Tri Delta Will Close Princeton Chapter

exlurker · #1 02-10-2005, 06:15 PM

Sad news: May 11, 2005 has been set as the day for the closing of the Delta Delta Delta chapter at Princeton, according to the student paper:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/arc...ws/11971.shtml

Low numbers and difficulty recruiting are cited by Tri Delta national officers as major reasons for the closing.

Chapter members will become Tri Delta alumnae. Best wishes to them as they go through this difficult time.

Tom Earp · #2 02-10-2005, 06:21 PM

What a sad day For Tri Delts a fine Organization.

It is always so sad to hear about anyones Chapter Closing.

KSUViolet06 · #3 02-10-2005, 06:25 PM

I'm sorry to hear that. How many NPC's are now left there?

exlurker · #4 02-10-2005, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JocelynC
I'm sorry to hear that. How many NPC's are now left there?

Three, AFAIK: Pi Phi, Kappa, and Theta (pretty much what you'd expect).

astroAPhi · #5 02-10-2005, 07:29 PM

It's always sad when a chapter has to close.

TxAPhi · #6 02-10-2005, 10:31 PM

Sad news indeed for Tri Delta and for all greeks. I do hope that, as the article states, they will be able to return to Princeton one day soon.

edited to correct some grammar.....

33girl · #7 02-11-2005, 12:34 AM

This decision doesn't make sense to me.

Having a chapter at an Ivy League school is such a feather in any sorority's cap, unless there is a risk management issue or they are WAY under total (like having 10 when everyone else has 150) closing it seems like it would do more harm than good. If they don't have to worry about money to maintain a large house and they have enough women to run the chapter, why close?

If it's a question of being unrecognized by the school, they should have withdrawn their charter long ago. I hope that the women decide to fight this decision.

DolphinChicaDDD · #8 02-11-2005, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 33girl
This decision doesn't make sense to me.

Having a chapter at an Ivy League school is such a feather in any sorority's cap, unless there is a risk management issue or they are WAY under total (like having 10 when everyone else has 150) closing it seems like it would do more harm than good. If they don't have to worry about money to maintain a large house and they have enough women to run the chapter, why close?

If it's a question of being unrecognized by the school, they should have withdrawn their charter long ago. I hope that the women decide to fight this decision.

I know a few women who graduated from the Princeton chapter and it is solely a numbers issue. The chapter has been consistently under for many years- I'm talking an alum who graduated in either 99-00 who said they had numbers issues. Princeton was charterd in 1996. So basically for the entire time the chapter was on campus, there were number problems. I have no idea what total is on the campus, but when I went up to help with formal one year with the addition of me and a significant number of members of the Villanova chapter, we still didn't have the same amount of women the other sororities did.

I know EO was trying to help in more than one way. The Princeton chapter had lots of help. According to the article, they weren't making min. standards for acrediation, and that means the charter gets revoked.

It does make me sad though

My alum chapter now supports one less group.

RACooper · #9 02-11-2005, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DolphinChicaDDD
I know a few women who graduated from the Princeton chapter and it is solely a numbers issue.

I gotta ask... who low in numbers does your IHQ consider too low?

mmcat · #10 02-11-2005, 08:12 AM

sad story....
all the good wishes to those involved in the future.

kddani · #11 02-11-2005, 10:53 AM

if a chapter's been open for nine years and can't take off, I guess you have to examine if it's worth trying to keep it open. I'm sure Tri Delta had their reasons

DeltAlum · #12 02-11-2005, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
if a chapter's been open for nine years and can't take off, I guess you have to examine if it's worth trying to keep it open. I'm sure Tri Delta had their reasons

True. Sad as it is, this may be a simple economic issue. It costs a national organization to support a chapter that can't support itself.

I once participated in a Ritual at one of our divisional meetings where we initiated as alumns the members of a colony that had tried to make minimum numbers for several years -- and just couldn't seem to do it for whatever reason.

It's too bad, but those groups become a drain on the nationals resources.

Munchkin03 · #13 02-11-2005, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
if a chapter's been open for nine years and can't take off, I guess you have to examine if it's worth trying to keep it open. I'm sure Tri Delta had their reasons

Right...regardless of whether or not it's an Ivy League chapter, a floundering chapter is a floundering chapter--especially when the other sororities are thriving on the same campus.

I'm sure they didn't take this decision lightly. But, then again, I'm of the school that if a chapter closes, it was probably for the best and there are things we as outsiders don't know about.

goldendelta · #14 02-11-2005, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RACooper
I gotta ask... who low in numbers does your IHQ consider too low?

I wonder that myself, because our chapter was at 14 at one point and EO didn't close us.

Rudey · #15 02-11-2005, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
True. Sad as it is, this may be a simple economic issue. It costs a national organization to support a chapter that can't support itself.

I once participated in a Ritual at one of our divisional meetings where we initiated as alumns the members of a colony that had tried to make minimum numbers for several years -- and just couldn't seem to do it for whatever reason.

It's too bad, but those groups become a drain on the nationals resources.

I have to ask this. If the numbers are low in a chapter, why is it a financial drain?

Here is why I ask:
1) Aren't insurance policies global? Basically you pay per brother/sister and not chapter.

2) Don't larger groups get more attention from the national office in terms of consultants and advisors? If so the smaller chapters aren't requiring too much spending from the national office.

Why else would it be expensive? And has any fraternity/sorority actually said this or is it a rumor?

Personally, I would think you would want smart girls at a top 3 school than girls from Podunk U, but that's just me.

-Rudey