Anyone know of any other current Kappa Sigma expansionary activity?

[Ithakappasig]

Recolonization of Gamma-Xi Chapter at Denison University, recolonization of Theta-Delta Chapter at Willamette University sounds wonderful. Good to hear! I'm sure they will make it happen.

[stufield]

It is now into the third month of the academic year, and the Fraternity STILL has not updated the map or the list of chapters and colonies on the Website. Both were out of date when added to the Website, and neither has been updated since. It's really pathetic.

Notwithstanding the lack of any assistance from the website, there is some news to report:

Brooklyn College has finally been installed as Pi-Phi chapter. That chapter designation was assigned to the colony prior to its anticipated chartering date. Some problems arose (which, of course, the Fraternity is not revealing) which caused the chartering to be postponed. Meanwhile, the Lake Erie College and UCSD colonies were chartered as Pi-Chi and Pi-Psi chapters. Then, last weekend, Brooklyn College was belatedly installed.

Sacred Heart University is being installed this weekend as Pi-Omega chapter, giving the Fraternity another badly-needed active chapter in the Northeast, where Kappa Sig is seriously underrepresented.

So that is it for the Pi series of chapters. The next new chapter (as opposed to a restored chapter) should be Rho-Alpha. It could be the St. John's University colony, which apparently has been prospering, or perhaps CSU Northridge, which is presently the "oldest" colony.

Neither the recolonization of Gamma-Xi Chapter at Denison University or the recolonization of Theta-Delta Chapter at Willamette University, referred to in previous posts on this thread, appears to have got off the ground, or at least not as yet. The Fraternity did have staff at Denison. But perhaps they could not recruit enough sufficiently interested young men to start the colony.

On the other hand, Gamma-Nu chapter at Washburn University, located in Topeka, Kansas, HAS been recolonized, which is excellent news. Disappointingly, however, it is the only presently dormant chapter that has been recolonized so far this academic year.

New colony at High Point University, located in High Point, NC, a small, but growing private university with a small but growing Greek system. Kappa Sigma should do well there. The High Point colony increases the Fraternity's already strong presence in North Carolina (11 active chapters).

New colony at Illinois State University, a school Kappa Sigma should have been at 30 or 40 years ago. ISU only seems able to support a limited number of fraternities. Several fraternities prosper there, but several others have closed or suffer from low membership. Kappa Sigma is weak in Illinois, with only one other presently active chapter, Alpha-Lambda at the University of Illinois. So the Order badly needs a presence at Illinois State. But success there is by no means a sure thing.

New colony at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. This is another growing school with a growing Greek system. Despite its general strength in Texas, Kappa Sigma was not among the initial fraternities there, such as Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi. So, like Illinois State, this is an "its about goddamm time" colonization. Hopefully, the colony will thrive.

Most recent colony is at Central Washington University, located in Ellensburg. This is a classic example of Kappa Sigma's present expansion policy of establishing colonies in response to groups which approach it, 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 whatsoever of succeeding, and all of which, predictably, closed after brief existences. Kappa Sigma does not have a strong presence in the State of Washington, with only two active chapters, Beta-Psi at UW and Gamma-Mu at WSU. Neither chapter is very strong on its campus, although Beta-Psi has at least grown from near-extinction a few years ago to a mid-size chapter on the UW campus. Gamma-Mu used to be strong chapter at Wazzou, but was closed a few years ago for CoC violations, and then subsequently restored, but still struggles with relatively low membership. So a third chapter in Washington would be a big boost to the Fraternity. Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, just a few miles west of Spokane, already has a well-established Greek system that includes Sig Ep, Sigma Nu, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Chi, and Pi Lambda Phi chapters. Central Washington, on the other had, has no fraternities or sororities, and no Greek culture, just as Gonzaga does not. So where does Kappa Sigma colonize. First at GU and now CWU!!! But if, for instance, the Phi Delts and the Betas, who, in addition to having chapters at UW and WSU, also have other Washington active chapters at the University of Puget Sound (where our own chapter closed about 12 years ago) and Whitman College, as well as EWU as aforesaid, have not yet expanded to Central, what would make anyone think that Kappa Sigma could do so successfully? Obviously, I hope that the CWU colony DOES succeed. But I suspect that this colony is destined for the same fate as the Gonzaga colony. Meanwhile, we will continue to remain unrepresented at Eastern Washington, a campus that does support Greek system.

