Actives & Alumnae Hope to Save Chapter

[exlurker]

A group of actives and alumnae of the Delta Delta Delta chapter at the U of Minnesota intend to travel to Tri Delta HQ this weekend to present their proposal to keep the chapter open. Due to low numbers the national exec board voted to close the chapter. See the article in the U of MN student paper:

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2004/01/28/8036

IIRC, several GC regulars either have gone through a near-closing of their chapter, or have experienced chapter closure. So I expect there will be people who cam empathize deeply with what this particular chapter must be going through (the chapter will be 110 years old this year).

[rainbowbrightCS]

how horrible. Maybe this will bring in girls wanting to be part of 110 years of history.


I hope they stay open.

keep us updated.

[33girl]

A few years ago, the Tri-Delta chapter at U of North Dakota was also informed they were going to be closed...the sisters, alums and entire Greek and university community rallied around them. DDD HQ reversed their decision and kept the chapter open. I hope that happens with this chapter as well.

[exlurker]

Originally posted by 33girl
A few years ago, the Tri-Delta chapter at U of North Dakota was also informed they were going to be closed...the sisters, alums and entire Greek and university community rallied around them. DDD HQ reversed their decision and kept the chapter open. I hope that happens with this chapter as well.

33girl, You know, the article in the Minnesota paper does say the greek community has rallied around the chapter. Hope it helps, if there is any possibility of staying open and being successful.

[DGMarie]

According to their greek panhell site, Tri Delta showed 38 actives and it seems the average size is between 45-65 people.

[sugar and spice]

This is what I know of the situation (one of our advisors is from Theta): Chapter total is 80, but after fall rush the largest sorority had 65 girls. Every single sorority participates in year-round COBing, as far as I know. Tri Delta is the smallest sorority (as the article says 30-35ish members), but not by much -- the next closest is no bigger than 40, if that.

I get the impression that this is a situation where
(1) either HQ doesn't understand the campus Greek culture
(2) there is some other problem (hazing, financial problems, risk management problems) in addition to the numbers problems
or (3) the chapter has been trouble with rush for years and years (I know they have been since before I was there two years ago) and HQ is losing money.

Spring rush is coming up soon so hopefully they can get enough girls to prevent their chapter closing, but it seems tough when the campus paper prints an article that they're struggling.

For the record, we had a rush workshop with them last spring and they are very sweet girls, but they are very atypical "sorority girls," even for a laid-back campus like Minnesota -- fairly quiet and shy for the most part -- which I can see causing problems in formal rush.

[DGMarie]

[Little E]

the site also hasn't been up dated since june. There might be more than we know...

[sugar and spice]

Just an update, in case anyone is interested: the ladies of Theta chapter found out last week that their chapter will definitely be closing this spring. It's upsetting news, but since they have known since October that this was a possibility, I think they are taking it okay.

[OUlioness01]

that's really hard to deal with. i found out the same thing last winter. my thoughts are with their chapter as they deal with their situation

[TriDeltaGal]

Thanks for sharing this Sugar and Spice. My thoughts are with our Theta chapter sisters. I only hope that this historic chapter can come back some time in the future...

[exlurker]

Sad news. Hope the chapter can come back later.

[TigerLilly]

My sympathies go out to these ladies. Closing a chapter is hard.