NIC Expansion at UC Riverside

[phigamucsb]

sometimes you have to wonder if expansion is a good idea when two chapters have just gone under. i am a FIJI at UCSB and have been down to UCR on a few occasions (they have a great chapter). through my experiences at UCR it doesn't seem like there is room for much more expansion, while still preserving the current number of members.

FIJI@UCSB

[SniffDNZ098]

yea I agree especially with Phi Delta Theta really close to shutting down.

The ones that need expansion are sororities. They have house total of I believe 75? With almost all the sororities there, there needs to be expansion if not raise house total numbers up. The fraternites are still unbalanced at times.

[gphiangel624]

I do agree with you phigamucsb... a lot of people are really wary because those two chapters went down recently, and phi delt is getting close. I give them credit for trying to keep numbers up though, and maybe after this quarter, things will start improving, esp. with the increase in possible houses for PNMs to choose from.

As for your comment, Sniff, I also agree. Total needs to be raised, and very soon. Panhellenic turned down the idea of another expansion period (wrongfully so, IMHO), so I don't think that will happen in the near future. The idea of increased total will definitely come to the floor next quarter. And currently, it's at 70, but 5 out of 6 chapters are over.

It's particularly hard right now because there are actually a lot of interested women, but only one chapter to choose from. Friends of Fall new members were looking forward to informal recruitment throughout the year, and it's not even possible because of total. Panhellenic as a whole is losing out on women. Sucks...

[SniffDNZ098]

gphi...

please check your PM box. thanks.

As for Panhellenic...maybe they want to wait till all sororities are at house total??? I dont know, just a thought....

[gphiangel624]

Ok, so the interview process was supposed to start last night, but there were two problems:

1) only 3 of the 8 Chapter Presidents showed up (they're the main people on the interview committee).
2) the two fraternities that were supposed to be interviewing didn't show.

So our expansion coordinator gets a phone call just before the first fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, was supposed to interview. They decided to drop out of the running, so now there's only 9 fraternities.
Then he gets a call from the other that was supposed to interview, Alpha Kappa Lambda, and they want to reschedule.

Is it just me, or does it seem like this second fraternity isn't very interested in expanding? I mean, we have two chapters that have been patiently awaiting an opportunity to expand here, and then there's this one that calls the day of their interview and wants to reschedule. Hmm... not that the fraternity presidents are holding up their end of the bargain much either. What's funny is that the ones who DID show up were the ones who were against expansion in the first place!

I'll keep everyone updated as things progress, but here's the rundown of who's still up for interviews:

Delta Chi
Delta Upsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Sigma Chi
Alpha Kappa Lambda
Phi Kappa Psi
Pi Kappa Phi
Zeta Psi

[BSUPhiSig'92]

In defense of Alpha Kappa Lambda, they are a much smaller organization than any of the others on that list. For comparison's sake, Sig Ep and Teke have nearly 10x as many chapters and a much larger paid staff. We have a chapter of AKL on my campus (a good chapter too), and to the best of my knowledge, there are only three full-time employees at their national HQ in Indy. Chances are pretty good that the persons coming for the interview are alumni volunteers and may have had unforseen circumstances arise.

Just an interesting factoid, Alpha Kappa Lambda was the first national Greek organization founded in California!

[gphiangel624]

Not sure now which organizations have dropped out of the running, but my boss just informed me that there are only 7 orgs going for the open spot now.

[gphiangel624]

So here's the latest on Expansion:

Delta Sigma Phi has dropped out of the process.

Alpha Kappa Lambda asked to reschedule their interview from last Monday to the 21st, but then decided to drop out later that day.

Delta Chi has dropped out of the process.

Zeta Psi has not returned any phone calls/emails from the Expansion Coordinator, and thus has not scheduled an interview, so I don't think they'll be included in the process either.

So now it's down to 6 or 7 (give or take Zeta Psi), and this is the schedule:

April 14 interviews are with Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Tau Kappa Epsilon.

April 21 interviews are with Delta Upsilon, Phi Kappa Psi, and Sigma Chi.

I'll keep you all updated as I hear.

[gphiangel624]

Ok, so now it's just down to 4 fraternities that are under consideration for Expansion:

Tau Kappa Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Chi
Phi Kappa Psi

Interviews with the Expansion coordinator and current IFC chapter presidents finished on Monday, so these are the official 4 to choose from for presentations. My boss informed me that presentations will be in May and we will choose the lucky chapter in late May, early June. If i hear anything about how the presentations go (which I will, I'm sure), then I'll keep you all posted!

[josh8o]

woho phi psi!

[gphiangel624]

Wow, so I just realized it was over 3 months ago that I last was able to post info about this! So last week, two letters went out from our office, inviting 2 fraternities to form interest groups on campus after the IFC expansion process....

Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Kappa Psi have been asked to form interest groups in the fall! So hopefully they'll be successful and we'll have two new fraternities on campus!

[pinkyphimu]

that is awesome! hurray!