980s, there were only 5 NPC members each with chapters of about that size.

(As expected the NIC fraternities varies significantly more, currently running from Phi Delta Theta at 95 to Alpha Tau Omega at 26)

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by naraht

I went to Carnegie Mellon, the Panhellenic now has 6 NPC members, with all between 69 and 75 sisters this year. When I was a student in the late 1980s, there were only 5 NPC members each with chapters of about that size.

(As expected the NIC fraternities varies significantly more, currently running from Phi Delta Theta at 95 to Alpha Tau Omega at 26)

Sorry I missed you at CMU, naraht. The year I was president (75-76), the five NPC chapters at CMU had 15-40 members each. I'm always astonished to see pledge classes at these large schools larger than our entire Panhellenic system <grin>.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Sorry I missed you at CMU, naraht. The year I was president (75-76), the five NPC chapters at CMU had 15-40 members each. I'm always astonished to see pledge classes at these large schools larger than our entire Panhellenic system <grin>.

Were the Sororities in the University provided buildings beyond McGill/Boss/Hammerschlag at that time?

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

I don't know the campus culture at Ole Miss.

Let me tell you a little about the campus culture at Ole Miss. A few years ago, NPC had to send in a team to talk to the entire sorority membership.... all chapters. The visit was prompted by the vicious, overly competitive behavior and attitudes of the sororities toward each other and fraternities toward some of the sororities. NPC had to tell them to treat each other nicely, for God's sake! As you can tell, it didn't make much of a difference.

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by thetalady

Let me tell you a little about the campus culture at Ole Miss. A few years ago, NPC had to send in a team to talk to the entire sorority membership.... all chapters. The visit was prompted by the vicious, overly competitive behavior and attitudes of the sororities toward each other and fraternities toward some of the sororities. NPC had to tell them to treat each other nicely, for God's sake! As you can tell, it didn't make much of a difference.

That is truly unfortunate. I was more referring to the assessment that a chapter with 270+ members was not "successful" enough to survive, in Theta's eyes. I know it is heartbreaking to have any of our chapters be considered the "bottom house". We all have campuses where it is the case and it is certainly not enviable. On a campus where the tent talk is vicious, as you describe, even worse.

However, I know from personal experience that you can have chapters with under 50 members that provide rewarding experiences for those women. I might contend that smaller chapters provide closer relationships and stronger leadership opportunities than these chapters with 400+ members.

I know there is the financial piece and the numbers have to make sense. But, does the house at Ole Miss sleep 300? If not, it would seem to an outsider that a chapter with 90+ new members and almost 300 members in total, could have continued enjoying their sisterhood despite being the butt of fraternity men's jokes.

During my collegiate days, we had chapters on our campus that were closed when they finally reached under 10 members. But, 270+ seems like an awful lot of interested, involved members that lost their home for the wrong reason. Truly heartbreaking.

[navane]

Originally Posted by thetalady

Let me tell you a little about the campus culture at Ole Miss. A few years ago, NPC had to send in a team to talk to the entire sorority membership.... all chapters. The visit was prompted by the vicious, overly competitive behavior and attitudes of the sororities toward each other and fraternities toward some of the sororities. NPC had to tell them to treat each other nicely, for God's sake! As you can tell, it didn't make much of a difference.

Maybe that team should have also made a visit to Cal Berkeley.