One attractive feature of Central Washington University is that Ellensburg is located on I90, the highway along which the UW and WSU chapters run the game ball for the Apple Cup rivalry football game, one of the Fraternity's longest running (no pun intended) and most successful charitable events. So a CWU chapter could contribute significant support to that event.

Unfortunately, at least two colonies appear to have closed since the academic year began, the aforesaid Tusculum College and UC Santa Cruz.

Some active chapters have closed also, but since the Fraternity never announces closures and simply quietly deletes them from the chapter list, and since, as aforesaid, the chapter list has not been updated in months, I ma not sure how many or which ones. Two that I believe have closed are John Carroll University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the former perhaps for a CoC violation of some sort, the latter probably from low membership (it struggled with low membership throughout its existence). But this is just semi-educated speculation on my part, admittedly a contradiction in terms.

If anyone can confirm, clarify, contradict, and/or otherwise add to any of the foregoing, or provide any other information not mentioned above, such as where we presently have an interest group or are actively seeking to return a dormant chapter or expand to a campus where we've not yet been, please do post.

Chicostate and Ithaca, do you guys have anything to add?

.

[KSigkid]

Thanks for the update. It's nice to have another chapter in Connecticut; if I have any time post-law school, I'd like to get back into volunteering (I served as an AAA for a couple of years after college).

[LucyKKG]

Just confirming that UC Santa Cruz no longer has a Kappa Sigma colony.

[stufield]

LucyKKG:

Do you know what happened with the UC Santa Cruz colony?

[LucyKKG]

I don't know why, but they are now a colony of another fraternity. (Not sure if it's official yet or just an interest group, but they now go by that name.) I heard they had about 20 or 30 members, but I never had much inside info.

[KSUW]

Hey everyone! I'm in Delta-Gamma Colony at the University of Wyoming. We're VERY close to a charter!! everyone's really excited, but we have A LOT of work to do in the next few weeks, but its coming together pretty well so far :]

[csuksig]

Originally Posted by KSUW

Hey everyone! I'm in Delta-Gamma Colony at the University of Wyoming. We're VERY close to a charter!! everyone's really excited, but we have A LOT of work to do in the next few weeks, but its coming together pretty well so far :]

Good to hear things are going well for you guys. I know all of us down here at the Pi-Xi chapter are looking forward to adding another chapter to the area and helping out with your installation. Feel free to hit us up if you guys need any help or if any of you guys are coming down for the CSU-Wyoming football game.

[Preston327]

One of my friends from high school who's a brother of Kappa Sigma at their chapter at Nova Southeastern University (I believe) tells me that his fraternity is planning to colonize Florida Atlantic University next semester.

[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.

[KSUW]

csuksig,
Thanks to you guys for all of your support! it has been tough but I believe we have a lot of momentum going our way. HQ says we're about 72% done, so there are only a few things left, but they are the most important however. we'll see how the rest of the semester pans out in hopes that we hit the ground running after thanksgiving.

PS

GO POKES!!! :P

[Ithakappasig]

I don't think that Jenny meant to be offensive in her comments- she was clear about that at the end of her post. But you are right Ryquis, in that recognition by the university is not necessary. In fact, if it was an independent fraternity they would not need any recognition from any outside party.

I am concerned with that sort of perspective, i.e., that it might not occur to Jenny that students or anyone else can organize independently as they see fit and be just as valid as any other organization. I'm also troubled that brothers might be behaving in a disrespectful way, regardless of not participating with the IFC or the advisers. There may be another side of the story however. The IFC and university advisers may be colored by their disapproval of a fraternity they don't recognize when they warn others away. If you have witnessed them behaving a certain way or you were given actually examples it would be one thing but I wouldn't buy the characterization of them just being "disrespectful" absent of that.

I understand why Jenny's comments might get the hair on someone's back raised. Frankly, with Kappa Sig's troubles that are already apparent in terms of failed colonies, closed chapters, and chapters opting out, etc., that we probably should address errors like that. It may unfairly compound negative perceptions.

[jennyj87]

I was just asking a question. There was no need to get angry. Thank you Ithakappasig for understanding.
I am just going off of what I know as a greek life member, which is being recognized nationally and by the school. Thats at least how it is within MY organziation. I was asking if it was differnt in others. Obviously it is.

[KSigUNC]

Stu and Itha, over the course of these 14 pages of posts, you are both very quick to judge what you perceive as faults from our HQ staff and whine and complain about how you don't know anything and can't get any information about anything, blah blah blah. If you have an issue, pick up the phone and call someone at HQ. Don't hide behind fake screen names and lob grenades at the very dedicated team of individuals that we have working for this fraternity.

