inactive chapters....

[Erik P Conard]

This will not be a popular item to discuss with some. I helped make TKE #1 in number of chapters...and by '59 we were indeed.
Then the next 35 years were disastrous. We now have more inactive ones that most fraternities have active...why? There are
a goodly number of reasons, but principally due to not having an
active board and adviser...bad behaviour, no manpower have
killed the most. Of the colleges which have closed where T K E
has been...Milton, Tarkio, Alliance, Parsons...and those who have
banned greeks...(TKE has none there, all have revived the Greek
system, like at Furman...who forced 'em all local...but recanted)
At any rate, we'll discuss TKE's shame and failure along with the
victories...and perhaps it will induce some of you good fraters to
try to reactivate some of these once-great chapters!
Our oldest dead one is Eta, U of Chicago, heavily Phi Beta Kappa,
we went with most of the others in the '30s when football was
banned, and a less-than-social atmosphere was introduced. We
have never returned...over 65 years gone. The Greeks, while a
few are there, have never regained the gloss once displayed. We
failed, stumbled but not fell, to furnish the needed formulas to be
a good chapter...and TKE left orphaned alums galore...by the thousands, in fact. We need all your help in returning....please....

Well, the reactivation of EK certainly will help.

I've been working on getting TKE back to Chicago for almost 3 years now. Finally, EK is back and slowly the Alumni association will return. I believe it will be back by this winter...thus helping the 4 potential Chicago-land schools that want TKE...DePaul, Roosevelt, Northwestern, and U of C.

[Erik P Conard]

old frater Tex Flint's eyes would water when we'd talk of TKE
and old Eta...U of Chicago. Little effort has been made to revive
it, and the stereotyped U Chicago student is not necessarily what
we would like. But it would be nice to have Eta back.
Northwestern...TKE has NEVER even had a nibble here, and many
have gone on. It is a shame that TKE, an Illinois outfit, is not on
this fine university. Roosevelt...well, bad rep. We charted at U of
I, Chicago Circle, and have shot ourselves in the foot time and time again at DePaul, Lake Forest...gosh, we oughta have about
ten chapters in Chicago land. We were real proud of our Loyola
chapter...best wishes for your success there!

[OleMissGlitter]

Hi,
I noticed on TKE's National Website that ya'll use to have two chapters in Mississippi, one at Mississippi State in Starkville and one at U of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. Anyway, my best friend's boyfriend was a TKE at USM in Hattiesburg, I think he was there just as they were leaving campus because they had a house off-campus and they weren't recognized I believe by the University Greek System. I would have thought TKE would have had a chapter at Ole Miss at some point but our Greek records do not show TKE as being here and TKE's national page do not show that either. Anyway, sorry to crash your board...

-Katherine, Nu Beta Chapter Adviser

[Erik P Conard]

TKE hit their zenith with 311 active chapters in1975. Despite the
heroic leadership we lost over 200 while adding 165, roughly.
Colonizations resulted in about half failures. And of those half
which got chartered, half died within five years...principally due
to bogus boards and absentee advisers. Of course there are a few who don't want TKE back 'in perpetuity'...but we'll likely be
back and should be. I pray/prey nightly for those administrators
who wish that upon MY fraternity. Dick Hall, R.I.P., and some of us used to joke...have skull sessions and wish all kinds of things
on those who treated us unfairly. In some cases, it worked! We
MUST maintain a sense of humor, and be careful not to say we're
real selective (as does Zeta Psi), as these things have a way of
kicking us in the butt....TKE has made some poor charterings, I
admit, and some places we likely should not have gone. BUT, I
believe, unlike many others, that once we have PROMISED to
embrace the chapter...we ought to, and not talk out of both sides
of our mouth. There are fraters who would like to shuck about
a hundred more...I find it hard to call them 'fraters.' Hope that this evokes a spirited discussion...and TKE will rise....again!
I have the highest regard for some of the other fraternities, but
TKE stands alone...unique...and will endure...and prevail.

[Erik P Conard]

I am no longer on the TKE extension committee although they
do use some of my projections, etc. However, I do not think that
TKE will be goin' on to Ole Miss, nothing wrong with the school,
it is just that it'd be a poor investment to try to come on and get
our brains beat out....y'know....others have tried, and we don't
need the practice.

[Erik P Conard]

On that topic...TKE is not represented in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho,
Montana, Vermont...that I know of. TKE has never chartered in
Vermont or Montana. Oh, Alaska, too...
Sig Ep has chartered at all 50, first to do so, tho all not active now. Pike claims to be the biggest chapter-size-wise, and SAE
initiated the most (since 1856). Beta is arguably the richest.
TKE still has the most active as well as the most inactive ones.
Zeta Psi claims to be selective...(U of IL, Navy Pier; Nebraska
Wesleyan; Brock; Marist...you see...) SAE best housed...well,
anyhow, pretty good spread. There are some dandy chapters,
and would you believe some of us get along with each other?
Then there are those who've gone co-ed on some campuses
(boy you oughta see those composites...talk about coyote ugly)
But, to each his own...and TKE has all the hay down presently
as can be put up....and we really need to get our act together.
Does your chapter have an active board? An active chapter adviser? Or will you join our inactive list?

[Erik P Conard]

I realize the present undergrads are rarely concerned with any
chapter than their own...BUT when you leave you will likely go to
another area, perhaps where there is a nearby TKE chapter or a
place where there once WAS a TKE chapter. You will, briefly, see
there is nothing for you...and you will either walk away from it all,
or you may give some consideration to getting TKE back....
The choice is yours and a lot of us orphaned alumni are hoping you will remember that TKE is the Fraternity for Life.

Unfortunately, it looks like another chapter will join the ranks of the inactive. Sadly, it is my home chapter.

Alpha Xi is in deep trouble right now. They have been in a downward spiral for a while, but it looks like they are on their way out.

Boy, is it sad to see your home chapter collapse.

[hoosier]

Has it ever been discussed the impact that Buckwheat has had?

I see magazine covers (U GA, Indiana) with Buckwheat and 50-60-70 new members.

I know he can get large numbers in short periods.

Has he had any lasting successes? Certainly not at UGa or Indiana.

[hoosier]

I would guess Drake?

I also guess Loyola for EK (wasn't that George Kolintzas' chapter?)

PS: this is a hint to use/include school names. Even Eric can't remember 300+ chapter names.

I think that is the secret at Zeta Psi - if they only have 23 chapters, everyone can remember all the chapter names.

[Erik P Conard]

True, true...TKE had 106 or so chapters when I pledged. When I
went on the road in '57 TKE had 5 inactive ones...that's all. We
seem to get that many a year--not just TKE...have losses now.
HQ has a nigh on impossible job, and while TKE is not going all ape-shit on expansion, we have a lot of ones we ought to revive.
Would like to see our first alphabet all active....of them we are
dead at Eta, Theta, Mu, Upsilon, Phi...but I think we have colonies
at a couple. I think TKE still has about 30 colonies and interest
groups...but we are making little effort at new ones...however,
we have been at most anyway....and no sense beating our head
on the wall at places like Ole Miss. Canada is wide open and Phi
Delta Theta is doing a helleva job expanding up there. I figured
the other day that TKE has about 77 chapters alive west of the
Mississippi and 67 dead....many places the entire system is gone,
like Minot, Valley City and Dickinson, all in ND....perhaps we could
collaborate with some and collectively revive...looks dim....but it
is the price we paid by pioneering...like S. Ore where no one joined us...and after about ten years we died. Or the goat roping
school...Sul Ross in TX...far from anywhere...who knows...but the
more one ventures from the "traditional fraternity schools" the more risk is taken to make a system work. Attrition is high. So, we have paid a high price, and the heartbreak I feel for those who I remember as strong...no longer there....well, you can see why I am hot to reactivate...and live a lot in the past. That will happen to you-all, too, if you live long enough! LOL
Perhaps we could discuss the varied profiles of the colleges we've
gone into...places Zeta Psi would not go...'til recently. At any rate
playing fraternity is fun and it takes a few old filberts like me to
keep us afloat. Let's hear from some of you...it is like reading a
seed catalog...at times...when there is indeed a goodly number of
fun things we can do....You know, there used to be a lot of guys
from various fraternities who'd banter back and forth about the
old days and the future....most are gone....Ed Georgeff, Jim Kane,
George Kollintzas, Tex, Dick...so many...and some are left in TKE
but not many. Like Heller said...we have rested on our laurels for
a long time, and after a hard stool we realized we needed to get
going....John Robson, Sig Ep, Don Young, TKE, gosh, so many of the good ones...come back...Shane...come back....We used to have a lot of sessions, many from other groups, too..where we wished horrible things to happen to the various Dean Wormers,
and we schemed, planned, helped one another, drank a lot of good booze, ate a lot of huge steaks...yes, good greeks all...wish
we could return.
And during the same time Slip Slifer of Chi Psi was worried about the missing IRAC files...and the muted drapes at the Minnesota chapter...TKE, Sig Ep, Delta Sig, Lambda Chi...had their knights of
the road...starting chapters...long before the colleges injected the
"Greek Advisers" and the bureaucratic bullshit we all endure today. There I go again, rambling on an on....your turn...Uncle E

Sorry, I thought you do the same thing I do....go to the IHQ website and look up the necessary info.

But yes...EK is Loyola and AXi is Drake..