I would also ask what you have been doing since the start of this string to change the fraternity for the better. Have you been volunteers? If so, thank you for your service...if not I would say that it is easy to sit on the sidelines and complain when there is nothing personally invested for you aside from your membership. And instead of spending all of this time and energy posting to a chat site, you redirect that energy into volunteering. One of the reasons so many of our colonies struggle is because we can't get any alumni to stand up and remember their obligations. It is one of the most rewarding things I get to do as a member of this fraternity, something that actually helps to affect change, instead of just whining.

We had great kickoffs this past weekend at Illinois State and Belmont-Abbey. Great groups of guys with dedicated alumni to support them. This coming weekend there will be kickoffs at Dennison, Grand Valley State University and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

[Ithakappasig]

KSigUNC, you said that others were quick to judge but have not done anything but complain, and have not picked up a phone, organized and worked, or donated resources, etc. I would say that the first error there is that you assumed that I for one haven't volunteered, or picked up a phone, etc. At least in my case you really couldn't be more off base.

And I don't want to speak for anyone else but some of the people (not just two) who have been critical have generally spoken about a lack of responsiveness from some higher ups, and given some pretty concrete examples. More importantly at least regarding my own comments, I have never been just critical but have also spoken positively, spoken in defense of what is good and I have offered ideas and positive examples of actions being taken inside and outside of the fraternity.

Whether the criticism or examples used are fair or valid is up to others to determine but I know I have not agreed on all criticisms posted here myself. I think your assessment is just as valid as anyone else's and I would never take the approach that the way to make things better is to stifle criticism. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. In fact I am always cautious of institutions or people who feel that the best way to deal with any concerns or differences of opinion is not to discuss them, particularly where others might be able to follow the discussion. (That may be somewhat hypocritical of me since I have avoided topics and made mention of others in such a way that only those who are very familiar with the fraternity and its history may be able to understand.)

I don't worry about the conversations scaring off prospects. The best prospects want to know the good and bad. They (hopefully) aren't joining because they want some Greek letters, the chance to say they belong to something and to know a handshake; they want to invest and get something back in a living brotherhood.

If they hear the bad later they are apt to feel more annoyed (and disenchanted) even if they are gung-ho now. It will be the critically thinking pledges of today who will say for instance, "our chapter alumni or area alumni are not really active so we should reach out and get things going" or "we should have better support or plans for housing improvement so we should ask around for best practices among GLO's and share them with our chapters."

At certain sites or groups I see more hostility and negativity without constructive alternatives offered. That does alarm me. There should not be that level of hostility and frustration towards (and from) the leadership and each other. It seems like in many cases people are talking past each other, instead of hearing concerns, ideas, suggestions, and finding constructive solutions.

I would argue that your exhortation that alumni should get more involved here on this public forum is exactly the sort of thing, coupled with action, that makes positive change! Without discussion, comparisons and criticism there is no possible plan for improvement, and without implementing the plan there is no improvement.

I would also add that Stu, (who has not agreed on everything I stated and vice versa) is obviously committed to KS, well informed about Kappa Sig and the world of fraternities in general. He has done a service for me at least, in sharing information and prodding for still more. Even when I disagree with his sentiments I feel heartened to read that someone cares so much about a better future and truly being "second to none" that he is not satisfied with the status quo.

I really wanted this reply to be general but I can't resist the one specific quote because I think you are on target, i.e., "One of the reasons so many of our colonies struggle is because we can't get any alumni to stand up and remember their obligations." That has been one of my chief topics addressed and I think you do us all a favor by addressing it here. But I also think that there needs to be a more robust framework formally and informally. I would suggest the latter as well because the former is the perfect way to get bogged down with extra fees, strangling policies, politics, and all the other great things that come with such bureaucracies; (and why "depend on that which has not yielded the thing before"?)

Funny thing is UNC, if you had a blog or forum discussing your thoughts, successes and challenges with your activities at your (very fine) chapter in Colorado and that region it would probably exponentially motivate and inform a bunch more people to follow suit and attract a bunch of prospects. If you do though, keep it anonymous so that the "higher ups" don't come down on you, just in case you get a little critical.

OH YEAH, AND SEASON'S GREETING Kappa Sigs at University of Northern Colorado and Everyone Else Out there!